I know a lot of people wait until the last minute to sign up but you’re making me nervous! If we don’t get more soon we may need to cancel it. Please sign up now !!!!
Event Date: July 21 (Saturday) at the Discovery Bay Golf and Country Club
Registration at noon
Prime rib dinner at 6 p.m.
We need to let the car dealerships offering our great hole-in-one cars that we have enough players soon!
Please email me ASAP and let me know if you want to golf, come to dinner, or be a sponsor: stcda@NoDeltaGates.com.
Now is not the time to give up in our battle against the Delta Tunnels! We need to bring our expert witnesses to testify. We can succeed but we need more money to take the battle to court.
You don’t need to be a golfer to participate.
Come to the dinner and enjoy a great prime rib meal and live auction with Mike Guzzardo as our auctioneer – always fun.
Become a sponsor.
We still need our Gold Sponsor and Silver Sponsor.
Thank you to our Bronze Sponsors:
Automatic Fender by Boat Innovation
Dave and Kathy Readler
Thank you to our Bronze Media Sponsors:
Brentwood Press and Delta Sun Times
And thank you to our Hole Sponsors:
Bethel Harbor
Bob & Sandy Smith
Brian Embom
Commodore Cruises
Contra Costa Blinds
Dr. Mike & Jan Todorovic
Ed Turman
Gary & Rosemary Colledge
Rivers End Marina
If Gov. Jerry Brown wanted tunnels badly enough, he would have made sure that his state agencies weren’t going to fail him, again. But he didn’t.
Just like the Oroville Dam construction failures, where the Department of Water Resources chose to take design shortcuts to save time and money with the nearly disastrous result of the spillway failure and evacuation of the 188,000 people from Oroville and surrounding communities, once again the DWR has taken shortcuts that risk lives, safety, and more to save a few bucks.
While we know the entire concept of building tunnels to remove fresh water out at the Sacramento River before it has a chance to flow through the Delta will be a disaster for the estuary, waterfowl, fish, farmers, and local communities, let’s assume for arguments sake that Gov. Brown and his agencies have convinced themselves that the Tunnels are a good idea.
Then they should have made sure to design the project in a way that was safe and responsible. But they didn’t. That is why they get an “F”.
What did they do wrong?
First, they picked a route for the tunnels long ago, before doing any adequate study.
In 2009 when I attended a BDCP workshop, they were talking about their “Through-Delta” route. Since then, they continued their focus on one route, the Through-Delta Route.
Their other alternatives in the EIR, of a Western Route and an Eastern Route, seem to be there mainly to satisfy CEQA requirements to present alternatives, but have little substance. The Eastern Route was 10 miles longer, hence $1 billion to $1.7 billion more. For cost reasons alone, they never performed a real analysis of that route. Worse they only glossed over other better alternatives to tunnels like desalination, recycling, or even Dr. Pyke’s Sherman Island proposal.
They picked their “Preferred Alternative” early on, made minor changes to it, and roared ahead. Even though:
Years ago their own Independent Science Board told them the soils in the Delta, along their through-Delta route, were not adequate for tunneling. They recommended moving to the Eastern Route where the soils are more stable.
Although their cost justification for the tunnels is heavily weighed on the destruction earthquakes may do to levees in the Delta and claimed impact to the water system, the tunnels are not being designed to withstand the same major earthquake in the Delta. This failure will be made worse due to the unstable soils along the Through-Delta Route.
They do not even list the levees as important infrastructure and have not analyzed the effect of tunneling under the levees. Levee failure will be made worse due to the unstable soils along the Through-Delta Route.
They know there are numerous gas wells along the through-tunnel route, not the Eastern route. (One of the biggest gas fields in California). Even though Metropolitan Water District hit a gas well when building the tunnel to Castaic some years ago, killing 17 workers, they again are ignoring the warning signs.
They do not appear to be accurately reporting the soil stability under the main channel.
They are ignoring the warnings that tunneling in soft soils under railroad piers and pipelines is unsafe, they are planning to do just that under the Santa Fe Railroad and East Bay MUD’s water pipeline. This is made worse due to the unstable soils along the Through-Delta Route.
