HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02092010 - C.17RECOMMENDATION(S):
AUTHORIZE the support of a Delta Counties Coalition-sponsored federal appropriations
request for projects that would benefit the Delta, as recommended by the Legislation
Committee.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The authorization of this action enables the Delta Counties Coalition to submit
appropriations requests for federal funding.
BACKGROUND:
On January 19, 2010, the Board of Supervisors adopted the 2010 Federal Platform which
contained the County’s 13 appropriations request projects for Federal Fiscal Year 2011.
These appropriations requests are due to our congressional representatives on February 5
(for Senator Feinstein) and February 12, for all others. During the oral report to the Board
on the 2010 Federal Platform, staff had reported that the County may be requested to
support or co-sponsor an undetermined project related to the Delta, in conjunction with our
Delta Counties Coalition (DCC) efforts.
APPROVE OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
Action of Board On: 02/09/2010 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes:
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
AYE:John Gioia, District I
Supervisor
Gayle B. Uilkema, District II
Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III
Supervisor
Susan A. Bonilla, District IV
Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V
Supervisor
Contact: L. DeLaney, 5-1097
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board
of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: February 9, 2010
David J. Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
By: June McHuen, Deputy
cc:
C.17
To:Board of Supervisors
From:Legislation Committee
Date:February 9, 2010
Contra
Costa
County
Subject:Authorization for Supporting Delta Counties Coalition-Sponsored Federal Appropriations Request(s)
During the past several weeks, the Supervisors who are designated as representatives to the
Delta Counties Coalition and its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members, along
with the federal lobbyists for the DCC counties, have been in discussions regarding a project
or multiple projects to put forward for federal appropriations. The Supervisors endorsed the
idea of submitting a request for federal appropriations, but they delegated the crafting of the
request to the TAC. In consultation with the federal lobbyists, the TAC had drafted four
projects for consideration. The DCC Supervisors decided to sponsor two of the four projects
(See Attachments A and B.) Therefore, the Board of Supervisors is requested to approve the
addition of the two projects to our FFY 2011 appropriations request list. These projects
would be prioritized as numbers 14 and 15. The Legislation Committee reviewed this
matter at its February 1, 2010 meeting and supported the recommendation.
The projects that would be sponsored by the Delta Counties Coalition for FFY 2011
funding include:
1.
BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Counties, Bay-Delta Area Studies, Surveys and Technical
Analysis: $2,500,000. The funds requested by the DCC partners will be used to carry out
technical analysis and planning associated with the following priority activities within the
five Delta Counties: protecting surface and ground water resources; protecting and
improving water quality; and habitat protection and ecosystem restoration initiatives,
including habitat restoration on agricultural lands. (Attachment A)
2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund:
The Delta Counties Coalition (DCC) requests that the Interior and Environment
Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2011 include an appropriation of not less than
$125,000,000 for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cooperative Endangered Species
Conservation Fund (Fund), $40,000,000 more than the amount appropriated for the Fund
in Fiscal Year 2010. The amount requested will provide sufficient resources to the Fund
to enable USFWS to help accelerate work on habitat conservation plans currently
underway within the five delta counties that make up the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
(Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, San Joaquin and Contra Costa Counties) and throughout the
state. (Attachment B)
You may recall that Contra Costa County has, for many years, included projects on its
federal appropriations request list that would be of regional benefit to the Delta. There are
two specific projects, the Delta Long-Term Management Study (Delta LTMS) (#1 on our
list) and the CALFED Levee Stability Improvement Program (#6 on our list) that Contra
Costa County is urging that the DCC member counties either include in their individual
request lists or support as a DCC-sponsored project.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment B
Attachment A
1
Delta Counties Coalition
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund
Fiscal Year 2011 Interior and Environment Appropriations
Request: The Delta Counties Coalition (DCC) requests that the Interior and Environment
Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2011 include an appropriation of not less than $125,000,000
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund
(Fund), $40,000,000 more than the amount appropriated for the Fund in Fiscal Year 2010. The
amount requested will provide sufficient resources to the Fund to enable USFWS to help
accelerate work on habitat conservation plans currently underway within the five delta counties
that make up the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, San Joaquin and
Contra Costa Counties) and throughout the state. .
Justification: The requested funding
increase will restore the Fund to
approximately its Fiscal Year 2001 level,
adjusted for inflation, and provide needed
support to regional Habitat Conservation
Plans (HCPs) nationally, including the five
HCPs currently underway in Sacramento,
Yolo, Solano, San Joaquin and Contra
Costa Counties. Funds are needed locally
to make much needed progress on habitat
and ecosystem restoration and protection initiatives within the boundaries of these critically
important regional HCPs.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the largest estuary on the
Pacific Coast of the United States and includes watersheds
from the Calaveras, Consumnes, Mokelumne, San Joaquin and
Sacramento Rivers. This watershed accounts for nearly half the
snowmelt and runoff of the entire state. Located east of the
San Francisco Bay Area and Suisun Marsh at the confluence of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers, the Delta stretches inland
nearly 50 miles and includes portions of the City of Sacramento
2
at its northern point, the City of Tracy at its southern point, and spanning 25 miles east and west
from the Cities of Antioch to Stockton. In total, the Delta encompasses an area of over 1,150
square miles with 57 islands and tracts surrounded by 700 miles of sloughs and channels.
