SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Critics and a state lawmaker say they want more explanations on who’s paying for a proposed $16 billion water project backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, after a leading California water district said Brown’s administration was offering government funding to finish the planning for the two giant water tunnels.
Critics said the government funding described by the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District could run counter to longstanding state assurances that various local water districts, not California itself, would pay for Brown’s vision of digging twin 35-mile-long tunnels to carry water from the Sacramento River south, mainly for Central and Southern California. The $248 million in preliminary spending for the tunnels, which have yet to win regulatory approval, already is the topic of an ongoing federal audit.
State lawmakers ordered a state audit of the tunnel spending as well.
State spokeswoman Nancy Vogel said that despite the account of the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District, no money from the state’s general fund would be used finishing the current planning phase of the twin tunnels.
However, opponents of the tunnels and a taxpayer group were critical, and Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, one of the state lawmakers behind the audit order, asked the state for clarification.
“It’s a shell game,” said David Wolfe, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s legislative director. “I think it comes back to the audit (request): There are way more questions here than there are answers.”
Source: www.capitalpress.com