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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Report - March 15, 2023 C-12CITY OF 4,�! Iowa a z CALIFORNIA AGENDA ITEM COUNCIL COMMUNICATION AGENDA TITLE: Approve Comment Letter to Army Corps of Engineers Addressing Concerns Related to the Delta Conveyance Project (Delta Tunnel) MEETING DATE: March 15, 2023 PREPARED BY: Public Works Director RECOMMENDED ACTION Approve comment letter to Army Corps of Engineers addressing concerns related to the Delta Conveyance Project (Delta Tunnel). BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Water agencies in San Joaquin County have had a longstanding opposition to the Delta Conveyance Project, which aims to divert surface water away from local users in order to bolster water availability in neighboring areas. The State of California has been pursuing an isolated Delta conveyance since the 1940s under many titles including the Peripheral Canal, Bay Delta Conservation Plan, California WaterFix, and Delta Conveyance Project. This iteration threatens the long-term availability of surface water in the area, and the value and scarcity of this resource cannot be overstated. To support the protection of surface water quality in and around the Delta, as well as the availability in the years to come, staff has prepared a comment letter opposing the Delta Conveyance Project. The proposed comment letter is attached for Council's review. FISCAL IMPACT: FUNDING AVAILABLE Not Applicable. Not Applicable. Charles E. Swimley, Jr. Public Works Director Prepared by Travis Kahrs, Water Plant Superintendent CES/TK/cd Attachment APPROVED: 5- :r Sd W.111iiiii•r 202313:35 F•S i, Stephen Schwabauer, City Manager \\cvcfilv02\pubwks$\WP\COUNCIL\2023\CC DEIS Comment Letter.docx 3/9/2023 CITY COUNCIL Mikey Hothi, Mayor Lisa Craig, Mayor Pro Tempore Cameron Bregman Alan Nakanishi CITY OF e� �•4 zt�O C A L I FORN IA March 15, 2023 United States Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District 1325 J Street, Room 1640 Sacramento, California 95814 DLL-DCP-EIS kusaces. army. mil Stephen Schwabauer City Manager Olivia Nashed City Clerk Janice D. Magdich City Attorney Charles E. Swimley Jr. Public Works Director Re: Delta Conveyance Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement Dear Army Corps of Engineers: On behalf of the City of Lodi, I am writing to submit comments on the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Delta Conveyance Project (Delta Tunnel). The community in Lodi has made a significant financial investment into our local surface water resource in the Mokelumne River in building a surface water treatment plant in 2012. This facility was built as the community noticed a decline in groundwater elevations due to an unsustainable use of groundwater in the area as agricultural users and municipal users had a significant demand for water. A decade later, we're able to demonstrate a much more sustainable approach to water use in our City, as we rely on surface water and groundwater equally, while continuing to make water conservation a way of life. There have been measurable, significant effects as a result of this change, which has brought local groundwater elevations up and demonstrated that sustainability in our basin can be achieved. After making these strides towards a more sustainable and secure future, we are discouraged to see that this resource which we have become reliant upon to meet SGMA requirements is on shaky ground. Diverting this resource to non -local users heavily impacts our ability to manage our groundwater in a sustainable way, and threatens the viability and success of projects identified in this basin's Groundwater Sustainability Plan, which was just approved by the Department of Water Resources. The Delta Tunnel is the latest iteration of isolated water conveyance projects that would remove freshwater flows from the Delta for the benefit of other parts of the state. Most of the unacceptable impacts that plagued previous versions of the project (the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and California WaterFix) are still present in the Delta Tunnel. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) should have conducted an independent review of the Delta Tunnel; instead, the Army Corps has simply reiterated DWR's deficient Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) in the form of a DEIS. The DEIS is inadequate and fails to inform the public of the true extent of the environmental impacts as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). As a water supplier in California, we understand that the state faces a difficult task in combatting the current water crisis. However, the Delta Tunnel would create a sacrifice zone in the Delta region from the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the project. Further, the cost of the Delta Tunnel is alarming and unaffordable.1 One of the more glaring deficiencies in the DEIS is the lack of any analysis of the effects of operating the Delta Tunnel. Shockingly, the DEIS only analyzes the construction impacts of the project. Therefore, the wide-ranging operational impacts of operating these massive diversions and associated tunnel are not included in the DEIS. The DEIS entirely fails to analyze water quality, agricultural and other impacts associated with removing up to 6,000 cubic feet per second of water from the Sacramento River, which would be a direct result of the construction of the Delta Tunnel. To be complete, the DEIS must analyze the effects of operating the project that would be permitted by the Corps. The alternatives analysis in the DEIS is also lacking. It is the lead agency's responsibility to properly develop appropriate alternatives to projects that would impact public resources. However, the DEIS alternatives are all various versions of the same tunnel project. There are no alternatives that describe other methods to meet the Purpose and Need described in the DEIS. The DEIS ignores other, less environmentally impactful projects that would provide resilient water infrastructure without increasing reliance on Delta exports. There are other alternatives that would meet the need to address sea level rise and climate change. The lack of alternatives is inadequate under NEPA and the Corps must include other types of water projects in its analysis. Similar to the DEIR, the DEIS's treatment of many impacts is inadequate and misleading because it minimizes many impacts of the proposed project, precluding good faith review by the interested public. For instance, despite the project's massive disturbances from constructing a 45 -mile long, 39 -foot tunnel around the Delta, the DEIS claims that all biolo _ icg al impacts "do not appear to be significant." This is at best questionable. The impacts from construction would span a decade -plus and span thousands of acres of farmland, grasslands, wetlands and riparian habitat, disturbing and displacing wildlife. 1 The latest cost estimate (not including finance costs) was approximately $16 billion; this estimate is sure to go up. https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/califomia-water-delta-tunnel/ Page 2 of 3 Additionally, the DEIS does not adequately analyze and mitigate the impacts on Delta communities. The Delta Tunnel would create very real impacts to residents during and after construction. The physical impacts caused by the construction of the Delta Tunnel would create negative economic and social impacts throughout the Delta, which were essentially disregarded in the DEIS. This is unacceptable given the extensive and lasting impacts the project would have in the region. For example, criteria and toxic air pollutants, including particulate matter, would increase, and at times double, across the region as a result of project construction, endangering the health of Delta residents. Overall, this project would create an environmental and socioeconomic disaster. Many of the environmental impacts, as well as the exorbitant cost, could be avoided by pursuing alternative, more sustainable, water projects. The City of Lodi urges the Corps to withdraw the DEIS and withhold all project approvals for the Delta Tunnel Project until an adequate NEPA review is completed. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on this project and please add our department to the notice list. Sincerely, Mikey Hothi Mayor, City of Lodi Page 3 of 3