California State Senator Jerry McNerney Says Flawed New Report Calls Delta Tunnel Project “Sustainable” But Overlooks Huge Costs and Destruction It Will Cause

Leaders of the California Legislative Delta Caucus on Tuesday noted that a deeply flawed new report on California water strategies touts the Delta Tunnel Project as “sustainable” yet overlooks the massive, unaffordable costs of the project and the widespread destruction it will cause.

The Delta Tunnel Project is estimated to cost at least $20 billion, and likely much more, and will decimate thousands of acres of prime farmland and environmental habitat, along with historic, cultural and tribal resources. Yet those facts are ignored in the new report, produced by the California Department of Water Resources and touted by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“The claim that an extremely costly and environmentally destructive project is ‘sustainable’ and an ‘effective’ water strategy is false. In fact, the opposite is true,” said Delta Caucus Co-Chairs Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, and Assemblywoman Lori D. Wilson, D-Suisun City. “There are far more affordable alternatives to the tunnel project that are much better for the environment, including increasing water recycling and groundwater storage. We need investments that shore up the Delta’s water supply, not ones that damage one ecosystem to benefit another. Yet the administration’s new report effectively disregards these sustainable strategies while ignoring the tunnel’s huge costs and the destruction it will cause. The simple truth is: The Delta Tunnel Project is entirely unnecessary and unaffordable.”

For the full report, click here.