KXO RADIO - Imperial Irrigation District backs State plan

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Imperial Irrigation District backs State plan

Todays is : Friday, 09 January 2009

Written by George Gale
Friday, 21 November 2008
(Imperial Irrigation District Directors agree to back Salton Sea Plan)….The District has stopped short of approving the State preferred restoration plan. Until this week. IID General Manager Brian Brady said it was time to get on board with efforts to save the dieing Sea. Brady said he had put together a resolution of support for the preferred restoration plan the Directors could back without going back on their concerns. The District refuses to commit to a specific amount of water to be injected into the Salton Sea. The IID stand is that the Salton Sea is an Agriculture sump to collect run-off, in whatever amount that might be. Doctor Brady conceded the $9 billion price tag on the State Preferred plan was not the only feature stakeholders found objectionable. However, he said it remains the plan now before the Legislature and the Governor. He said to start over would prolong restoration even longer. Brady said time is not on the side of the Sea or the residents of Imperial and Coachella Valleys. The Board unanimously agreed and adopted the proposed resolution. The General Manager said the timing was perfect, as State Senator Denise Ducheny’s Salton Sea bill has been revived. SB 1256 had been rejected, but new life has been breathed into it. The bill establishes a Salton Sea Council to implement the preferred alternative.