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Governor signs legislation protecting the Salton Sea

With water levels continuing to drop at the Salton Sea, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation on Friday to add new measures to protect Salton Sea habitats and improve air quality for the towns that border the lake.

“The Salton Sea has a long and storied history in California and with these key restoration projects, the state is helping protect air quality while maintaining a viable water supply in the region,” said Governor Brown.

The actions announced Friday are the product of recommendations from the Salton Sea Task Force, and they include:

Restoring up to 12,000 acres of shoreline habitat over the next five years
Restoring up to 25,000 acres of additional exposed shoreline starting in 2020
Convening a scientific advisory committee to ensure that the best available science guides the habitat restoration efforts

The California Natural Resources Agency will be taking actions in the coming months and will work with Colorado River officials to accelerate planning, permitting and construction.

With the governor’s signature on AB 1095, the administration will identify for the Legislature “shovel-ready” restoration projects at the Salton Sea that are in either the final planning, environmental review or permitting phase by March.

“This is a long time coming, the state has been going back and forth with our local entities in terms of making sure there is a commitment coming from the State of California to protect the Salton sea,” said Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella).

Garcia penned the bill back in January.

“When we talk about the receding shore line, we’re talking about the particulates that are in that water beginning to impact the air quality of this area, many individuals whether they be in the tourism industry, the residential development industry, or simply public health advocates, have been concerned about the winds and well as the contaminated air particulates would have on the people of this area,” said Garcia.

The bill also aims at adding more development to the clean energy at the Salton Sea.

“There are about 2000 mega watts of potential geothermal energy in the Salton Sea region, in the southern part of the Salton Sea area, and as we have now set a goal for renewable energy for 50 percent renewable energy we are now looking how geothermal can also play a role,” said Garcia.

The bill couldn’t have come at a better time. The Salton Sea is about to start receding faster than ever.

“In about 15 months we are going to have a significant amount of water being transferred to the San Diego area which will excel the receding shore line, and so what we are looking at is how we minimizes of mitigated those particular efforts,” said Garcia.

All of these improvements are being paid for with money from Proposition 1B which is a water bond that passed last year.

“There is a pool of dollars that are in place it’s $475 million that’s the first amount of money that we will draw from for these short term goals,” said Garcia.

ARE YOU GLAD SOMETHING IS BEING DONE TO HELP THE SALTON SEA? LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW OR TELL JOE GALLI ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER.

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