Sacramento, CA – In a year of record fires, record heat and the coronavirus pandemic in California, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) continues to fast track the Delta Tunnel Plan, potentially the most environmentally destructive and unjust public works project in California history.
On September 17, Delta Legacy Communities, Inc. sent a formal objection to the Department of Water Resources providing a $15 million loan to the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCA) for Delta tunnel engineering design.
“Since May of 2019, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has loaned $33.8 million to the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCA) for Delta tunnel engineering design, through amendments to the Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement,” according to a statement from Delta Legacy Communities, Inc.
The group said DWR is proposing to provide another $15 million to the DCA, for a total of $48.8 million in loans,
“Delta Legacy Communities, Inc. objects that DWR does not have legally available revenues in the State Water Resources Development System accounts to pay for the $15 million loan. For each statute governing a State Water Resources Development System fund (Burns-Porter Act, Central Valley Project Act, Davis-Dolwig Act) the letter has an explanation of how the statute restricts DWR's use of the funds,” the group said.
Delta Legacy Communities, Inc. Chair, Dan Whaley said, “DWR cannot take money dedicated to maintenance and repair of the existing State Water Project facilities and use it to pay for the Delta tunnel engineering efforts.”
Whaley said the Department of Water Resources has asked taxpayers to pay for repair of subsidence on the California Aqueduct, although the repairs are a legal obligation of the State Water Project Contractors.
Whaley added, “this is a back-door subsidy for the Delta tunnel project, and it is against the law.”
In the letter, Delta Legacy Communities also calls for the Department of Finance and DWR to comply with mandated reporting requirements for the State Water Resources Development System, before DWR issues the $15 million loan for Delta tunnel engineering.
“The Department of Finance and DWR need to explain to taxpayers where the State Water Project revenues are being spent. It’s the law,” concluded Whaley.
Delta Legacy Communities, Inc. supports and advocates for the eleven Delta legacy communities from Freeport to Knightsen, recognized in the Delta Reform Act of 2009. The Delta Legacy Communities, Inc. Board includes a member from each Delta legacy community.
Follow The Money: Why does the Newsom Administration appear so deeply committed to the construction of the Delta Tunnel, since the majority of Californians, including tribal leaders, Delta farmers, conservationists, recreational and commercial fishermen, Delta businesspeople and elected officials, oppose it?
It is no surprise that Governor Newsom received a total of $755,198 in donations from agribusiness in 2018, based on data from www.followthemoney.org. That figure includes $116,800 from Beverly Hills agribusiness tycoons Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the largest orchard fruit growers in the world and the sponsors of the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, a corporate agribusiness Astroturf group that promotes increasing water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
By backing the Delta Tunnel, promoting the voluntary water agreements, overseeing the issuing of a new draft EIR that increases water exports for the state and federal projects rather than reducing them, and releasing a controversial water portfolio, could it be that Newsom is bending to the will of his agribusiness donors in the San Joaquin Valley?