“Beneficiary pays” out the window?

The North Delta’s Peter Stone is the only Delta resident currently participating in the BDCP Public Finance Work Group. He reports that the vast majority of the participants are water contractors, NGOs and various governmental agencies. Stone is participating in order to influence how BDCP is financed should it actually be approved.

Participants in the work group reportedly think it is risky to count on the passage of the water bond in 2012. The $11.4 billion water bond is closely associated in people’s minds with a peripheral canal or tunnel, even though only a little more than $1 billion would go to the BDCP. Even if the bond came to a vote and passed, it wouldn’t provide certainty of funding for BDCP.

Mr. Stone reports that the work group’s focus is on funding BDCP in whole or in part with water fees, including fees on users of water within the Delta. He notes that it doesn’t make much sense to seek fees from those who will see no benefit from BDCP, but only harm.

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