Water Experts: Governor Brown Should Abandon Doomed Delta Tunnels

Water Experts: Governor Brown Should Abandon Doomed Delta Tunnels

by Dan Bacher

Governor Jerry Brown should abandon his doomed Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral tunnels and embrace a sustainable water solution that is fair to all Californians, according to Restore the Delta (RTD), Friends of the River (FOR) and the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) at a teleconference on Wednesday, November 12.

The tunnels opponents called upon Brown to instead support a visionary water plan that includes reducing Delta water exports, strengthening Delta levees, and investing in regional water independence through sustainable programs.

The teleconference by the opponents of Brown's plan to build two 35-mile long tunnels, a $67 billion project that would drain the Delta Estuary and drive salmon and other fish species over the abyss of extinction, took place 8 days after Proposition 1, Governor Brown's $7.5 billion water bond, sailed to easy victory on November 4.

Prop. 1 proponents, including a rogue's gallery of oil companies, corporate agribusiness tycoons, Big Tobacco, health insurance companies and greedy billionaires, dumped over $16.4 million into the campaign, while Prop. 1 opponents raised around $100,000 for the effort. In other words, the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign outmatched the No on Prop. 1 campaign by a factor of 164 to 1!

The state's voters, responding to the avalanche of pro-Prop. 1 ads funded by corporate interests, approved the measure by a vote of 66.77 percent to 33.23 percent. Most of the voters who cast Yes votes for the water bond had no clue what they were really voting for.

A grassroots movement of fishermen, environmentalists, Indian Tribes and family farmers led the opposition to Prop. 1. The Hoopa Valley, Yurok, Winnemem Wintu and Concow Maidu Tribes, the defenders of California's rivers and oceans for thousands of years, strongly opposed Prop. 1. because of the threat the bond poses to water, salmon and their culture. (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/11/04/18763767.php)

Now that the election is over, the tunnel opponents who backed the Vote No on Prop. 1 campaign are amping up their campaign against the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, noting that the plan faces a "wall of criticism" from the EPA and other agencies that would have to approve the permit to build the project.

The opponents identified seven additional required permits from agencies the governor does not control, noting that obtaining these permits is unlikely and impossible within the four years of the governor’s new term. The opponents charged that the EIR/EIS process has been "fatally flawed" due to its lack of public outreach to non-English speakers, failure to present a funding plan, exclusion of any non-tunnels alternative, and scientists’ identification of numerous "red flags.”

The EPA found in August that the tunnels violate the Clean Water Act, unrealistically assume that BDCP habitat projects would be 100% successful, and the tunnels conflict with the need to provide freshwater flows to the San Francisco Bay and salmon and other fisheries. The EPA also criticized BDCP’s inadequate financing plan, narrow range of alternatives to the tunnels, and many of the specific findings of the project’s effects.

“The EPA’s critical comments letter is a death sentence for the BDCP tunnels,” said Bob Wright, FOR Senior Counsel. “EPA has said the BDCP Water Tunnels would contribute to increased and persistent violations of water quality standards in the Delta. Greater freshwater flow through the Delta, not less freshwater flow, is needed. It is time to start over and for the BDCP agencies to stop hiding alternatives that would increase flows by reducing exports."

"The BDCP agencies continue their secrecy excluding the public by discussing the 'scoping' – what portions of the BDCP Draft documents will actually be revised and recirculated in 2015 for a new public review period — in secret. The water takers and their consultants participate and drive that process. The BDCP proponents tell the Big Lie that taking more water upstream will be good for the fish and the Delta, while concealing all contrary information from the public," Wright explained.

Attorney Michael Jackson, a California water rights expert and C-WIN board member, said, “Even if the Brown Administration were to get a permit without the normal consultation process involving environmental and fisheries interests, there are still seven permits that would be required before this could be built. These permits are from agencies the governor does not control, they would take more than 4 years he has in office. These permits include new clean water standards; a water supply; a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers; and proving to the courts that the BDCP is the least environmentally damaging alternative.”

“The Administration must identify the water available for the pumps. Since 84% of the water in low-water years would have to be taken from the existing below-Delta pumps – clearly ending the fish killing is not the purpose of BDCP," he revealed. " When BDCP takes the fresh water that presently flows through the Delta from above the northern Delta boundary, they are going to cause legal harm to the farmers who currently draw water within the Delta. It is unlawful for the State to cause a change in water quality for those who farm in the Delta."

