<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></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_1513979925178_26994" dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/bidding-in-secret-officials-quietly/content?oid=25554485" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27353" class="">https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/bidding-in-secret-officials-quietly/content?oid=25554485</a></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27436"><br></div><h1 style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 20px; margin: 0pt; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27200">Bidding in secret: Officials quietly solicit contracts on ‘twin tunnels’ project despite lawsuits, lack of permits</h1><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27201">Department of Water Resources director says awarding big contracts ‘has a nice ring to it’</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 10px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27202"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27203"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27204">By <a rel="author" href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/scott-thomas-anderson/author" style="font-size: 10px; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27205">Scott Thomas Anderson</a> </span><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27206"><a href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Contact?content=25554485" rel="nofollow" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27207">scotta@newsreview.com</a><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27208"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27209"></span><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27210"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27211"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27212">This article was published on <a href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/2017-12-21/archive" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27213"><time itemprop="dtreviewed" datetime="2017-12-21" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27214">12.21.17</time></a>.</div><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27215"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27216"><table border="0" width="300" align="right" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none; margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 12px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27217"><tbody id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27218"><tr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27219"><td style="vertical-align: top;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27220"><img src="https://www.newsreview.com/imager/bidding-in-secret-officials-quietly/b/original/25554485/180c/news2.jpg" alt="" title="" style="margin-bottom: 10px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27221" data-id="67230afe-5a5a-4d34-7c2b-5c1664aaa41c"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27222">Courtland’s marina at sunset. The town’s third- and fourth-generation pear farmers are among the north Delta residents who beliveve their businesses and communities will be ended by the twin tunnels. <div style="margin-bottom: 10px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27223">PHOTO BY SCOTT THOMAS ANDERSON</div></div></td></tr><tr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27224"><td style="padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27225"><div style="width: 300px; overflow: hidden;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27226"><div style="background-color: rgb(227, 225, 225); margin: 10px 0px 20px; padding: 5px; min-width: 150px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27227"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27228">Related stories:</b> <br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27229"><a href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=24933875" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; word-wrap: break-word;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27230">Why save the Delta? Unknown river towns fear untold devastation from Jerry Brown’s twin tunnels project</a><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27231">Meet the farmers and river people who don’t want to say goodbye to their way of life.<span style="font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27232"> SN&R</span>, 08.31.17. <br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27233"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27234"><a href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=25070887" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; word-wrap: break-word;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27235">Clogged tunnels? North Delta towns stay guarded after financial setback for twin tunnels</a><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27236">As Westlands Water District appears to pull out, cheers ring from Freeport to Rio Vista.<span style="font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27237"> SN&R</span>, 09.28.17. <br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27238"></div><div style="float: right; clear: both; width: 300px; margin: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27239"><small style="text-align: center; display: block; font-weight: bold;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27240">Advertisement</small><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27241"><ins style="position: relative; width: 300px; min-height: 250px; border: none; display: inline-table;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27242"><ins style="position: relative; width: 300px; min-height: 250px; border: none; display: block;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27243"><iframe name="google_ads_iframe_sacramento_content_ad_300x250_1" width="300" height="250" vspace="0" hspace="0" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?correlator=3250963649514735&output=html&impl=ifr&ic=0&d_imp=1&eid=108809011%2C108809016&client=ca-pub-0255682584571681&slotname=sacramento_content_ad_300x250_1&page_slots=nr_sacramento_728x90%2Cnr_sacramento_232x90%2Csacramento_content_ad_300x250_1&cust_params=Section%3DLocal_Stories&cookie=ID%3D31df284f8fbd7094%3AT%3D1478794441%3AS%3DALNI_MZ98uZlIG28BuziYNHZwRglYpDgIg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsreview.com%2Fsacramento%2Fbidding-in-secret-officials-quietly%2Fcontent%3Foid%3D25554485&lmt=1513801104&dt=1513979938404&cc=100&biw=1140&bih=610&adk=3090493532&adx=320&ady=980&ifi=3&oid=3&ea=0&u_tz=-480&u_his=1&u_java=true&u_h=900&u_w=1600&u_ah=828&u_aw=1600&u_cd=24&u_nplug=1&u_nmime=31&flash=0&gads=v2&ga_vid=1144606114.1478794444&ga_sid=1513979938&ga_hid=752445049" style="border-width: 0px; left: 0px; ; top: 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27244"></iframe></ins></ins></div><img src="https://www.newsreview.com/images/spacer.gif" alt="spacer" height="10" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27245" data-id="ed9f9f2b-3202-5f73-ae08-bf26fd64fccc"></div></div><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27246"></td></tr></tbody></table><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27247"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27248">Opponents of the embattled “twin tunnels” project</b> in the Delta were breathing a sigh of relief last fall when a $3 billion hole was suddenly blown into its financing scheme. Nevertheless, on December 7, California officials quietly opened a construction bidding process on the conveyance system—despite the missing funding, the project’s lack of permits, dozens of pending lawsuits, 90 percent of needed design work, a damning state auditor’s analysis, and the fact that environmental impact hearings on the tunnels haven’t taken place yet.