SACRAMENTO –
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said he doesn’t understand why sports stadiums could be built quickly but other major projects couldn’t. If he really didn’t know, then he probably just learned.
sports are popular. Not so with all public building projects. Some are hated.
The Democratic-dominated legislature taught the Democratic governor a lesson in real-world politics and policy-making: Don’t try to punch past your weight.
When the legislature is united, it is equal to the executive.
Newsom was trying to get lawmakers through his last-minute proposal to expedite construction of a highly controversial water tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Environmental groups and Delta residents, including local farmers, are strongly opposed to the $16 billion, 45-mile project that would divert Sacramento River water to southern aqueducts for irrigation and to cities, including Los Angeles.
Lawmakers opposed Newsom and flatly refused to consider his tunnel acceleration plan, forcing him to relent and withdraw the proposal. It was a humiliating setback for the governor of California.
The Delta plan was part of an 11-bill bill that Newsom belatedly introduced and brought into budget deliberation on May 19. It had no real connection to the budget, but the governor’s move allowed his package to escape scrutiny by legislative policy committees. His goal was to cut bureaucracy and make it easier to build transportation, clean energy, and water projects.
Previous legislatures and governors – Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger – created regulatory shortcuts to make it easier to build soccer stadiums and basketball arenas. The stadiums were not built for various reasons, but at least two swanky basketball arenas were built – for the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.
“I love sports,” said Newsom, a former Santa Clara University Broncos college baseball pitcher. “But I also love roads. I love transit. i love bridges And I love clean energy projects like what we’re seeing here.”
Newsom unveiled its infrastructure acceleration package for a future solar farm near Modesto in May. He also thought about building wind, battery storage and semiconductor plants. Add regional trains, bridges and water storage facilities, and the Delta Tunnel to the list.
“It’s not just about stadiums,” Newsom continued. “And we proved that we can do that for stadiums too.
“Why the hell can’t we apply that to all these other projects?”
That’s a valid question. I’ve asked myself that in previous columns.
One answer is that stadiums and arenas are built by powerful billionaires who can wield a great deal of political clout. You can help politicians run for re-election. If nothing else happens, they may be asked for playoff tickets.
But the more important answer is that professional football and basketball are hugely popular with voters. It’s bipartisan. There is only marginal resistance to helping team owners build local playgrounds.
Contrast that with the proposed tunnel, a 39-foot-wide pipe that would channel fresh Sacramento River water from the North Delta into aqueducts in the more saline South Delta. The delta is California’s most important water hub, serving 27 million people and irrigating 3 million hectares.
The tunnel would run beneath the delta, robbing farmers and small communities of the freshwater that now flows through the West Coast’s largest estuary. And it would reduce freshwater needs for struggling baby salmon, which are already an endangered species.
Newsom and state water agencies counter that the tunnel would save the delta as California’s premier sanitation facility. This would ensure the reliability of water supplies to farms and coastal towns in the San Joaquin Valley. Otherwise, the prognosis for the delta is bleak as climate change will cause sea levels to rise and possible earthquakes could flatten the dikes.
Delta opponents, however, argue that sea-level rise is another reason to keep freshwater flowing to ward off saltwater from San Francisco Bay. And they point out that no earthquake has ever seriously damaged a levee in the delta. In fact, there is no major error below the delta.
Bottom Line: Delta residents do not trust state water authorities to operate the tunnel in a way that protects them and the estuary. They fear being drained the way the Los Angeles Aqueduct created the Owens Valley a century ago.
Governors have been trying to build this project in one form or another for six decades. They were defeated either by voters or by a coalition of Delta people and environmentalists.
This time Newsom tried to play hard. He threatened to veto the legislature’s pet budget projects unless they approved his proposal to speed up construction of the tunnel and other infrastructure projects.
Key to his plan is the questionable goal of reducing the time it takes to resolve claims under the California Environmental Quality Act. He’s asking for a 270-day grace period if a judge thinks it’s feasible. That seems impractical.
Legislative leaders told the governor last week that the Delta Legislature was a failure. He pushed her anyway, but finally gave up on Monday.
The remainder of the infrastructure acceleration package was left to further negotiations.
Newsom could still have some wins in the end. But at the delta the old left-hander was hit and should never have taken the hill.
