Friday
May 25, 2007
Salton Sea Authority
Statement Regarding Announcement of a Proposed Preferred Alternative
Source: Salton Sea Authority
The Salton Sea Authority supports moving Salton Sea Restoration to the next phase of the process. The clock is ticking and time is of the essence. It has been many years in developing a restoration plan and now more than ever it is critically important to make progress. Failure to move forward with water improvements will cause the Sea to die within a decade.
The Resources Agency’s preferred alternative is a very modest step in the right direction. The Authority has always supported beginning immediate work on its 5-year Plan by doing the following;
- Design and build Early Start Habitat on the Torres Martinez lands in the north end and IID lands in the south end;
- Design and build wetlands water treatment to remove algae-generating phosphorous which in turn creates hydrogen sulfide created odors and fish kills;
- Initiate a Project Specific EIR/S and engineering studies to deal with site specific issues and barrier locations, and
- Develop the long term Environmental Monitoring Program.
The Authority has supported the process that has brought us this far and looks forward to that work commencing next year.
However, there are some areas that need additional consideration in the Preferred Alternative and must be addressed in project level work in the future in order to accomplish the local support necessary for the restoration to be successful. In particular the overall cost of the project must be value-engineered. The Salton Sea Authority’s proposed plan was $3 billion less than the Secretary’s proposed preferred alternative. Other areas that need to be addressed are continued submersion of the of stranded Torres-Martinez Tribal lands that are currently submerged, the amount of water used must be no less than that the post QSA inflows and must be able to function with at least a minimum of 717,000 AFY, the size and configuration of the marine sea in the north, addition of inflow water treatment to address phosphorous build up and hydrogen sulfide issues, and, excessive dike construction on the east side. The Salton Sea Authority has repeatedly outlined these areas of concern previously and its members will continue to work on addressing these issues in the future project level work.
Local communities through their representatives on the Salton Sea Authority have made it clear that Post QSA inflows must be protected for the benefit of the Sea, air quality impacts must be mitigated, and Torres Martinez Tribal lands must remain submerged. Citizens of the Coachella and Imperial Valleys will not accept a degradation of their quality of life or economy for a less than adequate Salton Sea Restoration.
The Salton Sea Authority strongly believes that the Salton Sea Restoration Plan should enjoy the greatest possible stakeholder support. To take a complicated project like this, with its history and the difficulty of the Legislature in dealing with other statewide water issues over the last few decades, a plan that has the backing of the major stakeholders is critical. The local community is also committed to contributing resources to this local, state, national, and international effort and will work on environmental and economic issues and recreation opportunities in consideration of project level work.
A lot of work has gone into the Salton Sea Restoration process and the Salton Sea Authority appreciates all the next to impossible work of the Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman, State Senators Denise Ducheny and Jim Battin, Assembly members John Benoit and Bonnie Garcia, and the various stakeholders that have served on the 32- member State Advisory Committee. Of the over 23 previous attempts to resolve the complicated issues of the Salton Sea, none has come this far. Failure to continue this collaboration is not an option. We embrace moving forward, but highlight there is still a lot of work to do to get the Salton Sea Restoration Plan right and the Authority is prepared to lead that effort of all of us working together on our collective 75-year vision for a restored Salton Sea.
Contact:
Rick Daniels, Executive Director, Salton Sea Authority, 760-564-4888
Peter Nelson, Chairman of Coachella Valley Water District and Salton Sea Authority Vice Chairman, (760) 250-1451