Sea funding feasibility study and the Financial Assistance Program.” Gov. Jerry Brown approved $2 million for the feasibility study June 27, but vetoed $3 million for the Financial Assistance Program, which provides grants to support near-term actions by local agencies and others that are designed to improve Salton Sea fi sh and wildlife habitat. Financial resources are central to the
Salton Sea discussion, with questions arising whether the funds pledged for mitigation under the QSA are adequate. “Well over $1 billion to mitigate is the most conservative estimate,” Pérez said at the committee hearing. “Frankly, all we have to do is look north to Owens Lake to appreciate the cost will be sub- stantially higher.” T e Los Angeles Department of
Already the Sea’s level has dropped, exposing its shoreline.
farmland in 2015 and 2016 to repay more than 46,000 acre-feet of water, a proposal Reclamation Lower Colorado Region Regional Director Terry Fulp called “credible and acceptable.” T e term sheet “may not be an easy path or well received, but it certainly is a funding alternative aimed at those benefi tting from the transferred water and IID’s QSA commitments,” she said. One of the leading voices calling for a long-term solution to the Salton Sea is Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella, who this year introduced the “Save Our Sea” package of bills aimed at securing durable governance as well as answers to dust mitigation and the Sea’s future as a center for renewable energy generation. At the Feb. 26 hearing, Pérez said the
Sea’s future will be largely determined by the amount of resources that can be directed toward solving the Sea’s long- term problems. “Nobody, including myself, is inter- ested in renegotiating the QSA,” he said.
“However, it is imperative that we work together on how we will plan for and raise the revenue necessary to mitigate the eff ects of the water transfer,” he said. T e air quality impacts of a reduced
Sea are the basis for Pérez’ AB 147, which requires the California Air Resources Board to evaluate the air quality mitiga- tion planning completed to date by local water agencies to ensure it is adequate to mitigate the dust emissions from the Salton Sea resulting from implementa- tion of the QSA. To the extent that additional mitigation work is needed, AB 147 requires the Air Board to develop and make recommendations for how to complete that work. “AB 147 ensures the state is involved in planning and responding to the signifi cant air quality impacts that will result from reduced water fl owing into the Salton Sea,” Pérez said after the bill passed the Assembly May 29. “I feel very encouraged by the overwhelming support this bill received and recent budget actions supporting the Salton
4 • Colorado River Project • River Report • Summer 2013
Water and Power pays to mitigate the dust impacts at Owens Lake, which lost water because of diversions of the Owens River to the city. Costs have reached more than $1 billion, with another $400 million called for by the Great Basin Unifi ed Air Pollution Control District. However, comparing Owens Lake to the Salton Sea “may not be analogous” because emissions of airborne dust at the Sea are expected to be “much less severe” because of diff erences in soil chemistry, wind conditions and recession rates, Razak said. IID and Imperial County are
currently focused on addressing areas of common concern in their QSA settlement discussions, and while the importance of these issues may not be understood or embraced by those who aren’t directly impacted on a day-to-day basis, they remain of signifi cant concern to the residents of Imperial County and the governing boards of both IID and Imperial County, Shields said. T e 14-point term sheet is partially
the result of IID’s new board of directors’ desire to quell some of the acrimony that resulted from the QSA. “IID has been trying very hard re- cently … to work with its local growers, landowners, and governing agencies to
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