Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla to Oppose Peripheral Tunnels at Senate Water Hearing
Why the Governor’s Peripheral Tunnels are the Wrong Answers to Fair Water Policy
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, a 10,000-member grassroots organization committed to making the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable benefiting all of California, will oppose the governor’s plan to build two Peripheral Tunnels on Tuesday, May 14th at the Senate Natural Resources & Water committee.
“We oppose the rush to build a project that would exterminate salmon runs, destroy sustainable family farms and saddle taxpayers with tens of billions in debt, mainly to benefit a small number of huge corporate agribusinesses on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “Governor Brown’s Peripheral Tunnel proposal is fatally flawed. It’s a bad investment. The total cost is unknown; the financing unsecured, and the only certainty is water customers will pay billions and billions in increased rates. There’s a better solution than to drain the Delta, burden taxpayers with tens of billions, and extinguish native salmon to mainly benefit a small number of huge corporate mega-farms that are unsustainable. This plan would increase water rates for Southern Californians, who would not get any increase in water but would subsidize San Joaquin farmers, who would get more water. The taxpayers of the south pay the debt for the water facilities, while much of the water is virtually donated to the agribusiness giants of Kern.”
WHO: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta Executive Director
WHERE: Sen. Natural Resources & Water Committee Hearing; Room 112, State Capitol
WHEN: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 9:30am, Rm. 112, Comm. Hearing