Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
November 13, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
Senate leader criticizes Schwarzenegger for water agency problems - Associated Press
Perata criticizes governor on spill; State senator accuses Schwarzenegger of hamstringing oil spill cleanup efforts - Oakland Tribune
Governor blamed over spill; Senate leader says staffing too low; Schwarzenegger aide disputes charge - Sacramento Bee
San Francisco Bay oil spill cleanup moves from water to land - Associated Press
Guest column: Who's minding the bay? -
San Diego County braces for mudslides; Agencies rush to take preventive measures before rainy season arrives - Los Angeles Times
Teams assess damages to avoid floods; Fires' footprints still hazardous as rainy season nears - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
FLOOD ISSUES:
Study to avoid flooding comes before city council - Vacaville Reporter
City gets county aid on floods - Woodland Daily Democrat
SAN LUIS REY RIVER:
Editorial: A river of red tape runs through it - North
Senate leader criticizes Schwarzenegger for water agency problems
Associated Press – 11/12/07
By Don Thompson, staff writer
SACRAMENTO—State Senate leader Don Perata criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday for understaffing at two agencies he said should be playing key roles in the San Francisco Bay oil spill response.
The California Office of Spill Prevention and Response, named by Schwarzenegger to lead the state's cleanup effort, has remained understaffed despite a recent increase in the tax on oil that pays for the little-known office, said Perata, D-Oakland.
In addition, Perata said Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have made it easier to appoint members to regional water boards. Perata said
Schwarzenegger said in his veto message last month that his administration needs to study problems with the various regional water boards around the state before he acts.
Perata said he will reintroduce legislation during this fall's special legislative session that is designed to assist the regional boards.
The bill Schwarzenegger vetoed would have reduced the size of the boards and changed qualifications, making it easier to appoint members.
"They are the enforcement agency. They can issue cleanup orders. They have primary responsibility along with the Coast Guard and Office of Spill Prevention and Response," Perata said in a telephone interview. "It stands to reason (that) if they don't have a quorum, they can't do anything."
Perata also cited a 2005 audit by the state Department of Finance that found problems with the state's oil spill response office.
He said Schwarzenegger failed to quickly fill 34 positions despite the audit's recommendations and despite an increase in the office's funding in 2002.
The Office of Spill Prevention and Response initially was allowed to hire 19 more employees and is adding another seven this year to bring the total to 218 permanent staff members, said Lisa Curtis, who is in charge of the office.
The additional employees will allow the office to participate in oil spill drills and exercises with shipping and cleanup companies, but they will arrive too late to assist with the current spill, Perata said.
"It's kind of like starting the first game of the season without having spring training," Perata said during a news conference in
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Perata's vetoed bill would not have taken effect until January, too late to help with the
The nine-member regional water board can meet in the interim with six members, he said. He also noted that the board's primary role is long-term planning, not crisis management.
"If Sen. Perata can identify ways in which the state response could have been better, we'd like to hear it," McLear said. "His accusations appear to be misguided."
The Office of Spill Prevention and Response sought the 2002 law that raised the tax from 4 cents to 5 cents on each barrel of oil that passes through
The office's budget has increased by $7.3 million and nine employees under Schwarzenegger, McLear said.
The spill of 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into
The office, a division of the California Department of Fish and Game, is charged with ensuring that each ship coming into
The office also administers a $54 million cleanup fund, maintained through a tax on oil passing through
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7442736?nclick_check=1
Perata criticizes governor on spill; State senator accuses Schwarzenegger of hamstringing oil spill cleanup efforts
By Kelly Rayburn and Kristin Bender, staff writers
OAKLAND — State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, ripped Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday, saying he would reintroduce legislation to strengthen regional water boards after the governor vetoed it.
Perata said the legislation would improve the state's ability to prevent oil spills and punish those responsible.
He also blamed Schwarzenegger for leaving key agencies understaffed, rendering the state's ability to respond to last week's massive oil spill, in Perata's view, almost nil.
"I don't know if (the state) is engaged in any of this stuff right now, but I didn't hear anybody say so," he said, speaking at the
Perata said he would reintroduce Senate Bill 1001, legislation to strengthen California'snine regional water boards by quickening appointments and boosting their powers to reduce water pollution.
Schwarzenegger said in a veto message last month that his administration needs to study problems with the various regional water boards around the state before he acts.
