A Union of Concerned Scientists report in May said that taking water-thirsty crops out of production and instead investing in clean industries and clean energy, such as solar power generation and battery storage, would provide more and better-paying jobs for the region. The better way to improve the Delta’s long-term future involves repurposing some of the Central Valley’s croplands for non-agricultural uses. Boston’s Big Dig was only 3.5 miles long, and the original price tag of $2.6 billion grew to a staggering $14.8 billion by the time it was completed. It could carry 6,000 cubic feet per second - or roughly enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 30 seconds.Ĭhallenging digging projects like this are notorious for cost-overruns. The governor’s plan, which would take a projected 20 years to complete, calls for a 45-mile long, 39-foot high tunnel beginning near the town of Courtland and running under the Delta’s wetlands and marshes. The tunnel would add to the pressure to take more water from the Sacramento River. Scientific studies have for years called on California to pump less water south in order to preserve the Delta’s health. The California Environmental Quality Act has routinely been used and abused to stop or delay worthwhile projects.īut the Delta tunnel doesn’t fall into that category. The governor’s frustration over how long it takes to push forward with major building efforts is understandable. Newsom sought to limit the timelines for environmental litigation and simplify the permitting process for the Delta tunnel, along with other coveted transportation, energy and infrastructure projects. Newsom’s latest effort was part of an 11-bill legislative package that the governor waited until May 19 to unveil, knowing that it would move through the Legislature without the sort of scrutiny major projects such as the Delta tunnel deserve. It’s the zombie water project that state officials won’t let die. Yet Newsom, like former governors Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger before him, keeps seeking ways to keep it alive. This a project that has never penciled out, wouldn’t add a drop of new water to California’s supply and would be an environmental disaster for the largest estuary west of the Mississippi. Gavin Newsom’s decision Monday to concede defeat in fast-tracking the Delta tunnel raised hopes that the $16 billion boondoggle was, at long last, dead.
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