Once again, the state agencies are focused on cost and schedule, not worker safety or other implications.
URGENT: We need golfers / dinner attendees / sponsors for our major Fundraiser of the year!
Right now we don’t have enough golfers for the tournament or for the Hole-In-One car sponsors to provide cars for our July 21 event. We don’t have enough dinners sold to hold the event! If I don’t have you down, please email me ASAP and let me know if you want to golf, come to dinner, or be a sponsor: stcda@NoDeltaGates.com. More info is on our home page http://www.NoDeltaTunnels.com. Forms are also linked below.
Now is not the time to give up!
While I’ve been passing out flyers about our upcoming Fundraising Event (July 21), several people have said, “But I thought the fight against the Delta Tunnels is over. Didn’t they win?”
Heck, no I retort.
It may sound like a lot of bad news – more than good – has been coming out about the tunnels. But the fact of the matter is they are still where they were a year ago: working to obtain the permits from the Water Board to begin construction. STCDA, using your generous donations, hired expert witnesses and prepared an awesome case showing why building the tunnels would be so detrimental on Delta communities and waterways. No construction can start before they get their permits.
If the Water Board awards the permits even with all of the strong objections and testimonies presented to them about why that would be a terrible decision, then we need to plead our case in court.
We need to bring our expert witnesses back to testify. That is why we are out fundraising now.
Our major fundraiser is our golf/dinner event July 21.
NOTE: You don’t need to be a golfer to participate.
Come to the dinner and enjoy a great prime rib meal and live auction with Mike Guzzardo as our auctioneer – always fun.
Become a sponsor.
We still need our Gold Sponsor and Silver Sponsor.
Thank you to Automatic Fender by Boat Innovation for being our Bronze Sponsor.
Thank you also to Brentwood Press and Delta Sun Times for being Bronze Media Sponsors.
And thank you for the many businesses and individuals that have been stepping up as Hole Sponsors.
MAINLY: We need more golfers and dinner guests !!!!
Right now we don’t have enough golfers for the tournament or for the Hole-In-One car sponsors to provide HIO cars for our event.
I know July 21 (the date of our Save the Delta Charity Golf Event) seems like a long ways off, but it would sure help us plan if we could get the golf sign-ups going early.
To incentivize you, we’re offering $5 of raffle tickets to any player who contacts us by June 15th with their intent-to-play and ANOTHER $5 in raffle tickets if we receive their checks by the end of June (via mail to the Drakes Drive address or in person). So $10 of prize raffle tickets for golfers who make both deadlines.
OTHER PLUSES: It helps us to get insight into the player list. AND you are assured a spot in the event.
So sign up early!!!
Registration forms: Excel Version (you can fill out and email back to me) or PDF Version (mail to me at 5672 Drakes Drive, Discovery Bay, CA 94505)
WE ALSO ARE LOOKING FOR SPONSORS AND RAFFLE/AUCTION PRIZE DONORS.
I’m not completely surprised when I read a story like this taking place in West Virginia, land of coal miners needing to justify fossils fuels for their livelihood. This article in the Guardian today talks about a group of people up in the trees trying to block a pipeline construction project going through the forest they own (or did before eminent domain) and trying to keep their pristine stream clean, a stream that they can now drink from directly.
But we are encountering exactly the same mentality from California’s Governor regarding the Delta Tunnels.
“These [West Virginia] activists hold the typical concerns of having a gas pipeline run through the yard: if it leaks it poisons the water, the font of the incredible biodiversity in the area; there’s a two-and-a-half-mile blast radius if it explodes; the pipeline is taking their land through eminent domain against their will for resource extraction that they feel will not benefit them or their neighbors.”
It sounds like their State is going to ruin a pristine area – sounds like the Delta.
“Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, took $50,000 from MVP’s largest shareholder, EQT Corp, and another $199,251 from Dominion Energy, major shareholder of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline being built nearby.” Sounds like Jerry Brown taking $90,000 from Stewart Resnick and other Central Valley farmers before making his decision. And the Director of the DWR is now Karla Nemeth, wife of an executive strategist with the Metropolitan Water District. Too much corruption and money in government.
