Environmentalists, local agencies file lawsuits against California Delta tunnel project

A month after California’s water regulator gave its seal of approval to a controversial water infrastructure project that could replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the plan is coming under renewed legal fire.

Eight lawsuits filed by several counties, local water agencies and a coalition of environmental advocates claim the Department of Water Resources violated laws protecting the beleaguered estuary when it approved the project.

The complaints allege the Delta tunnel project, formally called the Delta Conveyance, would imperil the region’s environmental health and human survival, from endangered and threatened fish species to low-income residents and multigenerational farms.

Since the 1960s, California has pumped water directly out of the Delta and shipped it south to 30 million people and 6 million acres of farmland through the State Water Project. Climate change and environmental regulations will lead to a concerning decrease in supply via this system, DWR has predicted.

The Delta Conveyance, the latest version of a long disputed tunnel project, would bypass the Delta to capture water upstream on the Sacramento River and tunnel it underground to existing infrastructure for delivery to Southern California. Officials estimate it would yield an additional 500,000 acre-feet a year, a fraction of annual water needs.

Last month, DWR approved its final environmental impact report for the project. Construction and operation of the tunnel, the report found, would significantly impact the Delta’s endangered and threatened fish species, tracts of important regional farmland and tribal cultural resources including human remains.

The tunnel project’s approval was met with support from downstate municipal and agricultural water agencies that receive water through the State Water Project, calling it a “critical step” to securing California’s water future.

But legal challenges filed in the month since underscores deep reserves of regional opposition for the project Gov. Gavin Newsom has been pushing for in recent months, framing it as a necessary action to protect the state’s water supply from climate change.

The eight lawsuits claiming that DWR violated the California Environmental Quality Act were filed by environmental organizations led by the Sierra Club, the city of Stockton, Native American groups led by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, a coalition of counties including Sacramento County, and three local water agencies.

The deadline to file a CEQA-related lawsuit in connection with the project was Monday.

The Sierra Club-led complaint said the Delta Conveyance will “significantly degrade” the Delta through “reduced flows in the Sacramento River and Bay-Delta estuary, increased salinity levels, reduced food supply, increased harmful algal blooms, and harm to endangered and threatened fish species.”

DWR, the plaintiffs argued, “abused its discretion and failed to act in the manner required by law” by approving a project that would “have severe and irreversible adverse effects on the already stressed Bay Delta system ... without fairly evaluating feasible alternatives.”

Thomas Keeling, the lead attorney for the group of counties, said this is the fourth iteration of a tunnel project that he has litigated. While environmental concerns get much of the public attention, he underscored the human costs.

The Delta functions as the central hub of California’s water system but is also home to 600,000 people and 415,000 acres of farmland, Keeling said. Its economy and fragile ecosystem, which his clients say have been deteriorating for years, are dependent on adequate freshwater flow.

“While we are certainly sensitive to the purely environmental consequences that is a danger to terrestrial and aquatic species,” Keeling said, “we are more directly concerned with the overall effect on Delta communities. Reduced flows and increased salinity are really what we’re concerned about.”

Sacramento County’s complaint takes a similar approach, saying the project will “irreversibly alter, and in many cases, permanently destroy the generations-old socioeconomic fabric and physical landscape of the Delta.”

In an emailed statement, DWR spokeswoman Margaret Mohr defended the project as vital to modernizing the state’s water system and the department’s environmental review as thorough and responsive to public concerns.

“CEQA lawsuits are not unexpected or unusual,” she said, suggesting that parties intended to pursue legal challenges before the environmental review was completed. “DWR will review the lawsuits and respond accordingly, and will proceed as planned with permitting, and continued planning and design for the Delta Conveyance project.”

Even beyond these legal challenges, a long permitting process remains for the tunnel.

The project’s price tag is expected to be substantial. In 2020, the estimated cost of one of the alternate paths was just under $16 billion, and bonds will be needed to fund the design and construction process. But how much urban water agencies will pay for the project is unclear.

DWR will also need to secure several permits, such as water rights required by the State Water Resources Control Board.