Stop the Delta debacle before property owners get gouged

Call it the Big Gouge. Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration will try for a third time to secure a political mega-deal that would commit millions of California property owners to pay for the $19.9 billion Delta twin-tunnels water grab. Without approval of voters or the Legislature.

It’s an atrocious abuse of the political system that must be stopped. Blocking the effort would save property owners thousands of dollars over the next 20-40 years and help preserve the health of the Delta for the next generation and beyond.

The story began a little over four weeks ago when the state Department of Water Resources convinced the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to schedule a hearing that would enable backers of the Delta tunnels to extend state water contracts for another 50 years. The maneuver would allow the Brown administration to lock in water contracts to pay for the project before the governor leaves office in January. Something he is desperate to do. Doubly so, since his likely successor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, doesn’t share his verve for the project.

In an audacious move, proponents argued that the Delta tunnels project is merely a “maintenance” project of the original State Water Project that California voters approved in 1960. No need to waste time going back to voters for what should be considered ongoing work, they say.

Talk about chutzpah. It would be the biggest digging project in U.S. history, the equivalent of building a 35-mile long, 10-lane freeway 150 feet underground, capable of moving enough water south to fill 8,000 Olympic-size swimming pools every day.

The governor and Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District’s desperate maneuver stems from their years-long struggle to get water districts to sign on to the project.

Extending the contracts of current State Water Project members for another 50 years would put 27 districts throughout the state on the hook to cover the cost of the contracts that would fund the Delta tunnels. Three Bay Area water districts — Santa Clara Valley Water District, Alameda County Water District and Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District Zone 7 — are affected.

The contract extensions would force those districts to raise property taxes if they don’t have sufficient revenues on hand to pay their share of the “maintenance” project.

Estimates vary on how much property owners would have to pay, given the uncertainty over the ultimate cost. Digging projects are notorious for going double, even triple over budget. Boston’s Big Dig ballooned from $2.6 billion to nearly $15 billion before it was completed. A reasonable guess, if the project stays on budget, is roughly $10 a month, which may not sound like a lot. But that total adds up to $2,400 over 20 years, or $4,800 over 40 years.

Don’t look to Proposition 13 for help. It was passed 18 years after the State Water Project was approved, so Prop. 13 safeguards wouldn’t apply.

All that needs to happen is for the Joint Legislature Budget Committee to hold a procedural hearing and listen to the Department of Water Resources outline its plan. The committee doesn’t even need to vote on the proposal. Since it’s merely a maintenance issue, just getting together in Sacramento and sitting through the presentation fulfills its oversight role.

It’s irresponsible for legislators to let the DWR move the project forward knowing that the DWR doesn’t have any idea how much water the tunnels would yield. Knowing that the financing for the tunnels only pencils out if more water is taken out of the Delta. And knowing that scientists agree that in order to best preserve the Delta’s long-term health, less water should be removed.

“The state already can’t deliver what it’s promising to water contractors,” said Doug Obegi, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. “It’s not good policy, and it’s not good politics.”

Public outcry, including this newspaper’s editorial, forced legislative leaders to cancel the original Aug. 14 hearing.

So they tried again, on Aug. 30, the next-to-last day of the legislative session. Another editorial, and another flurry of phone calls from outraged opponents, led to a second cancellation.

Now the governor and the DWR will try a third time Tuesday. It’s imperative that the hearing be canceled.

Once again, call or email Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (916-319-2063, assemblymember.rendon@assembly. ca.gov) and Senate President Toni Atkins (916-651-4039, senator.atkins@senate.ca.gov) and tell them to stop this effort to gouge California property owners. Demand a more transparent process giving California voters and the Legislature the final say on whether the tunnels should be built.

The Delta supplies two-thirds of California’s water supply. The Bay Area and California need a more stable, reliable source of water for the future. But this is not the way to accomplish that goal.