[env-trinity] CEQA fast track for Silicon Valley water recycling could include Delta tunnels

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_28282861/oakland-tribune-editorial-ceqa-fast-track-silicon-valley
  
Oakland Tribune editorial: CEQA fast track for Silicon Valley water recycling could include Delta tunnels
Oakland Tribune editorial © 2015 Bay Area News GroupPOSTED:   06/09/2015 01:38:04 PM PDT0 COMMENTSThe governor's obsession with building massive tunnels under the Delta could muck up what should be a simple issue: granting CEQA exemption requests for emergency drought projects.The request in the form of Trailer Bill 831 is part of the budget process for dealing with the drought. Specific projects to deal with water shortages should get a fast track. But the vague language of this bill could allow the governor to build his massive, controversial Delta twin tunnels without completing extensive environmental studies. That cannot happen. Many Californians, including us, would like to see the California Environmental Quality Act reformed to minimize abuses that hold worthy projects hostage. Given the failure of reform attempts, the occasional CEQA exemption for unusually important projects has been reasonable. But an $18 billion plan for two 40-foot wide, 35-mile long tunnels to pump water away from the Delta to Central and Southern California, potentially ruining the Delta ecosystem? Good grief. If we didn't have CEQA, we'd need to invent it for this thing.Environmental studies for the tunnels have being done, but the plan has changed and could change again. It demands a complete evaluation.This paper's reporter Paul Rogers asked Gov. Jerry Brown last week whether the bill could be used to skirt CEQA for the tunnels. "I doubt that," Brown said.He doubts it?"I don't think the Legislature would do that," Brown added. "We don't slip things in. We flagrantly and openly and transparently conduct our business in Sacramento."Really/. Secret, last-minute deals are a hallmark of trailer bills, which tend to be slipped in with no real public debate. A CEQA exemption is needed for the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara to speed construction of an $800 million purification system so recycled water can be percolated back into the ground for general use. It would cut two years and $3 million in costs from the 10-year project, which ultimately could supply 20 percent of Santa Clara County's water needs.Environmentalists oppose CEQA exemptions on principle, but the overall goal of this water project is so environmentally sound, it is appropriate for the Legislature to fast track it. But Trailer Bill 831 -- which even lacks a sunset provision -- would unleash a free-for-all. No wonder the Sierra Club is incensed.The Legislature needs to clean up this trailer bill to be certain it does not eliminate public review of the tunnels, whether by specific reference or general guidelines. Perhaps a cost cap? We don't know what that price should be, but it surely somewhere far, far south of $18 billion. 

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