Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 18, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
WATER PRIVAIZATION DEAL:
$600M water deal runs dry;
FLOOD FUNDING:
Funds flow to flood control efforts; St. Helena gets boost from state Napa finances lighter than hoped - Napa Valley Register
FOLSOM DAM:
Drawing a line in the sand; Granite Bay residents battle plan to excavate Folsom Lake beach - Sacramento Bee
WATER PRIVAIZATION DEAL:
$600M water deal runs dry;
By David Siders, staff writer
The decision, reached 5-0 in a private meeting, cheered the Concerned Citizens Coalition of Stockton, which has sought to dismantle the 20-year deal with water giant OMI-Thames Water since the council approved it in 2003.
"Tonight, it was a victory for democracy, for citizens in action," said Jeanne D'Angeli, whose husband, Mario, belongs to the coalition.
City Attorney Ren Nosky said the decision to abandon the water deal was "the right thing to do."
Mayor Ed Chavez said, "It was time to move on."
In an agreement with the coalition, Sierra Club and League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County - the groups that sued the city - the council agreed to dismiss its appeal and to pay almost $2 million in legal fees, officials said.
In a separate agreement with OMI-Thames, the two sides struck a partial settlement in which the company will finish upgrading the city's sewer plant and will pay the city about $2.1 million to settle outstanding issues before leaving
The council's action Tuesday reversed its vote in January to appeal a San Joaquin County Superior Court judge's ruling that the city failed to perform a required environmental review of the contract.
The city had maintained it was sufficient to review the environmental impact of each construction project done by OMI-Thames, not the impact of the contract itself. San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Humphreys ruled the city was wrong.
Labor negotiations could begin as soon as today in an effort to return employees at the plant to city payroll, officials said.
Stockton and OMI-Thames officials maintained Tuesday, as they have since 2003, that the waterworks deal saved the city millions of dollars and helped it to meet state water pollution standards.
"Our performance here by our team is to be admired," OMI's Robert Kuta said. He called "unfortunate" the deal's end.
Environmentalists have said OMI-Thames had a record of mismanagement, that sewer spills hurt the environment and that the city failed in its duty to oversee the performance of OMI-Thames.
"We had to step in and do it," Concerned Citizens Coalition Chairwoman Sylvia Kothe said. "We were ignored by both the City Council and the media."
Former Mayor Gary Podesto, under whose administration the water deal was approved, said Tuesday that the council was right to end the deal. He said the city's partnership with OMI-Thames was damaged by the constant cloud of a legal challenge.
"From the standpoint of animosity and this constant battle, it's good to have it behind them," he said. "If I were there, I would do the same thing."
Critics have said it was the way in which the contract was approved in 2003 that, as much as anything, caused animosity. The deal was signed 13 days before voters approved a measure that would have required a public vote on the deal.
Council members Rebecca Nabors and Dan Chapman were absent Tuesday. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070718/A_NEWS/707180333
FLOOD FUNDING:
Funds flow to flood control efforts; St. Helena gets boost from state
By Bill Kisliuk, staff writer
The muddy waters of the
In
In Congress, the House of Representatives passed an appropriations measure including $7.5 million for the ongoing project in
As usual, that is substantially less than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had sought, but local leaders hope that the figure will rise before the federal budget for this year’s construction is final.
“The safety of our businesses and homes depends on continued funding for the Napa Flood Project,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. “I’ve made sure that the appropriators in Congress know this is a top priority, and I’ll continue to fight for additional funding.”
“We’re not worried at this point,” said Heather Stanton, manager of the
“It’s basically the same position we were in” last year,
In the end, the project received $14 million for the current budget year, an increase that
“We ended up with $14 million because he gets in with the (joint Senate and House) conference committee, works the floor and gets the bucks.”
The final figure for this year will be determined in conference committee later this summer.
The
St. Helena City Councilman Eric Sklar said the board’s decision was a huge boost for
“Without this loan, this project wouldn’t get built anytime soon,” said Sklar. “It took us six years to get here, and now the project is designed, permitted, approved and funded. … Assuming everything falls into place, hopefully we will break ground in the next month or so and in 2008, the project will be complete.”
