[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 6/14/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

June 14, 2007

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People -

 

County says fight with DWR costly but necessary -

Oroville Mercury Register

 

Lawsuit against EPA is vowed

Governor says state has waited too long for emissions ruling. -

Sacramento Bee

 

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County says fight with DWR costly but necessary

Oroville Mercury Register – 6/14/07

By ROGER H. AYLWORTH/MediaNews Group

 

Over the last decade, Butte County has spent roughly $1.1 million — mostly legal fees — in an ongoing effort to force the state Department of Water Resources to cover what the county claims are its legitimate costs for hosting the Oroville Dam project.

 

Tuesday, County Chief Administrative Officer Paul McIntosh outlined for the Board of Supervisors what the effort has cost and what the Oroville complex — which produces electricity and is the sole source of water for the State Water Project — costs the county in terms of out-of-pocket expenses and uncollected taxes.

As of 2007, DWR's 50-year federal license to operate the Oroville water and power project expired, and the state agency is going through a lengthy process to win a renewed license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

 

During this relicensing period, various public and private agencies can petition FERC to put provisions in the new license requiring DWR to do or not do certain things as a requirement to continue to operate the facility. Continuing to operate the facility is vital to the DWR.

McIntosh told the board the Oroville project provides water to 23 million Southern Californians and he quoted DWR Director Lester Snow as saying the project annually has a $300 billion economic impact on the state.

 

While the project is reportedly having an enormously positive impact elsewhere in California, McIntosh maintained it has wrought extensive economic hardship locally.

Quoting from a final environmental impact statement produced by the FERC's staff, McIntosh said annual expenses for law enforcement and fire services, road maintenance and other costs the county incurs come to about $1.7 million.

 

The FERC report estimates the county could be losing up to $6.9 million a year in unpaid property taxes.

 

McIntosh said it is not unusual for a government entity to pay "in lieu of property tax" payments to a jurisdiction when private lands are taken off the tax rolls.

The CAO said the county has spent "over a million dollars to establish these facts."

 

The county is asking that FERC order DWR to cover the county's future costs as a condition in the next license.#

http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_6135633

 

Lawsuit against EPA is vowed

Governor says state has waited too long for emissions ruling.

Sacramento Bee – 6/14/07

By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau

 

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that a lawsuit to force the federal government to permit California to move forward with its tough vehicle emissions is now "inevitable."

 

Earlier, California Attorney General Jerry Brown, a Democrat, pledged that a lawsuit would be filed in October against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unless it issued a Clean Air Act waiver allowing California to force new cars and light trucks to meet stricter emissions standards than federal law requires.

 

The Republican governor told EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson in a letter Wednesday that a lawsuit is now a virtual certainty. It followed Johnson's testimony before an ad hoc House of Representatives global warming panel on Friday in which he said he wouldn't decide on the state's application until the fall of 2008.

California is the only state that's permitted to have tougher laws than the federal government to control air pollution under the Clean Air Act, but to do so it must have a waiver. Once issued, other states are free to adopt the California standard. So far, at least 13 other states have enacted, or soon will enact, laws following California's lead on greenhouse gas emissions.

 

The state's waiver application has been pending since 2005. The state gave notice in April that it would file a lawsuit in October unless the agency made a determination on the waiver by then.

 

Since then, the Supreme Court has ruled that the EPA is obligated to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The agency has held an administrative hearing on the state's application, but the only pronouncements have been Johnson's testimony that a decision is at least another year away.

 

Schwarzenegger said there is no wiggle room left for the Bush administration.

 

"The EPA must grant California's waiver," the governor wrote.

 

"There is simply no legal justification to do otherwise."

 

The California law would require auto manufacturers to meet emissions standards lowering tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide to 1990 levels by 2020.

The California standards recently have been in jeopardy of being overturned on legislation proposed in the House by Democrats from states with heavy coal production or a domestic auto industry presence.

 

The fight has stalled a House panel's vote on the draft legislation for at least a week.#

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/221613.html