Thursday September 28, 2006
CA: Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation, Executive Order to Develop Strategic Vision for Delta

Source: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sacramento, CA - In conjunction with the signing of SB 1574 by Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), Gov. Schwarzenegger signed an executive order to develop a Delta Vision to provide a sustainable management program for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, a unique natural resource of local, state and national significance.
“We must address the health of the delta because our current practices are not sustainable,” said Gov. Schwarzenegger. “My executive order and the signing of this bill will help ensure that a plan exists to determine how to deal with the challenges facing the delta today and in the future.”The Delta Vision builds on work done through the CALFED Program, which will continue to focus on water supply and ecosystem restoration. Delta Vision will encompass the Delta’s full array of infrastructure and land-use resources.Failure to formulate a sustainable management program for the Delta would prove disastrous. Delta water sustains more than 500,000 people who live in the Delta, more than 300,000 acres of agriculture within the Delta, 750 plant and animal species that call the Delta home, as well as more than 23 million Californians and 7 million irrigated agriculture acres throughout the state. Additionally, energy, communications and transportation facilities traverse the Delta and are vital to the economic health of California.
SB 1574 will create a cabinet-level committee chaired by the Secretary of the Resources Agency and include the Secretary of the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency, the Secretary for Environmental Protection, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, the President of the Public Utilities Commission, the Director of the Department of Finance and the Director of the Office of Planning and Research to develop a plan for a sustainable delta.
The bill requires the strategic vision developed by the committee including the following factors:
A. Sustainable ecosystem functions, including aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna.
B. Sustainable land use and land use patterns.
C. Sustainable transportation uses, including streets, roads and highways and waterborne transportation.
D. Sustainable utility uses, including aqueducts, pipelines and power transmission corridors.
E. Sustainable water supply uses.
F. Sustainable recreation uses, including current and future recreational and tourism uses.
G. Sustainable flood management strategies.
H. Other aspects of sustainability deemed desirable by the committee.

In addition, the Governor signed the following bills that relate to the Delta and water quality issues:
AB 797 by Assemblymember Lois Wolk (D-Davis) - Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
AB 798 by Assemblymember Lois Wolk (D-Davis) - Delta levee maintenance.
AB 1245 by Assemblymember Lois Wolk (D-Davis) - West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.
AB 1881 by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) - Water conservation.
AB 2515 by Assemblymember Ira Ruskin (D-Redwood City) - Water conservation: report.

Full text of the executive order.

Copyright ©1999-2006 Stratecon Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use  | Privacy Policy  | Disclaimer