[env-trinity] Editorial: Brown's Delta tunnel plan benefits plummet; give it up

[Tom Stokely]

Editorial: Brown's Delta tunnel plan benefits plummet; give it up

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| Editorial: Brown's Delta tunnel plan benefits plummet; g...It would be crazy for California to spend $15 billion for a plan that promises no additional water nor even a steady supply of water to the farmers and Southern Cal... |
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Editorial: Brown's Delta tunnel plan benefits plummet; give it up

Gov. Jerry Brown’s Delta twin-tunnel water grab is back this month in a new iteration, adding another 8,000 pages of environmental impacts to the 40,000 previously released. But here’s all you really need to know: Although the previous cost estimate of $17 billion has dropped to $15 billion, the latest proposal seems even further from penciling out in a cost-benefit analysis.Now one of the tunnels’ staunchest supporters, Big Ag, is getting antsy.The project was ill-conceived from the outset, and Brown needs to own up. If he wants a legacy of providing for California’s future water needs, he should focus on restoring the Delta levees, giving farmers incentives to install drip irrigation, encouraging more recycling and — if he cares about improving the Delta’s health as an ecosystem, which appears more doubtful with each plan revision — he should send more, not less, water through the estuary.It would be crazy for California to spend $15 billion — and perhaps double or triple that, given the typical cost overruns for a major digging project — for a plan that promises no additional water nor even a steady supply of water to the farmers and Southern California cities clamoring for it.Credible water experts say the only way the project makes financial sense is to get the two 35-mile tunnels built — and then try to persuade the state to pump far more water out of the Sacramento River than is healthy for the Delta. After all, why build two huge tunnels if you’re not going to use them?In Congress, House Republicans last week passed legislation aimed at removing the lid on pumping. Democrats in the Senate are working to block it, but Central Valley and Southern California lawmakers are making it clear that they will happily trash federal and state environmental protections to get more water.Remember, the once-mighty San Joaquin River now runs dry for part of the year thanks to pumping, and Central Valley farmers have nearly pumped their groundwater supplies dry. From their perspective, why should the Sacramento River be any different?The biggest takeaway from the new environmental report is that the $7 billion earlier commitment to conservation is officially toast. At least proponents are up front about it, renaming Bay Delta Conservation Plan to the California Water Fix. All that’s left is a $300 million habitat restoration project.The story behind the story is that twin-tunnel supporters only included the bigger restoration project because they thought it would help win guarantees of more water. But federal regulators would not sign off on the guarantees because there were insufficient assurances that the restoration project would work.So much for the governor’s commitment to restore the health of the Delta, once promised as a coequal goal to reliable water supplies.Brown has wasted six years trying to sell California residents on his mega-tunnels. Meanwhile, too much water continues to be drained from the Delta to supply the south, and the health of the estuary continues to deteriorate. State biologists in April acknowledged that the Delta smelt, the canary in the coal mine for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is all but extinct, and salmon runs are diminishing at alarming rates.Furthermore, there is no legal requirement for ratepayers to vote on raising rates to pay for the tunnels, and Brown has not committed to a statewide public vote.The state can’t afford this. Supposed beneficiaries such as agriculture are right to take a magnifying glass to this latest plan. Good luck finding the payback for the investment they will have to make.This editorial originally appeared in the San Jose Mercury News.
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