[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 4/29/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 29, 2009

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

 

 

Senate Committee Passes Bill to Put Moratorium on Suction Dredging

Yubanet

 

Sacramento to get stimulus funds for flood-control

Sacramento Bee

 

Sacramento contractor wins bid for Folsom Dam flood-control work

Sacramento Bee

 

Steelhead cut free in salmon program completion

Eureka Times Standard

 

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Senate Committee Passes Bill to Put Moratorium on Suction Dredging

Yubanet – 4/28/09

By the Sierra Fund

SACRAMENTO, 28 April 2009 - California's Senate Natural Resources Committee today passed SB 670 (Wiggins) with bi-partisan support, placing a temporary moratorium on the issuance of recreational suction dredge mining permits by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) until a thorough scientific review of the impacts is completed and regulations are revised. The bill will next go to Senate Appropriations for consideration and approval before going before the full Senate. The bill includes an urgency clause, requiring 2/3 vote to pass in each house, which would result in the law going into effect immediately upon signing by the Governor.

Elizabeth "Izzy" Martin, CEO of The Sierra Fund, testified at the request of Senator Wiggins on the importance of the bill. "In light of the state's budget crisis, we are concerned that funding for the review and rule-making will be slowed down, and the review could take years. We are also concerned that the well-documented impacts of suction dredging on water quality and endangered species will continue while this environmental review is underway, despite evidence of the harm of suction dredging."

Suction dredging disturbs fish habitat, putting endangered species such as Coho salmon and green sturgeon at risk. In addition, repeated government studies have shown that suction dredge activities disturb and mobilize the mercury left behind from gold mine operations.

Gold miners in the 19th century used an estimated 26 million pounds of mercury to extract gold from ore in California, with an estimated 13 million pounds lost to the waters and soils of the Sierra Nevada and Trinity Mountains. Suction dredgers often encounter mercury and gold-mercury amalgam, which tend to fall into the cracks of the riverbed like gold. Dredgers collect the mercury and amalgam, and treat it to release any gold that may have amalgamated with the mercury. They then recover the mercury and usually store it, though some miners dispose of it in an unauthorized manner, such as pouring it back into the river, onto the ground, or in to municipal sewer systems.

Suction dredges re-suspend and "flour" mercury, increasing the surface area and making it more readily available for bacteria to methylate. Methylmercury has been a regulatory concern of the State for years due its known serious effect on human health.

"The rules that govern this practice are woefully outdated," noted Martin. California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) was ordered by the California courts to undergo a CEQA review and rule change as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2005. The courts ordered DFG to complete the review and make appropriate rule changes by July 2008, but DFG has not met this deadline.

The Sierra Fund has worked with the state's leading scientists as part of our Initiative to assess and address the impact of gold mining on our state. Our report, Mining's Toxic Legacy includes research developed by the US Geological Survey as well as SWRCB on the impacts of suction dredging.

The full text of Mining's Toxic Legacy with photos of suction dredging activities can be downloaded from The Sierra Fund's website: www.sierrafund.org/campaigns/mining#

http://yubanet.com/regional/Senate-Committee-Passes-Bill-to-Put-Moratorium-on-Suction-Dredging.php

 

Sacramento to get stimulus funds for flood-control

Sacramento Bee – 4/28/09

By Matt Weiser

Sacramento is getting another $21 million in federal economic stimulus funds for flood-control projects.

 

The largest share of the new funding, $14 million, will help pay for flood-safety improvements at 96 locations in the area, including slurry wall sections on the American River, a closure structure at Mayhew Drain, and modification of the Natomas Cross Canal flood warning system.

 

Another $4 million will go toward 3,000 feet of levee improvements on the South Sacramento streams project, while $3 million funds restoration of 55 acres of oak and riparian habitat along the American River, required as part of Folsom Dam improvements.

 

The funding comes via the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is in addition to about $180 million previously announced for the Sacramento area under the act for water and community projects.

 

"These federal funds are addressing vital needs within our community, from rebuilding schools, to helping the homeless, to addressing public safety issues," Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, said in a statement. #

http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1817239.html?mi_rss=Our%2520Region

 

Sacramento contractor wins bid for Folsom Dam flood-control work

Sacramento Bee – 4/28/09

By Matt Weiser

Sacramento contractor Martin Brothers Construction has been awarded a $62.6 million contract by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to continue flood-control improvements at Folsom Dam.

 

The project is a joint effort between Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It involves building a new 3,000-foot-long concrete spillway adjacent to the existing main dam so that American River flood waters can be evacuated faster from the reservoir.

 

Expected to be completed by 2015 at a cost of $1.5 billion, it is Sacramento's largest and most important flood-control project.

 

The contract with Martin Brothers Construction is the second in a series of major construction phases for the project. It includes additional spillway excavation, construction of a stilling basin coffer dam, relocation of a 42-inch water supply pipeline, and access roads. The work will be completed in fall 2010, to be followed by additional building phases.

http://sacbee.com/latest/story/1817024.html?storylink=lingospot_related_articles

 

Steelhead cut free in salmon program completion

Eureka Times Standard  - 4/29/09

John Driscoll/The Times-Standard

 

BLUE LAKE -- It was the moment they'd been waiting for.

 

Second-graders Jessica Christie and Tamia Crackel knelt on a rock on the edge of the Mad River, a steelhead fry squirming in a plastic bag. Together they poured out the water and the fish, which promptly vanished under some rocks.

 

”Where'd it go?” Christie asked.

 

”It went right under that big rock,” answered Jeff Self, a volunteer for the resurrected Salmon in the Classroom program.

 

Pair after pair of students in Jake Habib's Dow's Prairie Elementary School class shuffled down to the water's edge to release their steelhead. They've been raising the fish for the past several months from eggs collected at the Blue Lake Fish Hatchery.

 

Some 27 classes in Humboldt County and six classes in Del Norte County -- from grades K-12 -- reared steelhead this year. It's part of an educational program, first hatched decades ago, that nearly crashed due to funding concerns this year. An outcry from teachers, past volunteers and students refired the program with cooperation from the Humboldt County Office of Education, state Fish and Game, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Green Diamond Resource Co.

The program aims to teach children about salmon and the environment they live in. As Self quizzed the class about the parts of a watershed, the students shouted out correct answers in unison, sometimes before Self finished the question.

 

Habib said the students checked on the steelhead every day, taking the temperature of the water, predicting when individual fish would hatch, keeping journals and playing games.

 

”The fish are huge this year,” Habib said, “just huge this year.”

 

Americorps members visited to do other salmon-based activities.

 

Self said that teachers are already inquiring about the program for the coming school year.

 

”Every time I go into a school it's like Christmas -- everyone is just super supportive,” Self said. #

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_12252254

 

 

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