Coalition Submits 30,000 Comments Opposing Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels

Coalition Submits 30,000 Comments Opposing Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels

by Dan Bacher

As the public comment period for the California Water Fix came a close on Halloween Eve, Governor Jerry Brown issued a three-sentence statement praising the plan to build the massive Delta Tunnels, referring to them as "the Delta pipeline."

“The Delta pipeline is essential to completing the California Water Project and protecting fish and water quality. Without this fix, San Joaquin farms, Silicon Valley and other vital centers of the California economy will suffer devastating losses in their water supply," Brown claimed.

He then slammed opponents of the controversial tunnels plan by stating, "Claims to the contrary are false, shameful and do a profound disservice to California’s future.”

As the Governor's Office was sending out the statement, a coalition of conservation, fishing and environmental justice groups and elected leaders gave their “closing argument” against the proposed Delta Tunnels at a press conference held on the steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento. They said controversy over the project, which could cost upwards of $68 billion, has only grown since the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers issued scathing comments blasting the draft EIR for the project in October 2014.

To refresh your memory, a "Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report/Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (RDEIR/SDEIS)" was released on July 10, 2015 and a new round of public comments began.

The coalition announced that 30,000 comments were submitted by California individuals and organizations AGAINST the re-proposed Delta Tunnels plan.

This is 18,000 more than the 12,000 letters of support for the California Water Fix that the corporate agribusiness-backed "coalition" called the "Californians for Retirement Security" announced the day before they had gathered from tunnels proponents.

Delta Tunnels will violate an array of laws

The speakers explained how the new Recirculated EIR will violate an array of laws, including the Delta Reform Act of 2009, the federal Clean Water Act, the federal Endangered Species Act, the California Constitution, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) and numerous administrative codes under CEQA and NEPA. They said the environmental report is once again incomplete and inadequate after nine years and one-quarter of a billion dollars has been spent.

Speakers asked Governor Brown to listen to Californians and end his push for the Delta Tunnels, once and for all. Speakers also explained how the Delta Tunnels will continue the trend towards centralization of the state’s water supply, at a time when "regional resilience should be the goal."

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, kicked off the press conference by announcing, “Today we are proud to announce that 30,000 Californians, from every background, have submitted public comments against the Delta Tunnels! Governor Brown, the people of California are not convinced."

"We have done our homework and read the 48,000 pages you asked us to when you told us to 'Shut Up.' We have decided we do not want to spend $60 billion to export more water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary to the top one-percent of big industrial growers and special interest water districts," she explained.

"We do not want a project that does not meet Clean Water Act or Endangered Species Act standards. We do not want a project that will decimate our regional economy. What we do want is sustainable solutions to California's water challenges based on recycling, conservation, stormwater capture, groundwater recharge, and local water projects that create jobs," she said.

She also discussed a new document that exposes the real goals of the Kern County Water Agency (KCWA) - "unlimited water, on demand, with few environmental restrictions."

"In their drafted public comments letter on the Recirculated EIR/S for the Delta Tunnels, the Kern County Water Agency reveals the true goals of agricultural water exporters -- unlimited water supplies, even if it violates the federal Endangered Species and Clean Water Acts," she noted.

In the letter KWCA declares appreciation for this revised draft because they believe it is “an important” first step toward creating a workable solution for their agency. Yet, they still want more; otherwise, the project is not “economically feasible," according to Barrigan Parrilla. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/29/1442205/-A-Real-Halloween-Horror-Show-Jerry-Brown-s-Delta-Death-Tunnels)

State Senator Cathleen Galgiani followed Barrigan-Parrilla, affirming her opposition to the Delta Tunnels Plan.

“Notwithstanding the recent changes to the tunnel plan, I must remain opposed to it for both economic and environmental reasons," she emphasized. "The research has convincingly demonstrated how the tunnel plan is not economically justified and is financially infeasible without a substantial taxpayer subsidy. Many of the reported benefits of the “WaterFix” project include unrealistic and inaccurate comparisons of conditions without the tunnels."

"It is imperative that we look at many options with regards to long-term water policy. Any long-term plan including Delta tunnels will need to provide much more compelling economic, environmental and increased water supply arguments in order to be beneficial to the Delta and the State," Senator Galgiani concluded.

Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman then noted that the "tunnels do nothing to increase water supply. They do nothing but cause further conflict in California."

The Delta is in peril - extinction is forever

Robert Wright, Senior Counsel for Friends of the River, emphasized the extreme ecological crisis that the San Francisco Bay-Delta is in now, with winter Run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and other species nearing extinction.

“This is an emergency," said Wright. "The San Francisco Bay-Delta is in peril. Extinction is forever. This Tunnels project must either be dropped, or the ‘Water Fix’ agencies must issue new, honest documents under the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Policy Act that will disclose the cons of the Water Tunnels as well as tout the claimed pros and thus serve as a basis for meaningful review and consideration by the public. The lying has to stop.”

Tim Sloane, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, stated, "It's not rocket science: our salmon and our Delta Estuary need fresh water to survive. The Tunnels would hijack that water and deprive all but a fraction of Californians of its benefits. It's just a big straw with public trust resources on the Delta end, and industrial agribusiness sucking on the other."

"This is our water," said Mike Hudson, commercial salmon fishermen and a director of the Small Boat Commercial Fishermens' Association, referring to the water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River watershed. "The current administration of the water by the state and federal governments doesn't work for us. My industry is at the edge of collapse because of the way the water is managed. Every year, even in good years, we need to fight for water for salmon."

People of color and non-English speakers excluded from process

Espe Vielma, from Environmental Justice Advisory Group for the San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District, said the California Water Fix and Bay Delta Conservation Plan processes have been excluded many people of color and non-English speakers.

“It's sad that there were few public comments from the Environmental Justice community," she stated. "Forty percent of Californians speak languages other than English at home; twenty percent of Californians speak Spanish at home. Our communities cannot comment on what they cannot read."

"Did the Delta Tunnels agencies refuse to translate the plan because too many Spanish speakers would join the fight to stop the tunnels?” she asked.

Rogene Reynolds, the President of the Restore the Delta Board of Directors and Delta landowner, ended the press conference by stating, "We are reaching out to Governor Brown. We are not telling him to 'shut up' like he told us to several months ago - we are asking him to listen."

On the day before, Californians for Water Security, touted the alleged benefits of the California Water Fix in a press release.

“The broad and diverse coalition supporting the Governor’s plan to fix our aging water distribution system represents strong majorities of Californians who want to secure our state’s water supply,” said Cesar Diaz, Legislative Director of the State Building and Construction Trades of California. “Working families and all Californians need reliable access to water whether we are in a historic drought or saving water during wet times for the future.”

Californians for Water Security - not a "broad and diverse coalition

However, this "broad and diverse coalition" included only one "environmental" NGO, the Natural Heritage Institute, no environmental justice organizations, no fishing groups and not one single California Indian Tribe. In a classic case of institutional racism against Indigenous Peoples, both federally recognized and non-recognized Tribes have marginalized and excluded in both the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and California Water Fix processes. The 150 organizations in the pro-tunnels coalition did include agribusiness groups, water agencies, Chambers of Commerce, business organizations, construction unions and some community organizations.

The Governor and his allies are pushing the Delta Tunnels Plan at a time when Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled fish species are getting closer and closer to the dark abyss of extinction. If preliminary figures released by the National Marine Fisheries Service this week are confirmed, this would be the second year in a row that nearly all of the juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon perished in lethally warm water conditions on the Sacramento River, due to the over-appropriation of water to agribusiness.

“The bottom line is they (the state and federal regulators) ignored the law,” Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Projection Alliance told the Sacramento Bee. “We’ve over-appropriated and over-promised, and this is the result.” (http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article41684160.html)

Everybody who cares about West Coast salmon fisheries, the Bay-Delta Estuary and ocean ecosystem, the public trust, Delta and Sacramento Valley farming, environmental justice, Tribal water rights, fair water rates for Southern California ratepayers and future of California must opposed Jerry Brown's Delta Death Tunnels! For more information, go to: http://restorethedelta.org

Finally, check out the great Rage Against the Tunnels music video, "Get Fracked," about the tunnels scheme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi9UXcYPcas&feature=youtu.be