[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 8/27/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

August 27, 2008

 

1.  Top Item -

 

 

Legislators debate water bond that could include dam: Committee member says they are near a compromise

Visalia Times- Delta- 8/27/08

 

IID is still unhappy with Senate bill

Imperial Valley Press- 8/26/08

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Legislators debate water bond that could include dam: Committee member says they are near a compromise

Visalia Times- Delta- 8/27/08

By Jake Henshaw

 

SACRAMENTO — Legislators debated, but didn't agree on, a water bond Tuesday that could build a new dam at Temperance Flat on the San Joaquin River and help clean up contaminated groundwater in Tulare County and elsewhere.

 

The Special Committee on Water focused primarily on a $9.8 billion bond co-authored by Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, a proposal that represented a new formal effort by Assembly Democrats.

 

"It's a work in progress," Caballero said, "but we've moved closer to a consensus product than has ever been achieved."

 

Republicans criticized the Democratic proposal and, more specifically, the Democrats for refusing to include a $9.98 billion GOP water bond in the hearing.

 

"I think that is a [Democratic] leadership issue," Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, committee chair, said of any hearing on the GOP plan.

 

"It's not there yet," Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, vice chairman of the committee, said in an interview about a water bond compromise.

 

The hearing represented the latest chapter in a three-year effort by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and some legislators to place a major water bond on the ballot that includes new dams.

 

Earlier this summer the governor and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco, proposed a $9.3 billion water bond.

 

The Legislature is set to end its regular session this year Sunday, but the water bond is being considered in a special session that could continue.#

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080827/NEWS01/808270323/1002

 

 

 

IID is still unhappy with Senate bill

Imperial Valley Press- 8/26/08
By BRIANNA LUSK

Questions continue to linger for Imperial Irrigation District board members about the language of a Senate bill involving the Salton Sea and whether the water transfer agreement is being breached.

Senate Bill 187 cleared the state Senate last week and will distribute $47 million for the first phase of habitat restoration and studies on air and water quality at the Salton Sea.

But some IID board members said that without a spelled-out reference to the Salton Sea restoration’s ties to the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement, the state continues to circumvent its liability at the plagued inland sump that was once an oasis in the desert.

“This is not substantive language,” said IID Legal Counsel Jeff Garber. “It doesn’t change anything.”

At a special meeting to discuss the issue Tuesday, the board reviewed the impact the change could have on the QSA — a 75-year agreement that transfers water from Imperial County to the coast. Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, who authored SB 187, said IID officials not only knew about the change but were part of the water districts that requested it.

The omissions make direct reference to the Salton Sea noting “restoration of the Salton Sea is an essential element of the Quantification Settlement Agreement.”

IID Director Mike Abatti said if the language is insignificant there should be no problem putting it back in.

“I believe it was a key component of this bill,” he said.

IID General Manager Brian Brady said the change was apparently approved by former interim General Manager Elston Grubaugh last year when the bill was stalled in an appropriations committee. Board members say they were never informed of the change, however, the district lobbyist did agree to the language deletion.

“There is no question that this matter should have been brought to the IID board and the fact that it wasn’t, frankly, is unacceptable,” Brady said.

Brady said he shares the board’s misgivings on the state’s intention to restore the Salton Sea.

Gary Wyatt, Salton Sea Authority board member and chairman of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, said the authority reluctantly agreed to the change.

“Our feeling is that it does no harm and it in fact does some good. It moves some money,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt said the SSA remains vigilant about the state’s duty to restore the Salton Sea.

“I would like to join you in that effort to push the state to live up to their responsibility,” said IID Director Anthony Sanchez.

Abatti said with other bills in the works such as SB 1256 that would establish a Salton Sea Restoration Council, there appears to be a legislative first step in amending the QSA. SB 1256 failed to make it out of the Senate for lack of a vote and Ducheny has said she would like to resurrect the bill next year.

If the state ever neglected its responsibility at the sea, said IID Director James Hanks, he would consider it to be a breach of the QSA.

“It looks to me like there are encroachments (on the agreement) that are lining up. It has all the indications of going that way,” Hanks said.

Garber said regardless of political language in the bill, the money funneled to the sea is important.

“If it means the difference between getting $47 million or getting nothing, take the $47 million,” Garber said.

Brawley resident Rusty Jordan said the state has taken long enough to start spending money for its liability at the Salton Sea.

“They’re going to have a hard time getting it funded each year. You’re going to have this conversation with them for a long time,” Jordan said.#

http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2008/08/27/local_news/news04.txt