Sacrificed for the Benefit of the Few?
C-WIN Releases Video on the Delta’s Forgotten Voices
The California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) has released a short video on the dire threat posed by Governor Newson’s proposed Delta Tunnel project to the largest estuary in the continental United States – and the people who live and work there.
Tunnel Trouble: Voices of the Delta was created by Dan Blackburn, an author and journalist who is the co-founder of the news site CalCoastNews.com, and has contributed to a wide range of publications, including California Journal. Blackburn, an advisory board member of C-WIN, also served as the capitol bureau chief for the Orange County Register. He was a senior consultant to the California State Senate’s Rules Committee and spent four years as a media representative for the Metropolitan Water District, the world’s largest water wholesaler.
Blackburn queried residents of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta on Newsom’s intent to build a massive tunnel that would convey Sacramento River water around the estuary to corporate farms and cities in Southern California. The scheme would cost ratepayers and taxpayers upwards of $40 billion, which includes the current $20 billion estimate, interest on the bonds, and the inevitable cost overruns for a project of this magnitude. It would also increase the amount of freshwater diverted from the already beleaguered estuary, limiting water availability for the area’s communities and family farms and devastating fisheries, wildlife and regional water quality.
“What struck me most about my time in the Delta is this sense the residents have of complete betrayal,” said Blackburn. “The Delta Tunnel will have an immense negative impact on the people and public trust resources of the region, but Newsom is simply ignoring their concerns. They rightly feel they are being sacrificed for the benefit of a handful of San Joaquin Valley corporate growers and South State developers.”
CONTACT
Dan Blackburn
(805) 423-1203
blackburn.danielj@gmail.com
Christina Speed
C-WIN Communications Director
info.cwin@gmail.com