<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/6/1578678/-The-Big-Dig-International-Tunneling-Conference-In-LA-Promotes-Destructive-Delta-Tunnels">http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/6/1578678/-The-Big-Dig-International-Tunneling-Conference-In-LA-Promotes-Destructive-Delta-Tunnels</a></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><img height="610" width="919" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:8CD90C33-98D8-4B8F-9B3D-38FA500FBD8D"></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><i>Niria Garcia and Hawane Rios, who participated in the entire length of the Winnemem Wintu Run4Salmon from September 17 to October 1, appear at a press conference against the Shasta Dam raise, the Delta Tunnels and new dams at the State Capitol in Sacramento on September 19. Photo by Dan Bacher.</i></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; ">The Big Dig: International Tunneling Conference in LA Promotes Destructive Delta Tunnels</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">by Dan Bacher</span></font></div><div style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><br></div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3c3736" face="'Open Sans'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Only in the so-called “environmentally enlightened” state of California would the mainstream media, state officials and some NGO representatives praise Jerry Brown as a “climate leader” and “green governor” while he is promoting the Delta Tunnels, the most environmentally devastating public works project in the state’s history.</span></font><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">But it gets worse — a lot worse. State agencies under the helm of Jerry Brown, who claimed the Delta Tunnels (CA WaterFix) will create jobs for Californians, are participating in an International Tunneling conference in Los Angeles called “Cutting Edge” from November 6-9.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The conference announcement <a data-cke-saved-href="http://bpspr.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1914aefabf5c2d2e17d6a9950&id=e808938fbe&e=886c8e9254" href="http://bpspr.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1914aefabf5c2d2e17d6a9950&id=e808938fbe&e=886c8e9254" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">declares</a>:</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“...California’s tunneling industry is booming. In 2016, the fifth annual Cutting Edge Conference will convene in Los Angeles to look at the latest advances in tunneling technology and methodology and how they can be harnessed to assist the region’s major upcoming underground projects.”</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The invitation email states: “Among the many organisations [British spelling] in attendance will be: …California Water Fix.”</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Why should anybody attend the conference? “This conference is highly focused on urban tunneling and will provide technical sessions to help you grow professionally and personally by learning from the problems others have faced,” the announcement explains.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“Cutting Edge is the must-attend urban tunneling conference of the year. Featuring a wide variety of technical sessions and speakers focusing on key industry events and issues, Cutting Edge will be a professional event you will truly enjoy and remember,” the announcement proclaims.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Why is the conference being sponsored in Los Angeles at this time? Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, believes it’s because of the opportunities for international corporations to secure a lucrative contract for the multi-billion dollar California WaterFix.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; ">“</strong>A chance to get a contract for a $17 billion project has attracted many international firms to sponsor this conference,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “State and Metropolitan Water District officials will surely get wined-and-dined, but we think their international suitors should know the Delta Tunnels are as real as a day at Disneyland.”</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“The Delta Tunnels have received none of the required state or federal permits, and the project has no finance plan. Water ratepayers and California taxpayers don’t want the tunnels, and agricultural districts cannot afford the tunnels. The project lacks a completed biological opinion and has been rejected twice by the EPA,” she said.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“Why are state agencies seeking international contractors for a project that was supposed to create jobs for Californians? Are agencies also seeking international funding for a project that was to be paid for by California water districts? Are our water resources for sale on the international market? Californians would like to know,” she concluded.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">These are very good questions. </p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The tunneling conference — and Governor Brown's frantic rush to build the Delta Tunnels as his “legacy” project — take place at a time when the WaterFix is becoming increasingly unpopular with Californians.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">In fact, Brown admitted for the first time that his tunnels project is “unpopular” when he lauded former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for focusing on environmental issues at the tenth anniversary celebration of the passage of Assembly Bill 32, the legislation that established the state’s greenhouse emissions reductions, in the California Museum in Sacramento on Wednesday, October 5.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">“Arnold, thanks for being for climate change, cap and trade, the tunnels project, high speed rail and all the other unpopular policies that I’m saddled with,” quipped Brown. </p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">You can listen to Brown’s comments here 1:01:24: <a data-cke-saved-href="http://bit.ly/2dKLirW" href="http://bit.ly/2dKLirW" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(234, 113, 6); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">bit.ly/</a>… </p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Delta Tunnels project is based on the absurd premise that diverting more water out of the Sacramento River before it flows into the Delta would somehow “restore" its fish populations and ecosystems.</p><p style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">In fact, the construction of the two 35-mile long tunnels under the Delta would hasten the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species. The project would also imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers, a fishery that for thousands of years has played an integral part in the culture, religion and food supply of the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes. </p><div class="table-wrapper" style="color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; overflow-x: auto; "><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-collapse: collapse; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; background-color: transparent; width: auto; min-width: 50%; position: static; z-index: auto; "><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box; "><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; "><td align="center" valign="top" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: initial; border-right-color: initial; min-width: 50px; width: 1299px; "></td></tr></tbody></table></div></body></html>