Geotechnical work can now begin on a proposed $20 billion tunnel that would help send water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta southward to drier parts of the Golden State.
By Hillel Aron, Courthouse News Service
A controversial proposal to build a 14-mile underground tunnel to transport water from Northern California southward got a boost from the state Court of Appeals, which ruled that preliminary work can begin on the project.
Last year, a judge in Sacramento County agreed with a collection of counties, water districts, environmental groups and native tribes seeking to stop the Delta Conveyance Project. The judge found that preconstruction geotechnical work had to be certified by a state agency before it could begin, and issued a preliminary injunction preventing that work from moving forward.
But on Friday, a three-judge panel from the state appellate court reversed that ruling.
The $20 billion Delta Conveyance Project is only the latest iteration of a proposal, sought by California governors and assorted water officials since the 1960s, to move water from the Sacramento River down to the more arid parts of the state. Currently, the state water project has roughly 700 miles of canals, which use an array of pumps to distribute the water further south for agriculture and drinking. Supporters of the Delta Conveyance Project say it would modernize the water network, save electricity and capture much more water than the current system is capable of.
Most of the local politicians in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region oppose the project, saying it would effectively steal their water and damage the local environment. They also say it’s costly and unnecessary. Last month, the Legislature stalled a proposal by Governor Gavin Newsom to fast-track the conveyance project.
Still, the Department of Water Resources had hoped to prepare for the project, including testing the soil and groundwater. But plaintiffs in 10 related lawsuits challenging the project under the state’s Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, asked a judge to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the work, arguing that it needed its own separate certification under a 2009 law, the Delta Reform Act.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto agreed. “Boring holes 250-feet deep and digging trenches 1,000-feet long, 20-feet deep and 3-feet wide, for example, certainly appear to be the type of activity that would cause ‘physical change in the environment.’”
In reversing that ruling, Justice Louis Mauro wrote: “The Delta Reform Act does not require DWR to submit a certification of consistency before engaging in preconstruction geotechnical work.”
The case is now remanded back to the lower court. Although the water tunnel faces stiff challenges, including a lack of funding and an arduous gauntlet of environmental review, the preliminary geotechnical work can recommence.
