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Salton Sea bill rejected

Todays is : Thursday, 20 November 2008

Written by George Gale
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
(Ducheny Bill rejected)…Friday the State Senate Appropriations Committee rejected SB 1256. Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, who heads the Appropriations Committee, authored the Senate Bill. Several, including the County Board of Supervisors and the Imperial Irrigation District negotiated the Bill. It would have created a 14 member Salton Sea Restoration Committee. The Committee would have been charged with choosing the best way to spend funds on a restoration project for the inland sea. A 75-year $9 billion restoration plan is being suggested for the Salton Sea. Officials close to Ducheny say the committee may have been influenced by the State’s anticipated $15 Billion budget deficit this year. The first phase of the restoration has already been funded. In 2003 the State agreed to mitigate the impacts to the Salton Sea, if the Imperial Irrigation District agreed to transfer water to San Diego, The agreement came under the Quantification Settlement Agreement. The current Salton Sea Authority will continue to over-see the restoration plans until Ducheny can come up with another bill. Some predict it will be another year before a restructured bill is ready to go to committee, again.