Together, the Delta Counties Coalition is working to better understand Delta issues through the
development of technical studies and surveys in the Delta to evaluate more economical and
environmentally sustainable long-term solutions that may provide a better way to solve many of
the challenges in the Delta. Their founding resolution established eleven principles of agreement
on the management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and greater Bay/Delta Estuary
to, among other things, protect and restore the Delta ecosystem. Advancing the regional HCPs
within the five delta counties is consistent with this founding principle.
Agency: Department of the Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Cooperative Endangered
Species Conservation Fund
Amount: $125,000,000, nationwide
Requesting Agency: Delta Counties Coalition
Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Programs and Management, Other
Geographic Activities
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Counties,
Bay-Delta Area Studies, Surveys and Technical Analysis
Fiscal Year 2011 Interior and Environment Appropriations
Request: $2,500,000 in the Interior and Environment
Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2011, under Environmental
Protection Agency, Environmental Programs and Management,
Other Geographic Activities, for the five Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta Counties Coalition (DCC), which includes
Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, San Joaquin and Contra Costa
Counties, to accomplish the following objectives to carry out
water quality as well as habitat and ecosystem restoration
studies, surveys and scientific analysis within the five delta
counties. The DCC further requests that EPA be directed to
exercise maximum flexibility to minimize non-Federal match
requirements in recognition of the exceptional economic
circumstances of the region and the significant ongoing
investments being made by the five delta counties in such activities.
Project Description and Justification: The funds requested by the DCC partners will be used to
carry out technical analysis and planning associated with the following priority activities within
the five Delta Counties: protecting surface and ground water resources; protecting and
improving water quality; and habitat protection and ecosystem restoration initiatives, including
habitat restoration on agricultural lands.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the
largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the
United States and includes watersheds from
the Calaveras, Consumnes, Mokelumne,
San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. This
watershed accounts for nearly half the
snowmelt and runoff of the entire state.
Located east of the San Francisco Bay Area
and Suisun Marsh at the confluence of the
1
2
Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers, the Delta stretches inland nearly 50 miles and includes portions
of the City of Sacramento at its northern point, the City of Tracy at its southern point, and
spanning 25 miles east and west from the Cities of Antioch to Stockton. In total, the Delta
encompasses an area of over 1,150 square miles with 57 islands and tracts surrounded by 700
miles of sloughs and channels.
Despite the realization that the Delta ecosystem and its species are in decline, exports from the
Delta have risen dramatically since the State Water Project began deliveries in 1971. Closer to
home, the implementation of the Delta Vision Strategic Plan projects may greatly impact the
Delta Counties. The potential construction and the operation of a peripheral canal may require
the taking of up to approximately 100,000 acres of prime agricultural land for mitigation
measures with additional losses of land due to seepage and flooding. Losses of these lands may
impact agriculture in the Delta and other businesses that rely on the agricultural industry.
New flood impacts are also a concern under these plans in that the levee system that protects
many of the Delta area communities may face significant changes to accommodate conservation
strategies for the Delta’s ecosystem. The proposed conservation strategies, in part consist of
setting back levees and adding or eliminating levee sections that will make room for wetland
development. The installation of wetlands habitat may also create problems for vector control
given the acreage considered for their development. Wetlands provide still waters, an ideal
environment for insects to live and reproduce, which may significantly impact many of the
disadvantaged agricultural communities in the Delta. In addition, these same conservation
strategies may also disrupt utility services, road systems, and recreational activities within the
Delta counties.
Together, the Delta Counties Coalition is working to better understand Delta issues through the
development of technical studies and surveys in the Delta to evaluate more economical and
environmentally sustainable long-term solutions that may provide a better way to solve many of
the challenges in the Delta. Their founding resolution established eleven principles of agreement
on the management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and greater Bay/Delta Estuary to
preserve the Delta as a place for the 4.5 million people that live there including the protection
and improvement of water quality and quantity in the Delta; protection of the existing water right
priority system; support of immediate improvements to through-Delta conveyance; and protect
and restore the Delta ecosystem.
Physical Location: Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay/Delta and lands within Yolo, Contra Costa,
Solano, Sacramento, and San Joaquin Counties
Agency: EPA, Environmental Programs and Management, Other Geographic Activities.
Amount: $2,500,000
Requesting Agency: Delta Counties Coalition