[env-trinity] Editorial: Change course on governor’s $17 billion Delta tunnels plan

[Tom Stokely]

http://eastbaytimes.ca.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=0339744e5EditorialChange course on governor’s $17 billion Delta tunnels plan Today is the day the momentum behind Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin-tunnel plan that threatens the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could change — for the better.The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board will decide whether to commit to raising ratepayer taxes by at least $1 billion to pay for its share of the Big Dud — Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion “WaterFix” plan to build two massive, 35-mile, 40-foothigh tunnels under the Sacramento- San Joaquin River Delta that won’t add a drop of new water to California’s supply.The decision will have profound impact on the East Bay, where two water districts, Zone 7 and the Alameda County Water District, have already agreed to buy in at their ratepayers’ expense. Perhaps Santa Clara County can put an end to this madness.Three of the seven board members of the South Bay district are proposing that instead of helping to pay for the twin tunnels, they want a single-tunnel plan. That would certainly be better than the ridiculous current plan, but it should be independently reviewed to see whether or not it stands on its own fiscal and environmental merits.It’s clear the governor’s current plan is unacceptable. Building a massive conveyance surely means that in the future, Southern California will persuade political leaders to open the spigot, even if it ruins the Delta’s ecology.Building two massive tunnels without promising more water is like building a 10-lane freeway but saying you’re only going to use two lanes. Who would believe that? Moreover, the project doesn’t make financial sense. Last month the Westlands Water District, America’s largest irrigation district, voted 7-1 to pull out of the project, saying the benefits didn’t justify its expected $3 billion cost. That cost now will have to be paid by other agencies.After the Westlands’ vote, Santa Clara Valley Water District Chairman John Varela told Bay Area News Group’s Paul Rogers, “I can’t imagine how we can go forward when one of the most significant water users in the state is sending a message that this project doesn’t pencil out for them. If it doesn’t pencil out for them, how does it pencil out for us?”The Metropolitan Water District serving Los Angeles and San Diego has voted to support the project. In the Bay Area, the Contra Costa Water District, East Bay Municipal Utility District and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission are not participating. The Alameda County Water District and Zone 7 have voted full support, but Kern County voted to go in only partially, leaving another potential $1 billion hole in the bill for other districts to fill.Here’s the other, perhaps biggest cost problem: Digging projects are notorious for huge overruns. The cost of America’s largest, Boston’s Big Dig, ballooned from $2.6 billion to nearly $15 billion before it was completed eight years behind schedule. The European channel project between England and France, a single, 31-mile effort, came in at nearly double its original budget.A guiding principle of the three Santa Clara board members’ alternative proposal is that Northern California values shouldn’t be placed at a disadvantage relative to Central Valley agriculture or Southern California.The governor’s twin-tunnel project does not meet that standard and does not deserve support.
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