Sklar also thanked Thompson for work related to the
The
Only $9.1 million will be available to the city immediately. To receive the rest, St. Helena will have to identify additional funding sources, possibly by creating an assessment district to tax three private properties benefiting from the project, including Vineyard Valley Mobile Home Park and Hunts Grove.
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/07/18/news/local/doc469db1e228429537227444.txt
FOLSOM DAM:
Drawing a line in the sand; Granite Bay residents battle plan to excavate Folsom Lake beach
Sacramento
By Jennifer Morita, staff writer
The excavation would provide soil to strengthen three earthen dikes and boost flood protection for
But residents whose backyards tumble out onto the lake say dredging the beach will stir up dust, dirt and noise, and hamper access by people who use the popular lake for hiking, swimming, jogging and horseback riding.
They've formed a citizens group called Save Our Shores and have collected 1,500 signatures opposing the excavation near Mooney Ridge. They plan to ask the Board of Supervisors for its support.
"We recognize
"They're putting a mining operation in the middle of a residential area."
The public can access the beach behind the
The federal project, which includes building a new spillway, will increase the capacity of the dikes, the bureau's Public Affairs Director Jeff McCracken said.
A revised environmental study released in March identified a section of the shore north of Beals Point near Mooney Ridge where material could be mined.
"We identified an area that has the appropriate material that is as close as we can get to where we need to use the material, and it comes from federal property within the reservoir," McCracken said.
Since then, bureau officials further narrowed the excavation site to an area measuring approximately 300 by 300 feet and up to 30 feet deep.
"So it would be kind of like a big bowl," McCracken said, adding the beach will be restored when construction is complete. "We would just take heavy equipment and materials around the edge of it and move it in. We'll basically smooth the area and sculpt it."
Within a year, nature will have fully restored the shoreline. "It's very common," he said.
Although spillway construction will start this fall, excavation work for the first dike isn't scheduled to begin until fall of 2008, and is expected to last six months.
Digging for the two remaining dikes is set for 2013 and will also take six months, according to McCracken.
Devine and other residents argue it might be easier, cleaner and cheaper to just buy the necessary material and truck it in.
"By the time you build the roads, bring in all the equipment and adopt whatever decisions you need to mitigate the environmental problems, you are spending millions upon millions to dig these beaches up," Devine said.
"We don't know what material is under our beaches."
The Save Our Shores group raised the issue of naturally occurring asbestos in the rocks, but McCracken said thorough testing at the planned excavation site showed no asbestos there. He added construction would not increase exposure to mercury.
"How can you be sure?" Devine said. "If you're wrong, you won't know until it's already been dug up and put in the air."
Residents also expressed concern about dynamiting granite outcroppings.
"We do not intend, or expect, to do any blasting as part of this project," McCracken said.
Opponents, who began organizing in May, say they were blindsided by the plan to excavate the beach. Although public meetings on the project began several years ago, residents said they were never notified.
Placer Supervisor Kirk Uhler said he, too, was surprised when residents brought the issue to his attention last month.
"To my understanding, nobody in the county, from planning to public works, had received any kind of notification," said Uhler, who represents
"Nobody questions the necessity of the project. I think the question is how to best mitigate the impacts on those in the immediate vicinity."
McCracken said bureau officials are taking another look at construction plans to see if changes can be made to accommodate homeowners.
Trucking materials to the site, however, could snarl traffic in the area and add to the region's air quality problems, he said.
Uhler said he wants to see what federal officials come up with before asking his fellow board members to take a stance on the issue.
"They want to revisit their project and address homeowners' concerns, and I want to give them the good faith opportunity to do that," Uhler said.
He added that if the bureau can't acquire the materials elsewhere, then he would like to see limited daytime work hours and excavation only during winter months.
Concerns about dust could be addressed by ceasing work when winds pick up, Uhler said. #
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