By Dan Bacher

As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers making a decision on Gov. Newsom’s controversial tunnel project, Democratic members of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Congressional Delegation are urging the federal agency to deny its permits.

Lead by Representative Josh Harder (CA-09), the group of opposing lawmakers includes John Garamendi, Ami Bera, Mark DeSaunier and Doris Matsui. The alliance recently sent a letter that urged the Army Corps to make its final Record of Decision on the tunnel one that protects Delta waterways, local families and the regional economy.

The Corps’ potential approval of the project comes at a time when the Delta’s ecosystem is arguably in its worst-ever crisis as the Delta smelt has become virtually extinct in the wild while Central Valley salmon populations are experiencing their own alarming decline.

In addition to the Delta’s Washington D.C. coalition, Newsom’s tunnel is also strongly opposed by the governments of eight California counties, as well as numerous tribal governments and virtually every environmental group in the state. Nevertheless, Newsom and the Department of Water Resources keep pushing the tunnel forward, claiming that it’s a “climate resilience” necessity.

What Newsom and DWR want to build is a 45-mile, single-bore tunnel they claim would “modernize” California’s water infrastructure by diverting fresh flows from the Sacramento River to major agribusiness interests in central and southern California.

Harder and his fellow lawmakers from the region say that would be a disaster.

“The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the largest freshwater tidal estuary on the West Coast which supports irreplaceable agricultural lands, vital flood control infrastructure, and the livelihoods of millions of Californians,” their letter to the Army Corps states. “The Delta Tunnel would permanently alter this ecosystem through the construction of massive new intakes on the Sacramento River, extensive tunneling in Delta communities, and over a decade of disruptive construction activity. Even with proposed mitigation, the Final EIS acknowledges that the Delta Tunnel Project would result in significant adverse impacts, including permanent degradation of Delta landscapes, conversion of important agricultural lands, and substantial impacts to aquatic resources and habitats.”

Harder further outlined the danger that the tunnel poses to the taxpayers, water ratepayers, Delta farms, tribes and Delta-area cities and communities. Noting that a version of it was first proposed more than 60 years ago, he called Newsom’s tunnel a “monstrous zombie project with ballooning costs, growing to at least $20 billion in 2024 and potentially as high as $100 billion last year, according to the latest analysis.”

Harder added, “That doesn’t even factor in the devastating damages that Delta communities would face – Sacramento’s own findings revealed $167 million in damages to Delta agriculture, air quality, and infrastructure … Even preliminary work on the Delta Tunnel would be extreme – massive trenches, boring holes up to 250 feet deep, and major installation projects would tear up dozens of sites across the Delta … Today, I’m calling on the Army Corps to deny the permits needed for this boondoggle to ever be completed.”

Harder has also launched legislation to prohibit federal permits necessary for the tunnel to be implemented. Last summer, he further demanded a full audit of the project to ensure transparency for Delta communities that have been cut out of closed-door Sacramento decision-making.

Morgen Snyder, Director of Policy and Programs at Restore the Delta, is glad to see Harder and other Democratic leaders stepping in.

“The [tunnel] would have a direct, negative impact on environmental justice communities, Delta farms, commercial and recreational fishing, and Delta ecosystems,” Snyder noted. “The US Army Corps of Engineers relies heavily on DWR’s incomplete EIR, which is currently subject to litigation, to demonstrate minimal impact to the project area, ignoring the cumulative impacts on an already impacted economy and sensitive ecosystem. If the US Army Corps of Engineers moves forward with the record of decision and associated permitting, Delta communities and ecosystems are facing a decade or more of construction, reduced flows resulting in declining water quality, further degradation of a declining ecosystem, and increased negative impacts to the Delta’s declining river economy.”

Vance Staplin, Executive Director of the Golden State Salmon Association, is another person deeply involved in the tunnel battle. He hopes the Army Corps pays close attention to what lawmakers are saying.

“The Delta is already under immense stress,” Staplin observed. “Building a massive water diversion project that doesn’t create new water—but does threaten fisheries, water quality, and family-supporting jobs—is the wrong direction. Salmon need cold, clean, flowing water, not another attempt to export what little remains.”