By Dan Bacher
A broad coalition of tribes, environmental groups, fishing organizations and family farmers joined elected officials across six counties last week – including in Butte – to celebrate a victory against Governor Gavin Newsom’s trailer bills to fast-track the Delta Tunnel. Critics say the embattled project, which California’s public is not being allowed to vote on, would destroy the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River ecosystem and collapse wild salmon populations in connected rivers through the North State. Butte County officials have also previously stated that the tunnel project could “devastate recreation at Lake Oroville.”
At midnight of Sept. 10, Newsom’s trailer bills died after no legislator stepped up to carry them forward because of the massive opposition to the bills.
In a statement, Delta Caucus Co-Chairs Senator Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) and Assemblywoman Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City) applauded the defeat of what they called “the governor’s controversial proposal to fast-track the costly and destructive Delta Tunnel Project.” At the moment, state officials say the tunnel would cost at least $20 billion, though some independent projections put the number at closer to $100 billion over its many years of construction. Newsom says that approving the Delta Tunnel is needed for California’s ability capture, store and move water, as well as safeguard the state’s utilities against natural disaster. However, the project is mainly championed by wealthy and powerful special interest groups in Southern California, including a number of Newsom’s major campaign donors.
“Defeating the tunnel fast-tracking proposal is a major victory for California and the Delta, and for the communities, farms, and historic resources surrounding the largest estuary on the West Coast,” McNerney argued. “The tunnel project not only would devastate much of the Delta region, but is also unaffordable and unnecessary … We want to thank Senate and Assembly leadership for protecting the fragile Delta region and the thousands of Californians who called on the Legislature to reject the fast-tracking plan. Assemblywoman Wilson and I stand ready to work with the Legislature and governor on alternatives that will cost far less and will safeguard California’s main water supply system without inflicting major harm to it, such as fortifying Delta levees and increasing water recycling, water efficiency, and groundwater storage.”
Wilson had similar reflections.
“I am relieved to see that the proposed Delta Tunnel trailer bills did not move forward,” she acknowledged. “Once a short-sighted policy, always a short-sighted policy, and no amount of money, including the attempted $200 million payoff to Delta communities, can make up for the lasting harm this project would cause. This conversation has gone on for decades, and make no mistake: alongside Senator McNerney and our Delta Caucus partners, we will continue to stand strong and fight for the Delta and the communities who call it home.”
Wilson added that Newsom’s proposal would have “greatly weakened environmental and judicial review of water plans for Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, while giving the state a blank check to float bonds to pay for the water tunnel.”
The conservation group Restore the Delta also applauded the defeat of the trailer bills, also crediting Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas as critical partners in protecting the Delta.
“The defeated trailer bills would have stripped tribes and Delta communities of their ability to participate in CEQA review of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan and would have advanced construction and bonding for the controversial Delta Conveyance Project, including unlimited bonding authority for the Department of Water Resources,” Restore the Delta noted in a statement.
The organization’s Executive Director, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, contextualized what the stakes were in the fight that played out last week.
“Delta communities and allies across California stood up to defend clean water, fisheries, local economies, and environmental justice – and we won,” Barrigan-Parrilla stressed. “This victory shows that the people of the Delta will not be silenced, and that California’s laws protecting public participation, water quality, and the environment cannot simply be swept aside … This is a victory for transparency, for Tribal inclusion, for Delta farming communities, and for every Californian who depends on healthy rivers and fisheries.”
She added that opposition was “broad and vocal,” explaining that more than 50 organizations from across the state formally opposed the trailer bills, while thousands of Californians sent emails and phone calls to legislators urging them to reject the package.
Scott Artis, Executive Director of the Golden State Salmon Association, also weighed in on the defeat of Newsom’s “cynical” bills he believes would have crippled the state’s fishing industry, among other consequences.
“Governor Newsom marked the 175th anniversary of California’s statehood by praising our shared history and future in his State of the State letter; yet, he was attempting to write salmon, fishing families, and entire coastal communities out of California’s future with his Delta Tunnel and CEQA trailer bills,” Artis asserted. “California won’t be the Golden State if it destroys its rivers, silences tribes, or sacrifices working families for the benefit of a handful of wealthy water contractors. These bills would have done exactly that.”
If built, the Delta Tunnel would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River spring and winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and other fish species, according to independent scientists and fish advocates.
The Bay-Delta is now in its worst-ever ecological crisis, due to massive water exports to Big Ag oligarchs and Southern California water brokers, pollution and other factors. The tunnel would take even more water out of the Sacramento River before it flows through the Delta, making the ecological crisis worse than it already is. The project would also call for the destruction of historic buildings in the Delta, the seizure of family farmers by the state government and years and years of construction impacts across the estuary that could kill many of the small businesses there.
For all of these reasons, the Sierra Club was yet another strong opponent of Newsom’s trailer bill gambit.
“We are incredibly proud of the California legislators who stood against the Newsom administration’s attempts to subvert crucial environmental review processes on behalf of powerful water wholesalers and agencies,” Sierra Club Water Associate Organizer Layne Fajea said. “The entire Delta Legislative Caucus deserve immense praise for standing up for communities and species that depend upon a healthy Delta ecosystem.”
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