Salton Sea air still up in air By
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, Staff Writer
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS FILE PHOTO
The southeast side of the Salton Sea is shown at sunset.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 1:11 AM PDT
The future restoration of the Salton Sea is a $9 billion question mark in the hands of the state.
Last
week a bill that would have established the governance for the Salton
Sea Restoration Council died on the state Senate floor for lack of a
vote.
The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors heard
from an environmental attorney Tuesday on the implications of
air-quality issues along the receding shoreline.
Ellen
Spellman, whose firm is contracted by the district to oversee the 2003
Quantification Settlement Agreement legalities, spoke about liability,
emissions and restoration.
Spellman said environmental
studies have shown the exposure of the shoreline is inevitable but
predicting what kind of emissions will be mixed into the air is unknown.
“This is an area of great uncertainty,” Spellman said.
A study determining what types of soil, sediment and wind conditions
exist would be needed to predict the impact of the exposed playa, or
sea bed, she said.
Air
quality in Imperial County already has issues meeting state and federal
standards and the exposed shore would likely make the air-quality
condition in Imperial Valley worse, Spellman said.
Baseline factors like climate change and evaporation of the sea could lead to an estimated 16,000 acres of shore being exposed.
An estimated 45,000 acres will be exposed in the next 70 years due to
the transfer of water and the diminishing inflows to the sea.
Determining who is legally liable for the emissions, Spellman told the board, will depend on why the shoreline receded.
“IID is responsible for mitigating air quality impacts from shoreline exposed by the transfer,” Spellman said.
Al
Kalin, a Westmorland farmer who lives near the sea, said the IID should
take a more proactive approach to mitigating the dust coming off the
property it owns at the south shore.
“I’d like to know what IID is doing about the current dust cloud coming off the property,” Kalin said.
Kalin said his daughter is asthmatic and photos taken near the sea during heavy winds looks like the shoreline is on fire.
“It appears the IID doesn’t want to do anything about it,” Kalin said.
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