For Immediate Release: 2/9/17
Contact:
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.org
Stockton, CA – On February 7, 2017, Governor Brown’s Office sent a letter to the National Governor’s Association detailing a list of infrastructure projects totaling $100 billion for the State of California. Included, in the list of targeted projects is a request for low interest loans from the Federal Government to help water contractors pay for CA WaterFix.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta responded to the letter:
“This request for low-interest loans from the Federal Government to help water contractors pay for the Delta tunnels tells us two things. First, the Brown Administration is giving up on getting the Federal Government to pay for a portion of tunnels construction, if they are pursuing low interest loans. Second, as we have always maintained, Californians will be on the hook for repaying loans to build the Delta tunnels, even though we have been told by the Brown Administration that the water contractors would be paying for the proposed project.
“It feels like a bait and switch. The Brown Administration has said to the public for years that California taxpayers won’t be on the hook, while pursuing a funding strategy that will leave California taxpayers on the hook for a project that will cost with interest and operations $60 billion before cost overruns. It seems that California taxpayers are being fooled on what they will pay for the Delta tunnels.”