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Salton Sea Plan released; 8.9 billion needed

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2007 at 8:57 am

From the LA Times:

An ambitious $8.9-billion, 75-year plan to save the Salton Sea was handed to state lawmakers Friday. It calls for a drastically shrunken lake, the creation of a new “marine sea” and creation of thousands of separate wildlife habitats. “What we have done here is truly historic,” said Michael Chrisman, California’s resources secretary. “There is a little bit in here for everyone. There will be a lot of debate, and we think that is very healthy.”

The plan, three years in the making, would reduce the Salton Sea to about a fifth of its current size. The water would be less salty, and sport fish, such as the corvina that vanished five years ago, would be reintroduced. The plan calls for the creation of a 62,000-acre “saline habitat complex,” a series of 1,000-acre cells that would include bits of shoreline, islands and peninsulas to be habitat for birds, fish and invertebrates. A special 2,000-acre habitat would be built first to help save species, such as the tilapia, that are threatened by rising salt levels.

Under the proposal, 52 miles of barriers and 158 miles of berms would be added, and 106,000 acres of lake bed would be exposed. “The Legislature said in 2003 that the restoration of the sea is critically important,” Chrisman said. “There will be a big debate about the cost and timeline, but my sense is that the Legislature has already said yes and we will move forward.”

For the full text of the LA Times article, click here.

However, local officials realize with that price tag, it’s going to be a hard sell. Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley, a member of the Salton Sea Authority, stated in the Riverside Press-Enterprise article, that “the proposal’s estimated cost, even spread over many years, will make it a hard sell.” More from the Riverside Press-Enterprise:

Richard Stapler, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, said of the plan, “We are very concerned about the increase in cost to restore the Salton Sea.”

The proposal comes two months after a draft plan in the $6 billion range was issued. The cost increases, state officials said, reflect adjustments to appease the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and Imperial County, which shares the lake with Riverside County, and to set aside some of the sea bed for geothermal exploration.

For the rest of the coverage from the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which includes a picture of the proposed Salton Sea plan, click here.

The Desert Sun article also sees problems on the horizon:

Some stakeholders in the Coachella and Imperial valleys immediately panned the plan, saying it fails to deal with air quality problems or provide enough recreation opportunities.

“We won’t provide a cent, a single penny, for a project we do not support,” Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt said. “And we do not support this plan as it currently exists.”