Perata also blamed the governor for leaving the state's Office of Spill Prevention and Response, a division of the California Department of Fish and Game, underfunded, saying the agency lacked the resources needed to prepare for spills such as last week's.
"It's kind of like going to start your first game of the season with no spring training," Perata said. "These people don't have the ability to do their job because they do not have enough staff to field a team."
Schwarzenegger's office struck back at Perata's remarks.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said SB 1001 would not have gone into effect until Jan. 1, 2008, so it wouldn't have been on the books when the spill happened last week anyway.
In response to the charge that the state is ill-prepared to deal with oil spills because the governor has failed to make important appointments or to fully fund and staff the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, McLear said, "If Sen. Perata can identify ways in which the state response could have been better, we'd like to hear it. His accusations are misguided."
McLear said the governor has increased staff and funding for the spill-prevention office, boosting its budget by $7.3 million since coming into office. #
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_7449668
Governor blamed over spill; Senate leader says staffing too low; Schwarzenegger aide disputes charge
Sacramento
By Kevin Yamamura and Matt Weiser, staff writers
As oil spill cleanup continued Monday on the
Perata, D-Oakland, seized upon a 2005 state audit that determined the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, or OSPR, was understaffed despite having a funding surplus. He said the situation has hindered the agency's ability to deter oil spills in advance and react quickly when disasters arise.
"The tragedy we're seeing in the
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear disputed that charge. He said Schwarzenegger has added $7.3 million and 9.2 positions to OSPR since 2003.
"If Senator Perata can identify ways in which the state response could have been better or was lacking in any way, we'd like to hear those suggestions," McLear said. "This is the first we've heard of concerns that OSPR was not executing exactly how it needed to in response to this oil spill."
The spill occurred after the container ship Cosco Busan struck the
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, questioned the
Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency to free up resources last week.
The 2005 Department of Finance audit was highly critical of the administration and the Department of Fish and Game, which oversees OSPR. At the time, the spill agency was sitting on $18 million generated by a special fund that charges 5 cents on every barrel of oil sold in the state, money that should have been used, according to the audit, to hire staff to police the shipping industry and cleanup companies to ensure a rapid response to spills.
There are more than 7,400 cargo ships that visit state waters. All are required to have spill cleanup plans approved by the state, and most contract with one of eight cleanup companies to handle any spills. These companies also must be licensed by the state.
OSPR is authorized by law to conduct surprise annual inspections on the shippers and the cleanup companies. But Ted Mar, chief of the marine safety branch at OSPR, told The Bee that his agency inspects less than 1 percent of the cargo ships each year, and has never conducted surprise annual inspections of the cleanup companies. Instead, inspections typically occur only when a license is renewed, which is every three years for cleanup companies and every five years for shippers.
Surprise inspections are vital to ensure that cleanup companies can rapidly muster the personnel and equipment necessary to contain an oil spill, said Linda Sheehan, a Senate appointee to a technical committee that advises OSPR. These companies are expected to respond first to any oil spill, not the Coast Guard or Fish and Game.
Sheehan said that, ironically, Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance refused to hire more spill prevention staff, even though it also wrote the audit that uncovered that problem.
"For some reason, the state has held back on allocating the staff that's needed even though there's funding there to do that," said Sheehan, who is also executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance. "So in fact, it's never been adequately staffed."
The audit also found that OSPR was unable to provide reliable information on spills and spill response due to poor data collection. Its failure to allocate enough resources to this analysis, the audit states, restricts the agency's ability to accurately assess oil spill trends and causes.
More recently, some hiring has been authorized for the program. In the 2007-2008 budget year, the administration authorized $843,000 and 6.6 new positions to improve oversight of cleanup contractors. Another $415,000 and 1.9 new positions were allocated to improve mapping of sensitive habitats and infrastructure that could be damaged by spills.
Another member of the OSPR technical committee, Gary Gregory, acknowledged the department has been understaffed, but said the latest budget allocations should correct that.
"I think the programs are fully funded," said Gregory, chief of the marine facilities division at the State Lands Commission, which shares the fund to prevent spills at shore-based facilities. "There is a surplus in (the fund) today, but at current funding levels, that surplus will be gone in just a few years."
Perata also criticized Schwarzenegger on Monday for vetoing Senate Bill 1001 last month. The measure would have reduced the size of water quality boards while adding new requirements intended to make the state's nine regional panels more effective. The governor, in his veto message, said he believed the bill would not accomplish its stated goals.
