THE CONSTRUCTION, though not the long-term operation, of a proposed 45-mile extension to the State Water Project, backed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, has received permission from two key federal wildlife agencies.
On Friday, the California Department of Water Resources received permits known as biological opinions from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service concluding that construction can proceed under conditions designed to protect endangered species and sensitive habitat.
“We are closer than ever to seeing this vital piece of infrastructure completed and benefiting all Californians,” Newsom said in a statement. “Let’s get this built.”
The proposed 36-foot-diameter tunnel is intended to move excess rain and flood water beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and deliver it directly into the State Water Project at the Bethany Pump Station near the city of Tracy.
The water project is a 700-mile network of canals, hydroelectric generators and pumping plants that moves and stores water used by 27 million people and on 750,000 acres of farmland. It is used and supported by 29 public water agencies, largely based in the South Bay, Central Coast, South Coast, Inland Empire and Kern County.
The opinion of the Fish and Wildlife Service orders builders to take measures to avoid harming endangered or threatened species.
The list includes two fish — the delta smelt and longfin smelt — a small migratory bird known as the least Bell’s vireo, San Joaquin kit fox, giant garter snake, California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, valley elderberry longhorn beetle, two species that live in seasonal pools — the vernal pool fairy shrimp and vernal pool tadpole shrimp — western yellow-billed cuckoo, monarch butterfly, northwestern pond turtle and western spadefoot toad.
The agencies will address future phases, including operations, in subsequent biological opinions, but those operational impacts are what may drive species to extinction, said John Buse, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity.
“This is ludicrous — yes, construction of the tunnel will have adverse effects on Sacramento River salmon and other listed species, and maybe these effects can be reduced by the proposed conditions, but to ignore operations, including the diversion of massive quantities of water from the Delta, is stupid, illegal, and unconscionable,” Buse said by email.
The governor’s statement said that California is expected to lose 10% of its water supply due to hotter and drier conditions by 2040, threatening the provision of water for millions of Californians.
Project clears key hurdles
In April, the seven-member Delta Stewardship Council, which was created by the Legislature to develop an enforceable ecosystem protection plan, rejected most appeals filed by 10 groups challenging the project’s compliance with policies.
It also voted to return two issues related to the tunnel back to DWR for further review: whether the tunnel would improve conditions for the non-native invasive golden mussel and potential conflicts involving one of the tunnel’s major construction sites and a groundwater recharge program near Sacramento. That decision allowed the state to continue advancing permitting.
The governor’s statement said the reliability of the State Water Project could be reduced by as much as 23% due to future climate-drive losses, and the tunnel will help offset those losses.
San Francisco Baykeeper Science Director Jon Rosenfield said the federal opinion analyzes and permits construction of the tunnel only, but DWR’s own analyses show that operating the tunnel will harm native fish and wildlife populations that are already struggling to survive.
“Separating out the construction effects from the impacts of diverting water is a way to make the Delta Tunnel’s overall impact seem smaller,” Rosenfield said. “Decades of science show that numerous native fish species — including the Bay’s seven officially imperiled species and the coastal ocean Chinook salmon fishery it supports — have been devastated by unsustainable diversions under the status quo.”
Rosenfield said the opinions are not the final clearance for the tunnel. It must also receive a permit to operate from the State Water Resources Control Board, and water board hearings on the Delta Conveyance Tunnel are ongoing.