These people weren’t always activists, but recently became so. Their resistance started almost four years before that. They went through all of the steps to fight it: the comment periods unheeded, the independent environmental and archeological studies snubbed, the court challenges lost, the demonstrations ignored, the politicians petitioned and rebuffed.
Sound familiar? We in the Delta have been doing all that for twice as long and also have had our comments unheeded our attendance at their meetings ignored and rebuffed.
California is supposed to be the environmental leader, the protector of the oceans and rivers, believers in science-based government. Yet here we are. If the US House Bill with the rider to not allow law suits on the WaterFix passes, since law suits may be our final chance to stop the Delta Tunnels, construction might begin. I’ll be interested to see how long the tree sitters can stop construction in West Virginia.
Maybe our next Governor will understand we want California to be an environmental leader again and protect the Delta.
Here’s a summary of the latest info I’ve found regarding candidates and propositions for the Delta:
Candidates for Governor of California
Democrats:
#1 Delaine Eastin (D) Strongly opposed: She had the best answer of all of the candidates: ”The tunnels are the Peripheral Canal with a lid on it. The state isn’t doing water planning. We’re just doing expensive things like tunnels — an old idea.” She has also stated she favors groundwater recharge and not more dams. That is the right direction. She’s strong and tough and not taking big money so wouldn’t be influenced by the L.A. Developers and big agribusiness owners.
#2 Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Opposed to the tunnels: He wants to look at all the options first, like conservation, and the latest technologies and alternatives to the tunnels. (I put him #2 because he wants to “look at other options first” and didn’t say he would not go ahead with the tunnels. Plus he’s from L.A. and on the side of the Central Valley farmers, so it worries me things could change once elected).
#3 John Chiang (D) Sounds like he is Opposed: He has stated “My first priority is to preserve the delta.” I haven’t seen him specifically state he is opposed to the tunnels. Gov. Brown claims the tunnels are good for the Delta, after all. I want to hear him state his opposition clearly.
#4 Newsom (D) Thinks One Tunnel is Needed. That’s bad if it goes through the current though-Delta construction zone and unless operational constraints are mandated which hasn’t been successful in the past. On the good side, he wants to reduce reliance on the Delta by focusing on regional solutions, investing in recycling and ground water replacement, and conservation. But one tunnel through the Delta is bad.
Republicans – both are “Opposed” but …
#1 – John Cox (R) Opposes the tunnels but doesn’t believe in climate change so it is unclear how/if he would address the problems in the Delta. On the other hand, he is against corporate money in politics, so maybe he’d be one to push back on Stewart Resnick and his big ag cronies.
#2 – Travis Allen (R) is opposed (that’s good) but he has a total lack of understanding about water in California. He wants to build dams so every home can have green lawns and thinks we have more than enough water to send to the “enormously productive Central Valley that has lacked water for years, and Southern California”. Dams are not today’s solution. With climate change the Sierras will be having less water, not more. We need more regional self-sufficiency through new technologies and conservation. Most of California is a desert. Green lawns need to be replaced. We don’t need more “profitable” almonds.
Green Party
#1 Josh Jones is Opposed and has a good understanding of the issues.
#2 Chris Carlson seems opposed but all I found as his “statement” was a silly poem. So I can’t take him seriously.
Other Races
I haven’t researched the candidates in other races, but can comment about what our current incumbents have been doing for the Delta and they have been great:
Jerry McNerney for U.S. Congress is an extremely strong advocate for the Delta and adamantly opposed to the tunnels. He helped stop the 2-Gates project – remember? That was where we almost lost our main navigation channel up Old River when they were going to dam it and Connection Slough. Since then he has continued to speak out and work on legislation that would be good for the Delta (like his W.E.S.T. Act) and oppose legislation that would harm the Delta.
