Don’t reverse course on Delta tunnels project

The fate of the environmentally fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the future cost of water in Silicon Valley once again rest with the Santa Clara Valley Water District board.

For the second time in six months, board members are being asked to commit a minimum of $650 million to help fund Gov. Jerry Brown’s illconceived $16 billion twin-tunnels project. They wisely rejected the deal in October, and they have no business reversing course when the same issue comes back Wednesday.

It’s a Southern California and Central Valley water grab that won’t provide a drop of new water to California’s water supply. The decision will impact the Bay Area and much of the rest of Northern California.

From a business perspective, it would be irresponsible for the seven-person board to sign on to the tunnels project, which has no governing structure in place, no clear costbenefit study for the district and no reliable cost estimates.

From an environmental perspective, the so-called WaterFix does nothing to improve the health of the fragile Delta. At stake is the health of fish and other wildlife for Bay Area residents for decades to come.

Digging projects are notorious for massive cost overruns. And this would be a doozy — two 35-mile, four-story-tall tunnels under the Delta. It’s the equivalent of building a 10lane freeway 150 feet underground. Remember that Boston’s Big Dig ballooned from $2.6 billion to nearly $15 billion before it was completed — eight years behind schedule.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District board could be committing to pay for a similar financial boondoggle by approving the project. And to do it without ratepayers having a say would be unconscionable.

Four of the board members — John Varela, Linda LeZotte, Tony Estremera and Gary Kremen — will be up for re-election in November. Any board member voting to commit ratepayers to this irresponsible plan would be making an unforgivable mistake.

The board made the most courageous decision in its history in October when it voted unanimously to reject the tunnels plan, saying instead it was willing to consider a significantly smaller, cheaper project with just one tunnel.

The twin-tunnels plan hasn’t changed in the last six months. But the ugly politics have.

First, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California voted April 12 to pay up to $10.8 billion to fund the twin tunnels, paving the way for construction to begin as early as the end of this year. Second, as the Bay Area News Group reported Saturday, the Santa Clara district might have struck a deal with the Brown administration to support the tunnels plan in exchange for state funding of a new dam the district wants to build near Pacheco Pass.

The California Water Commission recently gave the $485 million project full funding after recommending it receive no money in February. If true, this sort of quid-pro-quo is alarming.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District already correctly assessed the value of the twintunnels project. It doesn’t pencil out for ratepayers, and it doesn’t protect the environment. The answer should remain the same: No.