McNerney’s taking on water, Newsom and Trump

In the mid-1970’s I became friends with our local Assemblyman, Bob Cline.  Though he represented the San Fernando Valley, he was raised in the Bay Area.  To him the number one issue for California was water.  He taught me a lot about this issue and to take a statewide, not local view of it.  That is why, though living in Los Angeles, I opposed the Peripheral Canal—because it would destroy so much of our farm land.

Now, we have a replacement for the ill created Canal—it is the Delta canal concept.  Though not as destructive, it is destructive.  Yet, this is one issue that unites Trump and Newsom.  Actually, if Newsom was not destroying so many dams, this project would not be needed.

“Gov. Gavin Newsom is working his version of the project, a $20 billion, 45-mile long tunnel, through a key water rights hearing right now with an eye toward getting it shovel-ready by the end of his term in 2026. And President Donald Trump is providing federal tailwinds via his day-one executive order to “route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state.”

McNerney’s taking on water, Newsom and Trump

By CAMILLE VON KAENEL, Politico,  5/4/25  https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-climate/2025/04/25/mcnerneys-taking-on-water-newsom-and-trump-00311513

TUNNEL VISION: Sen. Jerry McNerney is stepping into the fight over one of the biggest modern-day water projects in California — a tunnel to reroute more water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta south to farmers and cities — just as it’s heating up.

Representatives of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region have long railed against the project for its potential impact on the environment and local water supplies. But McNerney, a 22-year veteran of Congress who came to the state Senate last year to represent San Joaquin County, which will bear the brunt of the tunnel’s construction, sees political forces aligning in a way that they haven’t in decades.

“It’s going to be more of a challenge for us to keep the discussion to actually the benefit and cost of this thing, as opposed to just the will to get it done,” he said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is working his version of the project, a $20 billion, 45-mile long tunnel, through a key water rights hearing right now with an eye toward getting it shovel-ready by the end of his term in 2026. And President Donald Trump is providing federal tailwinds via his day-one executive order to “route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state.”

A majority of registered voters in California, 58 percent, said they believe the tunnel is more likely to come to fruition than the state’s other major infrastructure endeavor, its high-speed rail project, according to a new survey from POLITICO and the UC Berkeley Citrin Center. The sentiment is higher, at 68 percent, among political and policy professionals, which POLITICO sourced from its readership.

We caught up with McNerney to talk about how the politics around the tunnel are changing and his vision for water in California.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You’ve been in Delta issues for 20 years. The tunnel idea has been around for even longer. Put us in perspective: Are we closer or further to it ever getting under construction?

Well, there are differences. They have scaled it back somewhat, and I’m okay with them trying to scale back, but still, putting in that kind of an investment in that kind of project without getting that much in return for it is questionable. And of course, now we see with the president and the governor behind it, seemingly, anyway, then it’s going to be more of a challenge for us to keep the discussion to actually the benefits and costs of this thing, as opposed to just the will to get it done.

So does it feel like a harder fight now?

Yes.

How do you feel about going up against Newsom and Trump?

I think we have a good case to make, really. We can raise the voices of the people in the Delta in whose backyard this is going to take place, and we can raise our voices and make them heard. And so that’s what we’re going to do.

What’s your strategy?

I only want to get people that are going to be affected to organize. Maybe we’ll have rallies, providing information on a regular basis so that people will be in a position to speak intelligently on this issue, rather than emotionally.

The cost is certainly one argument. If you pay into this system, the cost to you is going to be pretty steep, steeper than what they’re projecting. I can guarantee that. And then the benefit is going to be marginal, maybe a 15 percent increase in water supply when really state law had mandated that the users of Delta water sort of wean themselves off Delta water over a period of time, and so we want to make sure that’s happening.

We’ve seen very successful programs take place in Israel and Australia, where they’re arid areas, and people have learned to live with water in a very efficient way, and we can do that here in California.

Is there any upside to the president’s focus on California water?

When they do stunts like releasing that water, saying it’s going to help fight fires, and then just go into fallow lands and maybe even causing flooding disruptions, if they do more of those stunts, it’s certainly going to help our cause.

Your cause being, no tunnel?

Rational, thoughtful and scientific use of water to supply all our needs. That’s my goal.

You have at least one bill on recycled water. What’s your vision for California water?

We want to make sure that the levees are safe, that we’re not going to be experiencing levee failures because of high sea-level rise or storms. But once water is in the system, we really need to reuse it as much as we possibly can.

My district, San Joaquin County, has 1 million acre-feet of groundwater storage capacity. That’s a lot, and this can’t be the only place in the world that has that. There’s going to be some opportunity for desalination, and there’s more technology that’s coming online that’s pretty good, but that isn’t the answer to everything, either. — CvK