Daily Record
The Metropolitan Water District board on Wednesday voted to invest another $142 million into the planning for the Delta Conveyance Project.The vote followed an update at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting by Karen Lange, a partner in the lobbying firm of Shaw Yoder Schmeizer & Lange, which represents Solano County’s interests in Sacramento.….the tunnel project built may be a common-ground issue for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s and President-elect Donald Trump’s administrations.
Among her comments was the political reality that getting the tunnel project built may be a common-ground issue for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s and President-elect Donald Trump’s administrations.“That is seemingly one of the things the federal and state administrations may align … trying to get this tunnel built,” Lange said.The Metro funds will help with the cost of “environmental planning and pre-construction costs” for the Delta tunnel project in 2026 and 2027.”After careful consideration, our board took this step because it allows us to gather critical information about the project’s benefits and costs that will allow us to evaluate whether we will participate in the full construction of the project,” Water District board Chairman Adán Ortega Jr. said in a statement.“This has been a collaborative process in which we have worked with the state to ensure permitting and certification processes will be completed in 2026 and that we will see project benefits proportionate to our funding level,” Ortega added. “We are also pleased that the state provided safeguards to mitigate spending if circumstances prevent key components of planning from moving forward. The state also committed to identifying new, long-term financing approaches for the project, while also developing ways to improve the near-term reliability of State Water Project infrastructure.”Lange called it a “pretty big week for the Delta.””It’s not the final stop on this journey financially, it’s just phasing that is part of it,” Lange told the board. “They anticipate voting potentially on the construction costs in a year or two.”She said her firm did send a letter to the district opposing the funding. Lange also noted that her agency is “definitely keen”
to the project’s path.