Stop Newsom’s deadly Delta tunnel project
The Delta at sunset by John Chacon, DWR

Stop Newsom's deadly Delta tunnel project

It’s sad to say, but it looks like Governor Newsom has a death wish for San Francisco Bay, and complete disregard for Tribal communities and communities who depend on a healthy Bay. His administration has recently approved a tunnel in the Delta that will take away fresh river water that the Bay needs to stay healthy. Instead, the governor would send the Bay’s water to Southern California, Big Ag, and other special interests.

There’s still time to stop this bad plan. Baykeeper and our allies are taking legal action to compel the state to give the Bay the water it needs. Your voice will help build momentum.

The Bay is an estuary, so it needs a mix of both fresh and salt water to sustain its unique biological diversity. But historically, California’s bad water management practices have prevailed. For decades, government agencies have taken away more than half of the fresh water that would flow into San Francisco Bay.

If Governor Newsom's Delta tunnel proposal becomes a reality, it will divert even more fresh water from the Bay and Delta. The Delta tunnel will have significant negative effects on fish and wildlife populations that are already struggling to survive, as well as the human communities who depend on a healthy Bay.

The tunnel will also forever damage the cultural landscape of the Delta, eliminating or changing Tribal practices and the lands and the water associated with them that have existed for millenia. The agency's CEQA review failed to consider the tunnel's implications for the Delta's Tribal peoples or on environmental justice communities who rely on the Delta for their survival. The Delta is a fundamental part of the histories and lives of the people who have and continue to live there. Destroying that to profit from water is unconscionable.

Newsom's tunnel plan also violates state law. The Delta Reform Act requires the state to reduce its reliance on the Delta for future water supplies, and to "protect, restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem." The tunnel would instead increase dependency on the Delta and harm the environment.

Please tell the California Water Board that taking more water from San Francisco Bay is a bad idea. We need the Board to make sure that more water makes its way from the tributary rivers into the Bay, so our fish, wildlife, and human populations who depend on them can be healthy and thrive.

Tell the Water Board that the Delta tunnel is a bad idea!

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