Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
May 23, 2008
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Salton Sea plan killed in Senate
Bill never brought to vote; drive for restoration stalls
Desert Sun – 5/23/08
Senate Bill 1256 never came up for a vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which held the bill, as well as scores of other measures that were projected to add new costs at a time when the state budget is about $15 billion short.
The committee staff had estimated the sea bill by Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, could cost more than $800,000 a year to operate, though the staff analysis also acknowledged that many of the potential costs of the new agency were unknown.
"It stalls it big time," Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson said of the restoration plan.
Peter Nelson, chair of the Salton Sea Authority board, agreed the committee's inaction set back the project but acknowledged the budget is a major obstacle this year.
"Any project in
Still, the delay only makes the recovery work more difficult, he said of the sea whose drying lakebed will likely create air quality issues in the Coachella and Imperial valleys in the near future.
"The tragedy for the sea is that every year that goes by, it will become more and more difficult to have a reasonable restoration plan move forward," Nelson said.
Ducheny had worked with the committee in an unsuccessful effort to reduce costs.
"Obviously we are disappointed," she said. "Timing is sort of unfortunate with all of the concern about the budget."
Ducheny said she may take another run at trying to pass SB 187, the other
"If we can push that one out by the end of the session after the budget dust settles, then we feel we can push on this (SB 1256) next year."
About $10.3 million in the proposed 2008-09 budget will continue the early restoration work at the sea and will likely continue without the bill.
The Salton Sea Restoration Council with 14 local and state voting members would have overseen the $9 billion, 75-year restoration plan to address increasing salinity that threatens to kill marine life, drive away a rich bird population and increase air pollution for the
Ferrera said Ducheny likely will explore the options of reviving some version of her bill this year but conceded it would difficult.
The Appropriations Committee passed fewer than one-fifth of its bills Thursday, costing less than $2 million after $23 million in court-required expenditures were subtracted.
SB 1256 is the second bill aimed at laying the groundwork for the restoration work that has stalled in the Capitol in the past couple of years.
In 2007, Ducheny's measure SB 187 would have set out the rules for use of $47 million earmarked in a 2006 bond for restoration work.
The two measures were intended to establish a framework to rescue the state's largest lake but they both have encountered legislative reluctance to commit the state to the massive restoration plan developed by the state Resources Agency.
Nelson emphasized the state is legally responsible to address air and water quality issues and said failure to meet those obligations will damage not only the environment but the health and economic viability of the region.
But he added the sea is just one of the state's stalled water projects that also include shoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is the switching station for the water serving 25 million Californians.
"If you can't get the Delta issue solved, how can we get the
Right now, the Resources Agency is overseeing initial work at the sea and Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman has suggested creating an organization dedicated to the long-term project.
The council that would have been created by SB 1256 would have included an executive committee, a science committee, a local government forum and a stakeholder forum.
Nelson said the Salton Sea Authority and local officials will have to regroup to determine their next move.
"How long can this limp along before there is severe economic impact in the eastern
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/NEWS0701/805230378/1026/news12
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