By Kyle Jones, Sierra Club California
A critical phase in stopping Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed giant tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has begun.
The two tunnels, measuring about four-stories in diameter, are proposed to move huge quantities of water from northern California rivers to points south, by bypassing the San Francisco Bay-Delta through which the water would naturally flow. It resembles a peripheral canal proposal pushed by Governor Brown during the 1980s that was resoundingly defeated by voters in a statewide ballot.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) have applied to change the point of diversion of water for the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, which are the systems of canals and pumps that deliver Northern California water through the Delta to Southern California.
A change in a point of diversion permit is needed before the Brown Administration can begin construction of the tunnels to take water from the North Delta. Currently, at the southern end of the Delta, a pump system diverts water from the Delta to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.
To get the new diversion permit, DWR and BOR must prove that this change will not substantially injure another legal user of water, and that the change will not unreasonably impact any fish, wildlife, or other instream beneficial use.
DWR and BOR filed an application for the diversion permit last September at the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board), which is responsible for ensuring the permit application meets the legal requirements to be approved. Sierra Club California has joined with Friends of the River and other groups and individuals in protesting the permit. The Water Board now acts in a role similar to a judge, as DWR and BOR present their case, and protesting parties work to refute it.
To handle the logistics of such a large hearing, the Water Board has separated the hearing process into parts. Part 1, which began the last week of July, will address whether the tunnels will injure other legal users of water. DWR and BOR must show that when the proposed tunnels take high quality Sacramento River water out of the Delta, the action won’t harm those who rely on that water. This part of the hearing process will likely extend into January of next year.
Part 2, which will likely not start until at least February 2017, covers impacts to fish, wildlife, and other instream beneficial uses. DWR and BOR will attempt to persuade the Water Board that diverting up to 9,000 cubic feet per second of water from the Delta region will not harm the already imperiled Delta and the fish and wildlife that depend on it.
The Water Board hearing is just one obstacle the tunnels will have to scale before construction could begin. The Sierra Club and others will be responsible for ensuring that the disastrous environmental impacts the water diversion will create are presented to and heard by the Water Board, the members of which are all appointed by the governor.
The draft environmental impact report and other documentation prepared by the tunnels proponents, as well as independent analyses, have clearly shown pulling increasing amounts of fresh water out of the Delta will destroy the largest watershed and estuary on the West Coast. Additionally, federal wildlife and fisheries agencies have decided to review the current Delta pumping rules because of serious declines in key fish species. That review process could take a couple of years to complete.
Reprinted from the Sierra Club California Capitol Voice Newsletter