Bill may establish Salton Sea aid By
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, Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2008 10:50 PM PDT
The
Senate Appropriations Committee will hear a Senate bill that could be
one of the critical components of the Salton Sea restoration.
Authored
by Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, Senate Bill 1256 would
establish the Salton Sea Restoration Council to oversee the project and
issues regarding the sea.
The Salton Sea, plagued by
environmental issues and shrinking due to a lessened supply of
agricultural runoff due to water transfers, is lacking in direction of
how and who is going to pay for its salvage.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up SB 1256 on Monday.
Ducheny could not be reached for comment Monday.
As it stands, the bill would establish a state agency to head the restoration and make other decisions pertaining to the sea.
It
would also give the secretary of the Resources Agency final say in
decisions made by the council regarding potential restoration
strategies.
The council would be made up of an executive and science
committee and local and stakeholder forums. Fourteen voting members
would include two local officials including a director of the Imperial
Irrigation District and a supervisor from the Imperial County Board of
Supervisors.
The state-approved restoration plan could cost an estimated $9 billion dollars.
The
Salton Sea Restoration Council is just one component of a larger
solution. The question remains of how the funding will be paid for to
actually restore the sea.
>> Staff Writer
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can be reached at
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or 337-3439.
