Harder works on tunnel death blow
Congressman Josh Harder uses the State of California’s own words to make his case to make it impossible for the $20 billion Delta bypass tunnel to be built. It would: Increase salinity, devastate San Joaquin County agricultural production, deteriorate critical ecological systems that fish rely on, land a severe economic blow to the region. And just how would Harder make it impossible from his position in Congress to pull the plug on a state water project pushed by urban Southern California and large southern San Joaquin Valley corporate farm concerns? Harder is pushing for the adoption of legislation directing the Army Corps of Engineers not to issue a required permit to allow federally controlled Central Valley Project water — essentially flows from Shasta Dam — to be diverted into the proposed tunnel south of Sacramento. Without the permit or the participation of the federal Bureau of Reclamation, the tunnel can’t be built or the water diverted.