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KCET (Southern California)
$16 Billion Delta Tunnels May Hit Taxpayers
By Chris Clarke
September 29, 2016
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A plan to build two huge tunnels to shunt fresh water around the Sacramento Delta is supposed to be funded entirely by the people who received the water. But taxpayers may end up paying a substantial amount of the tab.
That’s according to documents obtained by the Stockton-based environmental group Restore the Delta that discuss the cost of the California WaterFix project, which is projected to cost at least $16 billion to build. According to an unpublished 2015 draft analysis obtained by the group, California WaterFix would require a federal subsidy of nearly $4 billion in order to be cost-effective for agricultural water users.
That runs counter to state promises that the tunnels project would be funded entirely by water users. And even with a federal bailout, most of the project’s expenses may end up being paid for primarily by Southern California households.
“I believe that next to Delta people, Southern California people will be the most harmed [by this project],” Restore The Delta’s executive director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla told KCET.
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