Jim Frazier, CA Assembly District 11, is an outspoken advocate for the Delta and continues to be a thorn in the Governor’s side. Frazier formed the Delta Legislative Caucus last year and brought the State Auditor out to the people where she slammed the cost/benefits analysis (or lack thereof) for the tunnels. Frazier pushed a bill to dissolve the Delta Stewardship Council (the group of thugs who are supposed to be protecting the Delta and instead we say they have become the “Tunnel Stewardship Council”). Jim’s bill got stopped by the big oil and big ag representatives who were the majority. Frazier’s Stop the Tunnels sign on his office balcony was annoying the Governor whenever he walked by it (haha). Frazier now lives in Discovery Bay. He feels the pain right with us. He’s always given us support and resources.
Propositions
Prop 68 – I’m trying to get more information on this one. The Sierra Club backs it but I want to make sure there isn’t anything in there that could be used to support the tunnels or if that is addressed anywhere in the measure to be sure they don’t sneak and shift money around.
Although the Santa Clara Valley Water District vote to finance $650 million of the Tunnels was disappointing, Director Barbara Keegan acknowledged the concerns expressed by residents in Discovery Bay (thank you all who sent email to the board) about impacts on boating and Delta recreation. She stated that the SCVWD appointed representative would be bringing the construction impacts to the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Joint Project Authority Board (DCDCA). “Someone has to stand up and say, ‘this is a problem.’”
That obviously didn’t happen in the first DCDCA meeting! Instead, a smiling Tony Estremera, also from SCVWD and now the new President of the DCDCA Board, seemed joyous and gleefully stated he was looking forward to the very long, long construction period.
Let the board know how incensed you were to see him laughing about the long construction phase!!! And that nothing about the construction will be nice for us!
Ask them when the SCVWD reps are going to stand up and say, “This is a problem!” ???
Everyone needs to email them again. Say that we saw Tony and Barbara at the first DCDCA Board Meeting. Yet even after all 5 Delta County Supervisors stood up and expressed concerns, the Board didn’t acknowledge the concerns or put an agenda item on for the next meeting to review the concerns.
Diane Burgis, Contra Costa County Supervisor delivered a passionate please, telling them the issues of traffic through rural areas, the value of farming and the $750 million economic hit that will occur to the county from the loss of Delta recreation. She confronted the board about the damage to the Delta and said, “You know! You know this is going to be damaging.” She went on to say that it is a unique area, home to many historical legacy towns, many natural resources. She explained that our infrastructure is mostly 2-lane levee roads that are vital to our statewide economy and for the safety and welfare of those who live in the Delta. And that it is not the right place for massive construction and columns of trucks.
Don Nottoli, Sacramento County Supervisor added that the construction project will forever change daily life to the historic community. Quiet rural towns will be transformed into construction zones. Impacts are prolonged, sometimes 7 x 24 for years and years which will undoubtedly affect quality of life, displace people, effect agribusiness, tourism, fishing, boating. He told them the project is wrongheaded, misguided.
Yet at the end of the meeting, we see and hear this (let’s see his smiling face one more time):
Tell them we demand that the board add an agenda item for the next meeting to do an honest review of the Delta Communities concerns and of the true impact this massive construction project will have on communities and boating and recreation in the Delta.
Barbara Keegan had said she enjoyed going to the Delta and expressed that area shouldn’t be lost to Santa Clara Valley boaters to enjoy. But that is exactly what they are about to do. Lose it forever as a boating mecca.
We need to keep telling them.
Email Tony Estremera, the new President of the DCDCA Board and Barbara Keeling, the alternate. Include the general board email so they all receive it. And cc your County Supervisor.
(I’d appreciate a later forward of your email or BCC, but please don’t put me on the to/cc’s they will see.)
If you are in Contra Costa County, cc Diane Burgis
At this point, I don’t think it does any good to stress how dumb the project is or that there are better alternatives. Tony even said he thinks the infrastructure is “old” so it’s time for an upgrade. They have convinced themselves this is a valid project and the environmentalists are complaining for no valid reason about little fish that this project, they have been told, will help. You can add that it is a dumb project and why at the end, but make the key point, the thing they read and understand, is the huge, huge impact on Delta communities lives with the project. And how this peaceful, scenic, boating favorite is being taken away from their Santa Clara residents to enjoy on weekends forever once the construction project is allowed to begin.
