At his first State of the State Address, Governor Gavin Newsom made several breaks with his predecessor, Jerry Brown, including a narrowing of the scope of the state’s contentious high speed rail project. Newsom also spurred a major shift for California’s water policies, and called for the controversial Delta “twin tunnels” plan to go back to the drawing board.
“I do not support the water fix as currently configured. Meaning, I do not support the twin tunnels,” he said.
The announcement brought applause from environmentally-minded lawmakers, who never liked the $17 billion plan to divert the Sacramento River through a pair of underground tunnels. Newsom called for a more balanced, unified approach to break through the political impasse.
"We need to protect our water supply from earthquakes, from rising sea levels. We need to preserve Delta fisheries, and we need to meet the needs of cities and farms," he said. "We have got to get past these old binaries, like farmers versus environmentalists, the North versus South."
Newsom does, however, support a design for a single tunnel, a prospect that has fellow Democrats less enthusiastic.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, however, supports the idea of paring down the design.
“I've been skeptical of the two-tunnel approach for awhile,” said Rendon. “We weren’t even sure a while ago whether or not the science even worked. So, I think rethinking it and retooling it makes a lot of sense.”
While one tunnel will be cheaper to construct and operate, reconfiguring the design will require another lengthy round of environmental review.
Newsom also announced the ouster of Felicia Marcus as chair of the State Water Resources Control Board with Joaquin Esquivel, who might be more open to compromise between the water needs of fish and farms. Farmers had expressed displeasure with Marcus’s leadership, and the change could help Newsom make headway with the new tunnel plan.
The governor also announced a proposed water tax to help pay for safer drinking water for the Central Valley. While opposed by Republicans, who retain little power in California after last November’s elections, Senate President Pro Temp Toni Atkins expressed openness to the measure.