<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374460" dir="ltr"><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/09/19/san-joaquin-farmers-vote-against-delta-tunnels-project/" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374617">http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/09/19/san-joaquin-farmers-vote-against-delta-tunnels-project/</a><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374672"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374666"><br></div><h1 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; clear: both; font-size: 2.6em; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374582">Farmers Deal Brown’s Delta Tunnels Project A Major Blow</h1><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374521" dir="ltr"><time style="color: gray; display: inline-block; font-size: 1.2em; padding: 20px 0px 5px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374583">September 19, 2017 3:07 PM</time><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374521">FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Farmers in the nation’s largest irrigation district on Tuesday voted against participating in Gov. Jerry Brown’s $16 billion plans to build two giant tunnels to re-engineer California’s north-south water <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; display: inline-block; cursor: pointer; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374522"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-style: none none solid; border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 153, 0); outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: underline !important; color: rgb(0, 153, 0); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374523">delivery</span><span style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAf0lEQVR4AX2KRQEDQRAEy8FJiYRI2X+YmZk/4ddKipQ4ONpjrOHuIZUvRrzI5YGwylDFDSNWf64UrCnUfUWqydFqcY4IpR+QAGpnE3vcIJS2QXJAA1A389DjDKHuORLAmj98Ru5jH03tI2TcU9ANHV2KQLpHwzpipHtljNxyMQHgSkWYWokMcQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==); background-color: transparent; width: 10px; min-height: 10px; display: inline-block; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374524"></span></span> system.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374525">The Westlands Water District was considered a key player in the project’s success or failure having already having invested millions toward planning. But the vote means it will not commit to shouldering a share of the hefty construction costs.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374526">Administrators at Westlands, which supplies water to hundreds of family farms and some large corporate farms, had recommended that its farmers support the tunnels only if the costs are spread out to other agencies in proportion to how much water they get from the state, making it more affordable for the agricultural district.<iframe style="outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; width: 555px; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; border-style: none !important; display: block !important; min-height: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374527"></iframe></div><div style="margin: 10px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; overflow: hidden; min-height: 333px; transition: height 0s; box-sizing: content-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; max-width: 640px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374528"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; position: relative; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374529"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(170, 170, 170); margin-bottom: 0px !important; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 10px !important; text-align: center !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; min-height: 21px !important; line-height: 21px !important; letter-spacing: 0.3px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374530">ADVERTISING</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374531"><iframe scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; display: block; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; border-width: 0px !important; width: 555px !important; min-height: 312px !important; overflow: hidden !important; float: none !important; max-height: 312px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374532"></iframe></div></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374533">Thomas Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands district, said he believes the 7-1 vote against the project might kill it.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374534">Westlands is the first water district to vote on the project. Water districts for the Silicon Valley and those in the farm-rich Central Valley and Southern California are due to vote in the coming weeks.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374535">John McManus, the executive director of the Golden Gate Salmon Association, said the water district’s decision was a major blow to the project.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374536">“The takeaway from today’s vote is that the current twin tunnels plan is dying from its own weight,” said McManus, who organization has been a vocal opponent to the project. “It’s way too big and expensive, even for the growers in the desert-dry western San Joaquin Valley who need the water the most. There’s no doubt that the existing method of transferring northern California water south is deadly for salmon and other wildlife and absolutely could be improved upon, but not by this behemoth.”</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374537">The tunnel project is the biggest proposed for California in more than a half-century, but has no firm financial commitments from local water districts.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374538">The vote comes a day after The Associated Press reported newly revealed state plans to put dozens more water agencies and millions of families and farmers on the hook for funding the tunnels.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374539">Brown is pressing to secure the project before he leaves office next year. It calls for building two 35-mile-long (56-kilometer-long) tunnels east of San Francisco to deliver water from the Sacramento River mostly to farms and cities hundreds of miles away in central and Southern California.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 25px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 25.5px; font-family: Lato, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374540">Backers say the tunnels will stabilize flows, bolstering endangered fish and ensuring a reliable water supply. Critics say the project will be used to drain Northern California dry and further harm native fish.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374541"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374542"></div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374468"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505747818016_374472"><br></div></div></div></body></html>