Perata said the Republican governor has undermined the latest spill response by failing to fill positions on the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Board, which now has four sitting members in nine seats. The board cannot meet next month unless Schwarzenegger makes more appointments, according to Perata and the board's chairman, John Muller.
But McLear said even though two of the board's members resigned Oct. 31, they could serve an additional 60 days if they choose to. He added that the board does not play a role in the immediate spill response and that Perata's bill would not have taken effect until January.
Muller said the board will largely play an enforcement role in the spill aftermath, a process that likely will occur in several months after an investigation. The board also will focus on long-term cleanup efforts.
He said the board's executive officer is involved in cleanup briefings but that the panel itself does not have an active role at the moment. #
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/487371.html
Associated Press – 11/12/07
The cleanup of the
Coast Guard officials say there are still 60 boats working to scoop up the spilled shipping fuel both inside and outside the
But those efforts are becoming less effective because the oil has dissolved and spread out too much.
Coast Guard Captain William Uberti says he didn't see much oil on the water during an aerial survey Monday.
Moving forward, the cleanup effort will focus on Bay Area beaches and shorelines.
Nearly 60,000 gallons of fuel leaked and spread throughout the bay after a container ship struck a tower of the
http://www.fresnobee.com/552/story/190227.html
Guest column: Who's minding the bay?
San Francisco Chronicle – 11/12/07
By Michael Herz, of San Francisco Baykeeper and chair of Friends of the Earth-US
Early in 1989, in a report on the feasibility of establishing a Baykeeper program for
For
While the legislation and spill plans were a good first step, it appears that we now have another wake-up call on our hands.
Tracking responses to the Cosco Busan spill from 3,000 miles away is challenging, but preliminary coverage suggests that at least several requirements of these plans have not been met.
For example, it does not appear that oil booms and other protective measures were deployed immediately to prevent damage to the most sensitive habitats for nesting waterfowl and other wildlife. The incident occurred at 8:30 a.m. so there should have been sufficient time to protect at least some of these areas where thousands of migratory ducks and other waterfowl are just beginning to arrive. The initial spill size reported from the ship was only 140 gallons but it should have been evident within the first several hours that, as usual, the spiller had under-reported and that the true size was much larger and posed a far greater threat. A significant number of response vessels and personnel now have been deployed by the spiller's agent, the Marine Spill Response Corporation and other contractors, U.S. Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Game, overall but reports on initial responses to the spill seem to emphasize how long it took. Certain response times are required under each vessel's oil spill response plan as well as by the regional response plan. It is too early to tell whether such requirements have been met.
As the spill and recovery operations continue, it is important that the agencies charged with "minding the bay" examine this response to determine the degree to which it follows the regulatory requirements established under state and federal legislation.And mostimportant, citizen and local government oversightare necessary to evaluate the adequacy of the plan. We applaud the work of the hundreds of responders working to recover the oil and rehabilitate the wildlife, but only when the effectiveness of responses to this spill is carefully evaluated and modified will we know who's minding the bay. #
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/13/EDMPTB1LA.DTL&hw=water&sn=013&sc=179
By Tony Perry, staff writer
LA JOLLA INDIAN RESERVATION -- With rain clouds gathering nearby, key officials in the post-fire recovery efforts for
The Witch, Poomacha and Rice fires that struck northern San Diego County last month scorched steep hillsides and hilltops, increasing the chances that rain will create muddy runoff that could endanger homes and clog streams and culverts, officials said.
The Cedar and Paradise fires that struck the region in 2003 destroyed more homes than the recent fires did, but they didn't burn as much acreage on steep gradients, said Bill Peters, an official with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and spokesman for the Burned Area Emergency Response teams.
As a result,
This time could be different, Peters said.
"Look at that," he said, pointing to scorched land on a ridge on the foothills of
State and federal agencies are addressing that threat by combing the burned area, mapping a combined strategy that involves removing debris, placing barriers at key spots and then reseeding much of the scorched earth, possibly with crop duster-like aircraft.
At a morning news conference, Lee Rosenberg, an official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he is confident that state and federal agencies have enough equipment and personnel. He turned aside a semi-serious question about whether residents should call the White House.
"Right now we have enough to get a good start,"
By early this week,
"As the rainy season approaches, protecting those living near and below the burn areas from flooding and mudflows is a priority," said Henry Renteria, director of the governor's Office of Emergency Services.
