Gavin Newsom has formally abandoned a plan to build two giant tunnels to reroute the state's water from north to south, an idea pushed by his predecessor, Jerry Brown. California has already spent $240 million developing the project, according to state Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth. Brown's plan called for the construction of two 35-mile-long tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento River, the state's largest river, to the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. Local water agencies were expected to foot the roughly $16 billion bill, but many of them balked at picking up the tab. In March, scientists announced that California was completely drought-free for the first time since 2011 following an abnormally wet winter.

Source: Fox News May 02, 2019 23:34 UTC