Gov. Brown’s Bond NOT “Tunnels Neutral”: What about $700 million for flows, habitat?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, August 8, 2014
Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; steve@hopcraft.com; Twitter: @shopcraft; @MrSandHillCrane; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 barbara@restorethedelta.org; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta

Tunnels Opponents:
Gov. Brown’s Bond NOT “Tunnels Neutral”:
What about $700 million for flows, habitat?

Sacramento, CA- Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, and salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today said that Governor Brown’s new water bond is NOT “tunnels neutral,” and called upon the governor to remove taxpayer funding that would replace needed river water flows taken by the tunnels, and have taxpayers fund mitigating tunnels damage.

“Documents received from the BDCP in a recent Freedom of Information Action request, show in detail how public funding would be used for planned water purchases to make the twin Delta tunnels operational. Points 3 through 10 in the linked BDCP document from March 2013, outline the plan for using public money to make these water purchases.

“We are calling on Governor Brown to release the language for his bond proposal. His proposal is NOT tunnels neutral and won’t be until it does NOT include any funding for these BDCP-related water purchases. With such a short period of time left for the crafting of his bond proposal, transparency is crucial to gain public support. Making the details transparent would go a long way toward gaining the support of Delta communities,” said RTD Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla.

Here is a link to document showing that the water exporters are counting on money from a state water bond to help finance the project and mitigate its damage to fisheries, river flows and the Delta.

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ACTION ALERT

Dear Supporters:

Please call your state legislators today and tell them NOT to support Governor Brown’s proposed water bond. While the Governor is pressuring legislators by telling them it is “tunnels neutral,” Freedom of Information Act requests for BDCP documents show that bond money for flows is really money for a water account to make the BDCP tunnels full for water exporters like Westlands and Kern County Water Agency. Tell them the Governor’s water bond is not neutral, but for the tunnels, and it must be stopped.

Governor Brown is reportedly trying to sell his water bond to our California Legislators with the words, “Just Trust Me.” He is trying to put window dressing on the bond so that they will be persuaded to accept a non neutral water bond.

This is important! Please call now! If you absolutely cannot, make sure to call Monday. Find your State legislators and their contact information here: http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla

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