Among those considered most at risk from mudflows are residents of the La Jolla Indian Reservation, 60 miles northeast of
The tribe is developing an early-warning system for residents whose homes nestle up against the mountain.
"If we get hit [with rain] right away, we're going to need an evacuation plan," said Fred Nelson, the tribe's treasurer.
"We're told that we may need to get out of our homes in 15 minutes," he said.
Thirty-three tribe members are still in temporary housing, some in motels as far away as
The fire also is a setback to the
"We had hoped to bring people here because of the beauty of our mountain," Nelson said. "But now that's gone."
After being criticized for its response to Hurricane Katrina, FEMA appears determined not to suffer a repeat. FEMA bosses ordered Mike Parker, an official in the
"We're here for the long haul," said Parker. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire11nov11,1,5815381.story?coll=la-headlines-california
Teams assess damages to avoid floods; Fires' footprints still hazardous as rainy season nears
By Jason Pesick, staff writer
As veteran mountain residents know, fire can be dangerous long after firefighters get a handle on it.
The damage fire can do to the ground, plants and trees can lead to flooding when it rains.
That flooding sometimes turns deadly. Following the Old Fire in 2003, Christmas Day floods killed 16 people.
With the Slide and
The two fires started Oct. 22 and destroyed about 450 homes.
"As always, we're extremely concerned about the potential for ash and debris flow and flooding following any fire," said Vana Olson,
Scientists and engineers are organized into Burned Area Emergency Response teams throughout
Some repair work has already begun.
Caltrans is fixing areas along the 215 Freeway and parts of Highway 18 and Highway 330.
In the Fredalba area near Running Springs, crews are replacing guardrails, removing dead trees, cleaning out drains and making sure water isn't blocked, said Corina Harriman, a Caltrans spokeswoman.
Similar work is taking place on the 18 in the 13 Curves area east of Running Springs and in three locations around the
Officials hope the work will be done by the start of winter, Harriman said.
Caltrans is most concerned about mudslides and debris falling, she said.
The county's Public Works Department is doing some of the same work, making sure culverts under roads aren't plugged, Olson said.
Residents who returned to the mountains received packets with information about flood-proofing their property, and the county also approved cleaning up burned homes because they often contain contaminants, she said.
When rain was in the forecast following Butler II, county fire officials went door-to-door in Fawnskin distributing fliers and warning residents about flooding danger. The county will do that again if storms head this way, said Megan Blaney, spokeswoman for the county's Office of Emergency Services.
Aside from the immediate repair work being done, the emergency response teams, known as BAER teams, are assessing state, tribal and forest land where there were fires.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state's Office of Emergency Services are leading what is known as the Multi-Agency Support Group. The group is coordinating and overseeing the work of the BAER teams, said Bill Peters, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The idea is to coordinate flood-control efforts throughout the region because damage or erosion in one area could affect another area's water and because of the number of local agencies applying for funding assistance, Blaney said. Officials want to avoid potential conflicts, she said.
The U.S. Forest Service is putting together the BAER report on the Slide and
Problems with the drainage system in
They are also trying to keep roads from eroding and want to keep unpaved roads dry.
"We are expecting extra water there, but it should make it into the
Other flooding could occur on the back side of the mountain facing the
Where Holcomb Creek - a drainage area for the ground burned in Butler II - joins Deep Creek, which drains the Slide Fire burn area, there could be a "compounding effect," Schroder said.
But that water flows into the
Officials aren't as worried about major flooding as a result of the the Grass Valley Fire around
"We're not so worried about the Arrowhead area itself," Schroder said.
Residents can contact local agencies like the county to help them prepare for floods and learn about using sandbags and creating diversions to protect their property, Peters said.
Once the rains come, it's too late, he said.
"They need to be active now." #
FLOOD ISSUES:
Study to avoid flooding comes before city council
By Jennifer Gentile, staff writer
A flooding study scrutinized by the public last month comes before the Vacaville City Council tonight.
The Ulatis Drainage System Study appears as an informational item on the council's agenda. The Solano County Water Agency worked with contractor
Representatives of the water agency,
The recommended project combines elements of all of the options and relies heavily on a network of upstream detention basins.
Along Ulatis Creek, a 540-acre-foot detention basin is proposed east of
The
Depending on another council decision tonight, one of the planned detention basins could be twice the size recommended in the report.