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27249">California officials didn’t announce they were now soliciting contracts to any media, but rather went with the minimal legal requirement of notification on an obscure state website.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27250">Officially known as California WaterFix, the twin tunnels project would take a huge volume of fresh water from the north Delta and divert it primarily to an arid agricultural industry south of Fresno.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27251">Conservationists and independent scientists have predicted catastrophic effects on the Delta if the project is built—the result of salt water incursions moving up the estuary from the Bay. That development alone could put farmers, fishers and marina owners out of business from Freeport to Isleton, and kill much of Sacramento County’s annual $507 million agricultural economy.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27252">State scientists deny this will happen.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27253">In August, an SN&R analysis of the twin tunnels’ 40,000-page environmental impact report revealed additional impacts from 14 years of nonstop construction, including massive excavation, deep dredging, steel pile-driving, the razing of historic homes, the draining of ground wells, and hundreds of heavy diesel trucks rolling across 90-year-old bridges every day for over a decade. (Read “Why save the Delta?” Feature, August, 31, 2017.) The EIR’s graphics indicate that the north Delta’s bucolic riverbanks and sloughs will become a permanent industrial zone.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27254"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27255">Tunnel foes saw a ray of hope</b> in September when the Westlands Water District unexpectedly voted not to help fund the project, creating an estimated $3 billion shortfall in its budget.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27256">But then, on December 6, the Department of Water Resources held what it called “a California WaterFix Industry Day” at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento—and put the event on in conjunction with Metropolitan Water District, one of the largest beneficiaries of the tunnels. Standing in front of some 250 drilling and construction contractors, DWR Director Grant Davis said the state was now accepting requests for proposals for a project he estimated was about a year from breaking ground.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27257">“That certainly has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” Grant told the contractors and consultants in the audience. “I see a lot of people nodding—bidding opportunities.”</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27258">The next presentation came from WaterFix program manager Chuck Gardner, whose PowerPoint presentation hinted at the construction boom by referring to “a mega-tunnel project.”</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27259">That was echoed by the management team’s John Bednarski, who said the tunnels will equal “massive construction efforts taking place.” Bednarski said the bidding processing was starting the next day. His presentation acknowledged only four of the 11 major state and federal permits for the tunnels have been approved. The design of the tunnels and their Herculean intakes is only 5 percent complete, officials also conceded.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27260">During a question and answer session, Department of Water Resources contract specialist Nikki Hatcher admitted her department had not notified or advertised the opening of the bidding process in any media, but rather posted the news on the Cal eProcure website, which is a different website than the state’s official California WaterFix site.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27261">“I haven’t heard of the website before,” said Barbara Daly of North Delta CARES, a nonprofit watchdog group that opposes the tunnels.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27262">Responding to an inquiry from SN&R, DWR spokesperson Erin Mellon wrote in an email that a general time-line for bidding on the project’s construction is posted on the official WaterFix website. However, the graphic that Mellon referred to only notes that the proposals process is slated for some time within a year.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27263">Daly stressed that specific notification about the bidding process to media is important—or at least having it spelled out on the state’s official website—because many Californians think the project is on hold. That’s because of an array of lawsuits over imminent domain, business loss and environmental impact, as well as the missing $3 billion in funds and a recent state auditor’s report decrying the project’s skyrocketing costs.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27264">The state Water Resources Control Board also hasn’t yet held hearings on recreational and environmental impacts from the tunnels project.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27265">“Now they’re signing all of these contracts, but what will happen if the project doesn’t move forward and the contracts are broken?” Daly said. “Are the California taxpayers going to be liable?”</div></div><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27266"><div style="text-align: right; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27267"></div><div style="min-height: 20px; margin: 5px 0px 10px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27268"><span style="float: left; min-height: 20px; width: 170px !important;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513979925178_27269"><div data-href="https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/bidding-in-secret-officials-quietly/content?oid=25554485" data-layout="button_count" data-action="like" data-show-faces="true" data-share="true" fb-xfbml-state="parsed" fb-iframe-plugin-query="action=like&app_id=&container_width=170&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsreview.com%2Fsacramento%2Fbidding-in-secret-officials-quietly%2Fcontent%3Foid%3D25554485&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&share=true&show_faces=true" style="display: inline-block; 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