Include that there’s always been a better, more viable construction alternative, the Eastern Route, which was recommended by the State’s own Independent Scientists years ago. Construction along that route wouldn’t impact the Delta at all. It would cost $1 to $1.7 billion more, so start with one tunnel and from that cost savings build it on the Eastern Route. Win-win.
We don’t want any tunnels, but if they build it, they need to go around the Delta, not through it.
I’ll be writing additional blogs about the construction impact and we can quote them and send them to the board in phases. But start those emails going. You can cc Diane Burgis if you live in CCC or your local Supervisor if you live elsewhere.
The alignment recommended by the independent reviewers is shown below – the Eastern Alignment. It would have gone next to I-5, reducing both truck and barge traffic through the Delta as well as any risks from tunneling under the Delta levees. It was decided against because of cost considerations, because that route is ten miles longer. But we all know, the economic and human impacts from the massive through-Delta construction destruction has not been calculated as part of the tunnel cost.
We have been telling every agency in comments and in person for almost ten years that they were going down the wrong alignment or, as Supervisor Skip Thomson told the DCDCA Thursday, they were going down the wrong tunnel.
At the start of all of this, someone should have drawn lines around the Delta, the fragile estuary, the place beloved by boaters and visitors throughout California, a place of historic towns and said, “This is what we want to protect.”
If they’d done that, then there would have been no “Through Delta” alignment alternative ever considered. Clearly there is no understanding of what it is we are trying to save.
In addition, scientists have said the soils through the Delta are not good for tunneling. Tunneling through the Delta is adding lots of risk – not only for the project, cost, and schedule – but also that settling can cause levee failures. And who knows what problems they could have going under the main river channels! Here’s the details about tunneling through the Delta.
The State’s own Independent Science Board years ago recommended the Eastern Alignment. Yet they were ignored.
The State Agencies have a history of ignoring science
This entire project was supposed to start with the Delta Flow Requirements but that 2010 scientific report said they were already exporting too much water. So the Delta Stewardship Council and Department of Water Resources ignored the report and looked for ways to export even more water.
It’s like the Oroville Dam. The DWR was warned about design flaws in the dam but for cost reasons, ignored them. The DWR now has been warned about the risks of tunneling through the Delta, are ignoring those risks, and plowing ahead to save money.
It’s like the Metropolitan Water District’s worst tunneling disaster. The current tunnel path goes through the largest natural gas field in California, the Rio Vista gas fields, but not East. MWD ignored warnings of gas fields when tunneling their Castaic tunnel, had an explosion from the gas, killed 17 workers. MWD is again ignoring the warning and not taking any of the recommended steps regarding tunneling through a gas field.
A large justification for the tunnels is fear of future earthquake causing the levees to fall down. Yet the tunnels are not being designed to withstand a seismic event. Plus going through the shifting Delta soil will make any earthquake impacts worse. Plus they are going under the major river channels.
Why are then not going East?
With the risks to going on the current path, shouldn’t they step back, perhaps start with one tunnel and with the cost savings from that go the ten-mile longer but safer and less destructive route?
No Tony, the Delta folks are not looking forward to this horrible construction project! Estremera and Nemeth rejoicing in kicking off the Delta Tunnels – before permits are even issued!
Gene Beley has posted videos of the entire Design Conveyance Design & Construction Joint Powers Authority (DCDCA) meeting held last Thursday, May 17th in Sacramento. If you remember, this is the new Board just formed to manage the Delta Tunnel construction. The five Delta County Supervisors commented at the start of the meeting. What struck me was the end of the meeting, when the new President of the Board, Tony Estremera signed the official agreement papers with Karla Nesmeth, Director of DWR. Estremera was absolutely beaming at the prospects of leading this fine project and stated, “We look forward to a nice long period of construction.”
I think we need to educate Mr. Estremera about the damage this destructive construction project is going to do to Delta communities!
The entire meeting video is here. At the beginning, the five Delta County Supervisors speak out against the tunnels: Diane Burgis, Contra Costa County; Don Nottoli, Sacramento County; Oscar Villegas, Yolo County; Chuck Winn, San Joaquin County; and Skip Thompson, Solano County Supervisor and Chairman of Delta Protection Committee and member of the Delta Stewardship Council. They all jointly stood together and lambasted the DCDCA Board and the project for the damage it would do to the Delta, for the fact that better projects are not being done, and for the closed door policies and lack of representation of Delta Communities into the process.