"The SWRCB is required to amend the water quality standards in the Delta to reflect the current conditions. They are going to have to make those changes before this project can be built. All of the hearings called for more outflow into the Bay, and BDCP agencies have no authority over that part of the process. The BDCP is very unlikely to win approval, and we urge the governor to turn his attention to projects that could win approval," Jackson said.

Jackson also pointed out that Brown, now 76, would be "pushing 100,” before the first drop of water could be delivered, due to the array of permits that would have be obtained to build the project.

Wright added, "It would appear unlikely that the Governor will be able to go ahead with the tunnels plan unless he is successful in getting the Endangered Species Act or Clean Water Act repealed. The BDCP is not a conservation plan. It is the exact opposite. That’s why Congress would have to repeal these laws to allow the tunnel plan to go forward."

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of RTD, also said that a proposed settlement of a lawsuit between federal agencies and the Westlands Water District should not be approved.

"Consensus has been reached between the Federal Government and Westlands, subject to approval, on potential terms for settlement regarding the management of drainage within the Westlands’ service area," she said. "As part of the negotiations it was agreed that the water supply to Westlands would be permanent and also have a much higher water delivery priority (roughly 800,000 acre feet per year)."

“The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have previously concluded that the best solution to the drainage problem would be to retire 300,000 to about 400,000 acres in the Western San Joaquin Valley from irrigation. Instead, the negotiations with Westlands appear headed toward producing the worst possible outcome of continuing to irrigate lands producing enormous amounts of salt and selenium and allowing Westlands growers to establish in effect a permanent water supply for sale, as opposed to reducing exports as lands are and should be retired from irrigation,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.

“The fight over the BDCP tunnels and the future of the Delta is California’s fight over whether we will have a sustainable economy and environment, or if we will succumb to the top 1% of corporate water interests controlling rivers, streams, fisheries, water rates, family farming, local development, and spending from the general fund – all in all – access to the California dream," she stated.

Barrigan-Parrilla revealed that Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills billionaire who owns Paramount Farms and is the largest orchard tree fruit grower in the word, has purchased 15,000 acres of land located in various locations throughout the San Luis Mendota unit on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and in Fresno and Madera counties as well. "Westlands is providing water to lands Resnick owns in Fresno County," according to Barrigan-Parrilla.

The tunnels opponents outlined a sustainable solution to our water challenges - the Environmental Water Caucus (EWC) Reasonable Water Exports plan that sets a cap of 3,000,000 acre feet of water exports annually from the Delta.

"We need to face the fact that the State has over allocated up to 5 times more water than is normally available in the Delta watershed,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “We need to invest in water recycling, conservation, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup, and new water-saving technologies that provide local jobs and reduce reliance on the over pumped Delta.”

You can listen to the teleconference by going to the the Central Valley Business Times website at: http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/links/tunnels%20presser%20111214.mp3

Restore the Delta is a 15,000-member grassroots organization committed to making the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable to benefit all of California. Restore the Delta works to improve water quality so that fisheries and farming can thrive together again in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. http://www.restorethedelta.org

The Big Picture: The Brown Water Plan and MLPA Initiative

Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, said the peripheral tunnels, Shasta Dam raise, water bond and other water projects now being planned by the state and federal governments are in in reality "one Big Project" that will destroy salmon, rivers and groundwater supplies.

“It does not make sense that people are separating the water puzzle into individual pieces, such as: the raising of Shasta Dam, Proposition 1, the Delta tunnels, BDCP, Sites Reservoir, Temperance Flat, CALFED, Delta Vision, BDCP, OCAP, the Bay Delta, Trinity/Klamath Rivers, the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River, and water rights," said Chief Sisk. "It is all one BIG Project."

She emphasized, "You have to look at the whole picture and everything in between from Shasta Dam to the Delta estuary. We need to ask what is affected by our actions and who is benefitting from them? These are not separate projects; they are all the same thing that the State is asking us to fund - California water being manipulated for the enrichment of some and the devastation of cultures, environments, and species all in the name of higher profits.”

The BDCP and Brown Water Plan are also linked to the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a process begun in 2004 under the Schwarzenegger administration, purported to create a network of "marine protected areas" along the California coast. The two processes are united by their leadership, funding, greenwashing goals, racism and denial of tribal rights, junk science and numerous conflicts of interest. For more information, go to: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/12/11/18747601.php