FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2025
Contact:
Alexandra Nagy, alexandra@sunstonestrategies.org
SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, advocates for Delta communities, tribes, and environmental justice denounced the Newsom Administration’s so-called “Delta Conveyance Accountability Action Plan” as a hollow attempt to appease critics while continuing to push forward a deeply flawed and harmful project.
Releasing an “Accountability Plan” at this stage is too little, too late. After proposing sweeping legal rollbacks to fast-track the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) in June, the Administration is now offering half-truths and sidestepping legislative oversight. Accountability must begin in the planning phase — and by excluding communities from developing this plan, the Administration has made clear that its intent is to silence, not support, those most impacted by this $100 billion water tunnel.
The $200 million in funding touted by the Administration is not new, not additive, and represents a paltry offering to offset a massive project that will decimate Delta communities and a multi-billion-dollar regional economy for generations. Worse, the funding focuses only on communities near the construction zone, excluding downstream communities like Stockton that will suffer from degraded water quality and increased pollution burdens.
This announcement completely misses the mark on the core issue: California’s water system is outdated, overallocated, and dependent on an ecosystem that has been in crisis for years. Instead of pushing a 20th-century political pet project, the state should invest in modern, local water solutions that reduce reliance on imported surface water and protect communities from flooding.
By clinging to the narrative of “capturing” nonexistent excess water from the Sacramento River, the Newsom Administration is ignoring the true urgency of the Delta’s decline and the climate crisis that is threatening vulnerable communities. The plan’s focus on mitigation through an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that is still incomplete and fundamentally inadequate only reinforces this misguided approach. The EIR fails to fully assess or mitigate species, habitat, and ecosystem impacts — and relies on a flawed baseline that continues to drive Delta ecosystem collapse.
This announcement also comes alongside the Administration’s coordinated push to reform the Bay-Delta Plan and enable the Voluntary Agreements (VAs) — an unscientific scheme that excludes tribes and communities and, according to the Department of Water Resources itself, is necessary to make the DCP operational.
Ultimately, this is a distraction. While the Governor attempts to rebrand the tunnel and deflect criticism, his administration is simultaneously pushing trailer bills to override environmental protections, court rulings, and public opinion. This pattern of excluding communities and fast-tracking destructive policies has become all too familiar. No amount of PR spin can cover up the fact that the DCP is a deeply flawed project — built on outdated assumptions, ignoring science, and failing to protect the people and ecosystems of the Delta.
STATEMENTS FROM DELTA TRIBES AND ADVOCATES:
Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians:
“Delta tribes deserve a responsible and equitable approach to water management in the state that does not require jamming a tunnel through the Delta, destroying our ancestral homelands and waterways, or desecrating sacred sites and ancestral remains. Our culture and identities are intrinsically tied to the Delta. There is no price tag worth paying that would ever justify the harm done to us or the unquantifiable costs that Tribes and disadvantaged communities would ultimately bear.”
Gary Mulcahy, Governmental Liaison of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe:
“Where is the accountability for Governor Newsom who is once again circumventing law, when the people in the State of California have made it clear that they do not want a tunnel through the Delta. Newsom has designated Tribes as a special interest group, but his accountability plan doesn’t address the harm that Tribes will experience from the tunnel and the Voluntary Agreements for tribal beneficial uses and tribal cultural resources of the Delta watershed.”
Gloria E. Alonso Cruz, Environmental Justice Advocacy Coordinator, Little Manila Rising:
“The Delta Conveyance Project is a large-scale water diversion infrastructure that neglects the foreseen climate needs of recognized Disadvantaged Communities (DACs). These communities are interconnected by the waterways and cross multiple jurisdiction lines. The Project has failed to recognize this adequately, nor has it established long-overdue protections before proposing the project. Healthy ecosystems are necessary to cultivate healthy and thriving communities in California’s largest estuary. As it stands, the project will only exacerbate current and future climate conditions in the most vulnerable portions of the Delta.”
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director, Restore the Delta:
“Governor Newsom is putting lipstick on a pig. His $100 billion tunnel will harm tribes and communities from Sacramento all the way down to Los Angeles. Let’s not forget: the U.S. EPA is still investigating a Title VI civil rights complaint against the Newsom administration over how the Water Board continues to violate civil rights in all of these linked processes. Once again, this shows Newsom’s water plan is for billionaires, not for everyday people.”
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