Legislative Committee Will Reconsider Full Audit of DWR Spending on Delta Tunnel

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) didn’t have enough members present yesterday to approve a full audit of the Department of Water Resources spending on Delta Tunnel, but they did approve the reconsideration of the audit at the July/August JLAC hearing.

After the hearing, Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom held an afternoon press conference on the State Capitol lawn regarding the urgency for an audit of DWR funding of the Delta Tunnel.  

Those who spoke at the press conference besides Assemblymember Ransom included Malissa Tayaba, Vice Chair of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta; and Oscar Villegas, Yolo County Supervisor. Bill Wells, Executive Director of the California Delta Chambers and Visitors Bureau, and a representative of the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau also spoke.  

“This request to audit the Delta Conveyance Project is essential for holding our state accountable before spending more than $20 billion,” said Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom. “It is the Legislature’s constitutional duty to ensure transparency from the Governor’s Department of Water Resources.”

“Spending $1.5 million a day on a project that lawmakers are told ‘has not started’ is deeply concerning. The Delta Conveyance Project must undergo a rigorous audit and earn the public’s trust with a clean bill of health- especially at a time when Californians are demanding fiscal responsibility,” she argued.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, agreed with Ransom’s assessment of the necessity to hold DWR accountable for the hundreds of millions of dollars it is spending on the Delta Tunnel.

“To date, DWR has spent nearly $1 billion on various iterations of DCP planning, with projected construction costs exceeding $20 billion, before accounting for inflation or unforeseen expenses,” reported Barrigan-Parrilla. “Despite this massive price tag, the project still lacks a finalized operations plan, a legally enforceable environmental impact report, and is based on expired water rights.”

"The Joint Legislative Audit Committee’s decision allows ongoing efforts by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to withhold critical information from the public about how ratepayer and taxpayer dollars are spent—especially on questionable projects like the Delta Tunnel. Californians deserve to know where their money is going so they can advocate for solutions that are affordable, effective, and environmentally and socially responsible,” she stated.

“Restore the Delta applauds Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom and Senator Jerry McNerney for prioritizing transparency through this audit effort, and we look forward to working together to ensure the public has a clear understanding of DWR’s spending,” Barrigan-Parrilla added.

Malissa Tayaba, Vice Chair of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, said the enormously expensive Delta Tunnel project would desecrate the graves of her ancestors and sacred sites.

“Our cultural resources, sacred sites and the resting places of our ancestors will be desecrated. That price tag alone is far too expensive. The Department of Water Resources has stated that it is spending one million per day planning for the Delta Conveyance Project,” she said.

“Imagine a world where they spend a fraction of that working with tribes to restore and maintain healthy waterways,” she continued. “Imagine a world where taxpayer dollars are spent on water supply solution that don’t involve destroying the largest estuary on the West Coast.” 

“It’s time to see how all of our money is being spent,” said Tayaba. “It’s time for true legislative oversight. Tribes need to know the truth and transparency from DWR. We urge the Legislature to approve this audit and to follow the money,” she concluded.

On the other hand, the State Water Contractors and other Delta Tunnel proponents declared “victory” after the hearing.

“We applaud the Joint Legislative Audit Committee’s decision to reject the request for yet another audit of the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP),” said Jennifer Pierre, General Manager of the State Water Contractors. “This unnecessary request would have created exactly the kind of costly delay the Governor’s budget proposal seeks to prevent. The Committee’s action sends a clear message that progress matters."

But Delta Tunnel opponents note that this “progress” would actually result in the destruction of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, its fish and wildlife and the communities that depend upon it. The 45 mile long tunnel would divert 22 percent more water from the Delta, according to the testimony of a DWR engineer.

Opponents emphasize that the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in its worst ever ecological crisis, as evidenced by the closure of commercial salmon fishing for the third year in a row, due to the collapse of Sacramento and Klamath River fall Chinook salmon populations. Diverting more water from the Delta would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter, spring and fall-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, according to opponents.

Bill Wells, Executive Director of the California Delta Chambers and Visitors Bureau, emphasized the enormous impact that building the Delta Tunnel would have on the region’s recreational economy. 

“People go to schools and become doctors in sociology and basically all they learn is the more people you crowd into the given area, the less they like it. That’s why it is critical to have parks and recreation areas. The Delta is at the center of the Sacramento, Stockton and San Francisco Bay Area. It draws people from these areas, and all over the nation and the world,” he stated.

“The Delta is a recreation wonderland,” he continued. “It attracts boats of every type from stand up paddle boards, to kayaks, to mega-yachts and everything in between, including ski boats, fishing boats, sailboats and others.”

The user days annually are 12 million, including visitors to 290 shoreline recreation areas, 300 marinas, and about 500,000 boaters, according to Wells.

He said the Delta recreation and tourism industry supports about 2,700 jobs in the five Delta counties. Recreation adds about $250 million in value to the regional economy.

“I’ve told proponents of the project to give me one example of a diversion protect on a river or estuary that has resulted in the restoration of that river or estuary. That’s a trick question, since they know that the answer is none,” Wells observed.