<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_1508288987560_45088" dir="ltr">I'm pretty sure this is good news. </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45088" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45088" dir="ltr">TS</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45088" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45088" dir="ltr"><a href="http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/2017/10/18/santa-clara-voted-on-something/" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45308">http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/2017/10/18/santa-clara-voted-on-something/</a><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45315"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45335"><span style="color: rgb(68, 102, 153); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 700; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45377">Santa Clara voted on — something</span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-style: italic; line-height: 18px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45193"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45194">By </span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45195"><a href="http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/author/breitlera/" title="View all posts by Alex Breitler" style="border: 0px; outline-width: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45196" title-off="">ALEX BREITLER</a></span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45197"> | </span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45198">Published: </span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45199"><abbr title="2017-10-18T00:29:50-0700" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; cursor: text; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45200" title-off="">OCTOBER 18, 2017</abbr></span> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45201">|</span> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45202"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45203"><a href="http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/2017/10/18/santa-clara-voted-on-something/#Comments" title="Comment on Santa Clara voted on — something" style="border: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45204" title-off="">Leave a comment</a></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 22px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45205"><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45206">The Santa Clara Valley Water District <a href="http://www.valleywater.org/EkContent.aspx?id=15987" style="border: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45207">says it voted to support</a> the California WaterFix today.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45208">But did it? The Mercury News describes the vote as a <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/17/santa-clara-valley-water-district-rejects-jerry-browns-twin-delta-tunnels-plan/" style="border: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45209">rejection of the Fix,</a> because Santa Clara’s board conditioned its approval on “considering an approach” that incorporates one tunnel instead of two tunnels.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45210">The Sacramento Bee also describes the vote <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article179404796.html" style="border: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45211">as a rejection</a> of Brown’s plan, though not prominently in the headline as the Merc did.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45212">This is getting parsed to death on social media, and is understandably causing tons of confusion. Bottom line: Santa Clara voted to support the WaterFix but with conditions that could dramatically change the project to the point where it is no longer the WaterFix.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45213">At least, not as it has always been described — two tunnels capable of diverting 9,000 cubic feet per second of water from the Sacramento River. If you choose to define “WaterFix” more loosely, merely as some kind of isolated conveyance, then that’s a different story. But that’s not the WaterFix preferred alternative.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45214">OK. Deep breath. The biggest problem seems to be with the wording of the resolution.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45215">The conditions are described by Santa Clara as “guiding principles for participation,” and are most definitely locked in as part of the overall approval.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45216">But principle No. 3 does appear to contain some wiggle room. Rather than explicitly requiring one tunnel instead of two, it says the district supports “considering an approach that incorporates… one tunnel instead of the two tunnels.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45217">The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/361889961/Santa-Clara-Valley-Water-District-Tunnels-Resolution#download&from_embed" style="border: 0px; outline-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45218">full language,</a> because clearly it matters in this case:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45219"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45220">“Given that Westlands Water District and certain other agriculture districts have declined to participate in the WaterFix project, we are supportive of a lower-cost, scaled-down and staged project that… is consistent with the existing environmental impact reports and other administrative proceedings. We support considering an approach that incorporates the following in the first stage of the project:</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45221"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45222">a) One tunnel instead of the two tunnels;</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45223"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45224">b) A reduced intake volume from the original 9,000 cubic feet per second;</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45225"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45226">c) A reduced number of intakes on the Sacramento River;</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45227"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45228">d) A project that incorporates and ensures less impacts on fisheries relative to current operations; and</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45229"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45230">e) Allows Santa Clara Valley Water District elected officials to be actively involved as leaders in the governance of the WaterFix project to ensure the project is implemented appropriately and to prevent any Southern California water grab.</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45231"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45232">Any changes to the project that diverge from this principle must be brought before the board before any final agreement is announced.”</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45233">Full disclosure: I wasn’t at Tuesday’s meeting and didn’t hear much of the debate. But here’s my take from the cheap seats.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45234">This sure doesn’t sound like support for the WaterFix as it has always been defined. But there’s enough wiggle room in the language (that word “considering” again) that I’m not sure it’s an absolute rejection, either.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45235">I would say that the board declined, for now, to endorse the project as originally proposed by the Brown administration.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45236">Enough. It’s late. Let the parsing continue.</div></div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508288987560_45096"><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>