SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to fast-track a project to reroute more water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmers and cities as part of his revised budget blueprint set to be unveiled on Wednesday.
What happened: Newsom is asking state lawmakers to pass a trailer bill to shorten judicial review of lawsuits challenging the project and streamline its pending water rights permit by removing deadlines for when the project has to be under construction and using water.
“We’re done with barriers — our state needs to complete this project as soon as possible, so that we can better store and manage water to prepare for a hotter, drier future,” Newsom said in a statement provided to POLITICO. “Let’s get this built.”
Why this matters: A version of the proposed project has been floating around — first as a canal, then a pair of tunnels — for more than half a century, during which it has reliably brought out opposition from environmental groups and Delta elected officials concerned about habitat loss and construction impacts.
Newsom has called the $20 billion, 45-mile long tunnel through the crumbling Delta — now known as the Delta Conveyance Project — key to the state’s climate adaptation as it stares down an expected 10 percent reduction in water supplies by 2040. He has said he wants to finish the project’s permitting by the end of his term in early 2027.
He’s also sought to show off how he’s increasing water storage and supplies in his state in the wake of President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for more water deliveries in California.
More context: Newsom got lawmakers to sign an infrastructure streamlining package two years ago, but the package did not include the Delta Conveyance Project after heavy pushback from environmental groups and Delta lawmakers. The language required judges to resolve any lawsuits under the California Environmental Quality Act within 270 days.
What’s next: The State Water Resources Control Board is in the middle of a contentious months-long hearing to decide whether to grant the project a revised water right. Environmental and tribal groups are fighting the Department of Water Resources, the state agency which would oversee the project, to release more information about its historic water use. On Tuesday, they filed a petition asking the Water Resources Control Board to cancel the hearing if the information wasn’t provided.
Environmental groups and lawmakers from the Delta region immediately panned the proposal, promising a fight in the state Legislature.
“Governor Newsom’s proposal to fast-track the costly and destructive Delta Tunnel Project in the state budget is a poorly conceived plan that the Legislature should reject,” said Sen. Jerry McNerney, who is from Pleasanton.
Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom from Tracy said she would launch an audit of the Department of Water Resources with Restore the Delta, an advocacy group whose executive director, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, called Newsom’s proposal a “top-down push for an unaffordable, unnecessary tunnel that fails to solve the state’s real water challenges.”
The group of water agencies that would get the water from the new tunnel, meanwhile, cheered the proposal.
“The State Water Project is California’s largest water infrastructure and is in dire need of modernization to secure water supplies for generations to come,” said Jennifer Pierre, the general manager of the State Water Contractors. “Governor Newsom’s proposal marks a critical step in reducing barriers to innovation while creating efficiencies that will save time and billions of dollars as construction of the DCP moves forward.”
The largest of those agencies, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, called the proposal a “bold step.” The district has already paid millions in planning costs for the tunnel, but has not yet decided whether to pay for the construction itself.
“The legislation proposed today will support completion of this planning, reduce costs as well as regulatory and legal uncertainties, and allow Metropolitan’s board to make an informed decision about a long-term investment in the DCP without delay,” said Met General Manager Deven Upadhyay.
Read the full article here
