January 12, 2023 – WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, Representative Josh Harder (CA-9) despatched a letter to the Lieutenant General Scott A. Spellmon of the Army Corps of Engineers demanding his 
physique reverse its’ selections to not host in-person public hearings on the proposed Delta Tunnel undertaking and lengthen the general public remark interval by a further 60 days. At current, the Army Corps of Engineers, state, and federal businesses plan to host no in-person hearings on the 700-page draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the undertaking and can settle for written public remark solely by February 14th. The letter can be signed by Reps. Garamendi, DeSaulnier, and Thompson.
“Today, I’m calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to reverse its unthinkable decision and hold a real, in-person public hearing on the greedy water grab that is the Delta Tunnel,” stated Rep. Harder. “Building the Delta Tunnel will rob our farmers and put our whole community at risk. I promise that the politicians in Sacramento and Washington are going to hear from us on this project, whether they like it or not.”
The Delta Tunnel would ship water from the Central Valley south and would cost tax payers $16 billion. The undertaking was first proposed greater than 60 years in the past. Rep. Harder is a longtime opponent of the Delta Tunnel undertaking, first voicing his opposition in 2018.
Representative Josh Harder has additionally launched the Stop the Delta Tunnels Actwhich prohibits the Army Corps of Engineers from issuing a federal allow mandatory for the State of California to construct the Delta Tunnel. Recently, KCRA3 News called Rep. Harder’s invoice, “the strongest step yet to stop the state’s proposed giant water tunnel from gaining ground.”
Read the letter beneath and online here.
Dear Lieutenant General Spellmon,
We write to specific our considerations with severe shortcomings within the Army Corps’ public engagement on the federal allowing and environmental evaluate processes for the State of California’s proposed Delta Conveyance Project.
As you recognize, the Army Corps lately launched a 700-page draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Delta Tunnel undertaking, with a further 2,000-pages of appendices. The draft clearly particulars the numerous adverse impacts this misguided undertaking would have on the Central Valley’s historic communities, agricultural economic system, flood management infrastructure, surroundings, and water provide.
First, we urge the Army Corps to host an in-person, public listening to for the State of California’s proposed Delta Conveyance Project, generally known as the Delta Tunnel. To date, the Army Corps has refused to permit the communities who will likely be straight impacted by this undertaking, together with Delta residents, to have each alternative to specific their considerations as required underneath federal legislation.
Second, we urge the Army Corps to increase the general public remark interval on the draft Environmental Impact Statement from the present draft Environmental Impact Statement. The present 60-day deadline is unrealistic, burdensome, and seemingly designed to preclude Delta communities from offering considerate remark. We suggest that the Army Corps lengthen the present February 14 deadline to offer a further 60 days for public remark.
The Army Corps should make each effort to take heed to Delta communities and others on this multibillion-dollar tunnel undertaking. In our view, the naked minimal can be for the Army Corps to schedule at the very least one in-person listening to as quickly as doable, so the Central Valley households and companies can clarify how dangerous this undertaking can be. The Army Corps must also present for a extra real looking deadline for public remark on this hefty draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Anything much less can be irresponsible, an injustice to Delta communities, and ignore the unique Congressional intent and spirit of our nation’s environmental legal guidelines that guarantee public involvement in main federal allowing selections.
Thank you for contemplating our requests. We look ahead to your response.
Source: Congressman Josh Harder