Diane Burgis was the most passionate and articulate about what is at risk – the agriculture in the Delta, the harm to public recreation and boating. She explained the two-lane levee roads that comprise the infrastructure here that are not appropriate for a major construction project, and the impact on historical towns. She said, “The Delta deserves long-term protections. Land use changes cannot contribute to the diminishment and damage to the Delta!” Nottoli said this project, “will forever change daily life to the historic community. Quiet rural towns will be transformed into construction zones, affecting the quality of life, it will displace people, effect agribusiness, tourism, fishing, boating.” He called the project “wrongheaded” and “misguided.”
Villegas said the county supervisors needed to be part of the project. He was concerned about the $17 billion price tag and said, “We know it will go beyond that and rate payers won’t be willing to pay. And projects that are better for the environment” won’t get done.
Winn expounded that the twin tunnels don’t generate any more water or flood protection. He thinks that, “California is not in a situation where we lack water, we lack infrastructure. We have 150 million to 300 million AF/year. 32.6 MAF had no benefit because there was no storage capacity in those areas or further south. Need to manage it more productively.
Thomson told the Board, “You’re going down the wrong tunnel.” He reminded them that, “The Delta Reform Act mandated a policy to reduce exports from the Delta. The tunnels only addresses one of the co-equal goals. There are other projects that will really unite California from North to South, not cause further devastation to the Delta. A JPA is bad public policy to acquire land, design and start construction before permits have been approved. You don’t build a house before you get the permit. You need to go through the permitting and bond validation before starting. Most planning has occurred behind closed doors. There are 4 million people directly impacted yet the state, Governor, and his administration haven’t made one attempt to reach out to us. We can be part of the solution, else we will be part of the problem. How will you make sure we are not harmed by the project?”
A big thank you to Gene Beley who traveled to the meeting, recorded it all, and prepared the edits and separate pictures.
Please use the links below to contact Senators Feinstein and Harris and ask them to oppose the House Appropriations Committee’s 2019 Spending Bill’s rider Sec. 437 which would exempt the Delta Tunnels from all judicial review under any Federal or State Law. This attempted run-around of the courts is an affront to democracy.
Senator Feinstein’s D.C. Office:
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Senator Feinstein can also be reached via email
Senator Harris’s D.C. Office:
Phone (202) 224 – 3553
Senator Harris can also be reached via email
PLEASE FORWARD this to all of your contacts and ask them to write the senators and to call or write their U.S. congressman to complain.
As quoted in the RecordNet article: “Enough with this tedious rule-of-law stuff, Rep. Ken Calvert, a Riverside County Republican, said in a statement.
“All of the project’s stakeholders have had a plethora of opportunities to express their thoughts and concerns,” Calvert said. “We must move forward with the project.”
Calvert is right that we have had a plethora of opportunities to express our thoughts and concerns. The problem is that state vehemently refuses to address them. You’ve attended meeting after meeting, gotten on the bus, expressed your thoughts and concerns: how this project would wreck our cherished waterways, how construction traffic has no place on all our rural roads and waterways, through bird habitat and peaceful scenic areas. The scientists tell them we need more fresh water flowing through the Delta, not less. Yet these deep concerns fall on deaf ears. So now Calvert says that they’ve heard the concerns, ignored them, are going to just march ahead and impact Northern California economically, environmentally, and emotionally but we have no right to justice?
They are going to take away a precious, favorite area so many Californians cherish so the almond growers can grow more almonds and L.A. can have more homes with green lawns.
They know they are in the wrong. That is why they know their project doesn’t stand up to legal scrutiny. If the State Water Resources Control Board wasn’t stacked with Brown’s cronies, after all the damning testimony presented over the past 2 years at the Water Board Permit Hearings, the Water Board wouldn’t issue the permits and we’d be done. We could go back to normal and Met could invest in desalination, recycling, conservation.
Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA) 