A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 9, 2008
3. Watersheds
Machado out to unite Delta
By Hank Shaw, Capitol Bureau Chief
For seven years, the Linden Democrat has tried to create a single state agency that would direct funding for myriad agricultural, recreational and environmental projects proposed for the Delta in a way that makes sense.
But he has been rebuffed each time. One year, the legislation died in committee. Another year, it reached Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, only to be vetoed as overly bureaucratic.
Machado is hoping this year is different. Why? The Delta is deeper in crisis than ever. The coalition of state, federal and local agencies called CALFED has collapsed, and Machado's bill to eliminate its funding has met with no resistance thus far.
And perhaps more importantly, Schwarzenegger's task force charged with fixing the Delta has been focusing on the need for, as members put it, "revised governance." It's really a windy way of saying, "Someone needs to be in charge."
Machado thinks his bill can do that. What's more, he thinks it can do it on the cheap, which is a key factor with the state facing an $8 billion hole in its budget.
Machado proposes creating a Delta conservancy, much like those that govern the Sierra Nevada or
"Right now, you have multiple agencies operating autonomously," Machado said. "This would come in and be able to fill that void" left by the collapse of CALFED.
The proposed legislation, which passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday, would tweak the current makeup of that board to ensure that it includes at least one member who lives in or represents the Delta.
A Delta conservancy's primary job would be to coordinate bond funding for the scores of projects dotted all over the estuary. Right now, state agencies and nonprofits apply for funding, and if they get it, they go along their merry way. Sometimes these studies are coordinated with others; sometimes they are not.
Case in point: Ducks Unlimited received grant money to study rice farming in the Delta in 2004. In this study, the organization wanted to see whether growing a new variety of cold-tolerant rice in the breezy Delta could make money for farmers while providing waterfowl with better habitat. It does.
But Ducks Unlimited did not study whether growing rice could also stop or reverse the slow evaporation of the peat soils in the estuary, a process known as subsidence that threatens the Delta islands more every year. Now the state Department of Water Resources is studying that aspect with a rice-growing project of its own.
A Delta conservancy could have combined both studies into one, saving time and money.
As Machado said during Tuesday's hearing: "It should provide better cooperation, coordination and, hopefully, better outcomes."
Machado is hopeful that his legislation will have a better outcome than it did in 2005, when it withered in the Appropriations Committee - exactly where the bill is headed once again. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080409/A_NEWS/804090323/-1/A_NEWS
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