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Congressman Wants To Ban California Water Tunnels Lawsuits
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 7 years ago on
May 16, 2018

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SACRAMENTO — A California congressman wants to ban environmental lawsuits challenging a plan to build two giant tunnels to divert water from the north to the thirsty south.
Rep. Ken Calvert, a Riverside County Republican, inserted the ban in a 142-page draft of an Interior Department spending bill for fiscal 2019 that he released Tuesday, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Calvert chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.

“After more than a decade of studies and more than 50,000 pages of environmental documents, all of the project’s stakeholders have had a plethora of opportunities to express their thoughts and concerns. We must move forward with the project. It’s long past time to give Californians the reliable water system they deserve.” — Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Riverside)
Page 141 of the draft includes language prohibiting state or federal lawsuits against the final environmental impact report for the so-called California WaterFix project “and any resulting decision, record of decision or similar determination.”
If that provision makes it through Congress, it would gut many existing legal challenges that are based on environmental findings and bar future similar lawsuits.

Twin Tunnels Would Move Water South of Delta

The WaterFix project, championed by Gov. Jerry Brown, would create two 35-mile (56-kilometer) tunnels to ferry water from the Sacramento River to south-supplying aqueducts.
Brown argues that the tunnels will ensure water flows to the farm-rich Central Valley, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley and teeming Southern California urban areas.
Water districts and farming interests support the plan. Last month, the giant Metropolitan Water District in Southern California agreed to contribute nearly $11 billion of the estimated $17 billion construction costs.
Brown has argued the tunnels will help protect endangered species of fish but environmental groups worry that they will harm fish ecosystems.
Environmental groups and Sacramento-area local governments have filed more than a dozen lawsuits over the years in a bid to halt the project and Calvert said enough is enough.
“After more than a decade of studies and more than 50,000 pages of environmental documents, all of the project’s stakeholders have had a plethora of opportunities to express their thoughts and concerns,” Calvert said in a statement. “We must move forward with the project. It’s long past time to give Californians the reliable water system they deserve.”

Calvert’s Bid Is End Run, Critic Says

Opponents accused him of trying to silence the opposition.
“Regardless of how anyone feels about the Delta tunnels, this piece of legislation sets a dangerous precedent for California,” Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “It’s an end run around due process and really upends states’ rights.”

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Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

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