New tunnel plan reduces footprint and cost, but may impact sandhill cranes

From the LA Times:

"The redesign shifts the northern portion of the tunnel system a few miles to the east, away from the towns of Hood and Courtland and closer to Interstate 5. It also shortens the tunnel's length by five miles, to 30 miles, and slashes the size of a water storage area near the diversion point from 750 acres to 40 acres.

The redesign cuts the footprint of permanent facilities by about half, to 1,851 acres, and moves some land uses from private to state-owned lands."

State says delta tunnel benefits exceed costs by billions

From the LA Times. The economic analysis says that the $25 billion tunnel project will actually come out ahead by $5 billion in a cost/benefit analysis.

And there's this:

"The report also concluded the tunnel project would generate $83.5 billion in statewide business activity over its 50-year life by averting further water delivery cuts and creating construction and maintenance jobs."

Opponents of the tunnel project are more than a little skeptical. 

Tunneling under California's Bay Delta water wars

High Country News looks at the latest on the Delta with Jerry Brown's "I want to get shit done" press conference in July where he announced that he wanted not just one, but two tunnels under the Delta to transfer water downstate. Will it solve the problem of delivering enough water to farms and cities south of the Delta without destroying the fish population? It remains to be seen, and expect many more years of debate, lawsuits and rancor in California's most persistent water war.

BDCP Plan Blasted By Fed Panel

The Bay-Delta Conservation Plan was always a tough task - putting together environmentalists, government agencies and water users to come up with a comprehensive plan for the immense amount of water flowing through the Delta and utilized for agriculture and SoCal water supplies, not to mention the health of the Bay-Delta ecosystem.

The National Research Council slammed the effort yesterday, especially the BDCP's advocacy of a new "conveyance system," which means a peripheral canal or tunnel. California had close to record snowfall this past winter and some of the urgency has seeped out of efforts to fix the Delta, but this is a problem that won't go away and the longer the delay, the more it's going to cost and the more damage to all of the state's water users, human and otherwise.

Read more here from the SF Chron.

Interested in the BDCP?

This landed in my inbox. Note the live webcast link:

Natural Resources Secretary, John Laird, and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, David J. Hayes, will gather with stakeholders and the public to discuss the challenges and process for meeting the BDCP's dual goals of ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability, and their commitment to completing a habitat conservation plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that achieves these goals.

Natural Resources Deputy Secretary, Dr. Jerry Meral, will provide an update on the BDCP since the November 18, 2010 Working Draft of the BDCP, the process for resolution of key features of the draft plan, and important environmental analysis needed before a final BDCP may be approved.

   

PLEASE JOIN US for a PUBLIC MEETING 

Monday, April 25, 2011

 Tsakopoulos Library Galleria

828 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

1:00 - 5:00pm

 Click here to view the agenda.

A live webcast of the meeting will be available at http://cawater.rmxpres.com/webcast/data/dwr04252011/msh.htm 

Bay Area coalition calls delta plan a water grab

Good overview in the SF Chronicle about the progress of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and the ongoing issues with the Delta.