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Stop the Tunnels Petition

WHY A PETITION TO GOVERNOR BROWN?

The State of California wants to build two giant tunnels, each 40 feet in diameter, 150 underneath the Sacramento San-Joaquin Delta. The tunnels would run about 30 miles just south of Sacramento to just north of Tracy. This project is misnamed the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).

The tunnels could carry up to 2/3 of the flow of the Sacramento River. This is the main supply for fresh water in the Bay-Delta estuary. Water exporters want this high quality water for use in other parts of California. Right now, about 35% of water exported from the Delta goes to cities in the Bay Area, the South Coast and Southern California, while big agribusiness growers in the San Joaquin Valley receive about 65% of the water. In fact just two San Joaquin Valley agricultural contractors, Westlands Water District and Kern County Water Agency, used more water than Metropolitan Water District and Santa Clara Valley urban users combined. Yet, these big agricultural users, which mainly grown cotton, pistachios and almonds for export, contribute only about .3% to California’s economy. These are the same interests that have pushed State and Federal officials to over pump the Delta during the last decade and that continue to push for over riding the Endangered Species Act to increase pumping.  They are now are pushing through the BDCP for even more water to be exported from the Delta.

The proposed Delta tunnels would destroy Delta fisheries, coastal fisheries, especially the $1.5 billion annual commercial salmon fishery, Delta family farms valued at $5.2 billion annually, water quality for Delta water users in San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, North Coast rivers, and would have a negative impact on the ecological health of the San Francisco Bay. Construction of the project itself would turn the bucolic 500,000 acres of the interior Delta into an industrial eyesore. The BDCP is called a conservation plan and is sold to the public as a benefit for the Delta because they intend to take farmland from Delta family farms and convert it to habitat for fisheries. However, State fishery officials admit that such habitat creation would be experimental, and independent science shows again and again that fresh water flows are needed to restore fisheries. Habitat without water will fail to improve fishery conditions.

In addition, the tunnels will not make any additional water. If the tunnels were in operation today, during the current drought, they would remain dry, and any water taken from the Delta would be exported from the existing pumps according to BDCP documents.

Most importantly, everyday Californians will end up paying for the project through higher water rates and higher taxes to pay for general obligation bonds. The BDCP is estimated to cost $24 billion in 2012 dollars, but when interest and operation costs are added in, independent economists calculate the project would cost over $60 billion.

*Read the petition by clicking below.

[emailpetition id=”1″]