Saturday, September 16, 2017

Whistleblowers Uncover Illegal Federal Payments to Water Contractors

Californians were shocked last week by the revelation that some several of the state’s water districts secretly received over $100 million dollars in federal funds to pay for their share of the environmental review of the Bay-Delta tunnels project. The misappropriation of taxpayer money was uncovered by employees of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and others. State officials, including Governor Jerry Brown, have for years insisted that the entire funding of the tunnels project, known as California Water Fix, would come from water contractors and not the general public. KPFA’s Vic Bedoian looks at the possibly illegal transaction through the eyes of whistleblowers who brought the story to light.