The council will consider a proposal concerning Brighton Landing, a single-family subdivision east of
The development requires several amendments to the General Plan, according to city staff.
"This project is requesting to amend ... General Plan policies to allow the westerly 1,000-foot-wide portion of the site to develop in advance of a master land-use plan, to proceed without an area-specific plan and to develop this portion of the site with 100 percent single family units," according to a city staff report, "with a commitment to provide a higher mix of moderate- and high-density units on the balance of the site at the time the area-wide utilities master plan and land-use specific plan is done."
In connection with that project, developer Reynen and Bardis are proposing to dedicate at least 80 acres along Laguna Creek, north of
"We are proposing one (project) as a mitigation for the other," Phillippi said. "It's significant - this is a dramatic offer, I think."
According to the staff report, "the city has previously identified an $11.2 million gap in financing the detention basins west of the city, including the Laguna Creek basin." Based on the estimated cost of building the Laguna basin, the proposal would reportedly close that gap by about $7.4 million.
The City Council meets at 7 p.m. in City Hall council chambers,
http://www.thereporter.com//ci_7450303?IADID=Search-www.thereporter.com-www.thereporter.com
City gets county aid on floods
Woodland Daily Democrat – 11/10/07
By Jennifer Gentile, news writer
Flood-control projects in
All but one member of the Solano County Water Agency Board supported city's funding request, which was heard during a meeting Thursday night. City Public Works Director Dale Pfeiffer said, "We're very pleased."
The award is a $2 million allocation for this fiscal year, followed by up to $500,000 for the following three years.
Specifically, Pfeiffer said the money would fund land acquisition and construction of the
The Encinosa project features three smaller basins comprising a combined 200-acre-feet of storage.
Pfeiffer said the city hopes to complete the project next year. Construction for the
"We've received approval of $3.9 million in state and federal grants thus far to help us out," Pfeiffer said. "We're also requesting several other grants."
For the water agency's part, the allocation to
"This was a big commitment on the part of the board to solve a big problem in
According to an agency staff report, the allocation to
With the funding committed, agency staff now will prepare an agreement with
http://www.dailydemocrat.com//ci_7427536?IADID=Search-www.dailydemocrat.com-www.dailydemocrat.com
SAN LUIS REY RIVER:
Editorial: A river of red tape runs through it
Our view: Cut brush along San Luis Rey now or wait for disaster later
Levee breaks and fire. We've seen the hell that both unleash. Because of brush that has been allowed to grow in and along the San Luis Rey River for years without thinning,
To avert a public safety and ecological disaster ---- not to mention a public relations nightmare ---- the state's regulators must get out of the way and allow plans to thin the riverbed proceed. We have all been duly warned.
Given the recent wildfires, coming water crisis and the driest conditions in many decades, it may be hard to believe that until recently, the primary threat posed by the river wasn't from fires, but floods.
Several times last century the San Luis Rey River surged past its banks, causing serious floods. In 1916 the damage was so bad that all of
As early as the 1940s,
This should have been the end of the story. After the levees were built, the corps had planned to hand off responsibility for maintaining the channel to the city. But as so often happens when the government is involved, the attempt to solve one problem triggered a long series of policy decisions, onerous regulations, bureaucratic delays and outright neglect that led to others.
In the late 1980s, as the corps was still studying the need for the levees, its engineers noted the presence of an endangered songbird called the least
As a result, by 2000 the least
As recently as the wet winter of 2005, local concerns about the river still centered on flooding. Both the city and the corps warned that in the event of a major storm, wildly overgrown vegetation could cause levees to fail and bridges to fall. The estimate of potential damages started at $185 million.
The fear of floods ebbed as wet winters gave way to drought and a series of suspicious fires began burning through the tinder-dry brush earlier this year. The Rice fire, which threatened to spread east from Fallbrook to
But still, the brush remains. After years of negotiations, the city of
That's great, if it happens, but the story doesn't end there. If and when California Fish and Game gets out of the way, the Army Corps will still have to find the $10 million to $12 million needed to do the job. The city will also need to win the approval of the California Coastal Commission and the Regional Water Quality Control Board before it can act. Both state agencies are waiting for Fish and Game to make the first move.
>From beginning to end, the saga of the San Luis Rey River is a case study in what happens when good intentions, poor planning and bureaucratic inertia collide. Whether floods or fires, the mismanagement of the river opens
DWR's California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader's services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost1.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of
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