BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1797
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Date of Hearing: March 23, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared William Huffman, Chair
AB 1797 (B. Berryhill) - As Introduced: April 7, 2010
SUBJECT : State Water Resources Development System: Delta
Corridors Plan
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to
consider a specific alternative for conveying water through the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires DWR to undertake an expedited evaluation and
feasibility study to consider implementing a project called
the "Delta Corridors Plan" as an alternative means of
conveying water through the Delta and improving south Delta
salinity.
2) Requires DWR to consult with the Department of Fish and Game
(DFG) in undertaking the study.
3) Requires the study to incorporate an evaluation of the
Two-Gates Fish Protection Demonstration Project (Two-Gates).
4) Appropriates $750,000 from Proposition 84 to pay the costs
of this study.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Requires DWR, as the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) lead agency for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)
to consider a reasonable range of conveyance alternatives for
exporting Delta water, including a through-Delta alternative,
in its environmental review for the BDCP project.
2) Requires DWR to consult with DFG when evaluating any project
which could affect fish
and wildlife.
3) Requires DWR to coordinate with DFG and cooperate with the
United States Bureau of Reclamation to construct and
implement Two-Gates, a project designed to create barriers to
fish impingement and entrainment while increasing export
water deliveries.
AB 1797
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4) Makes $65,000,000 in Proposition 84 bond funding available
to DWR, upon appropriation by the legislature, for planning
and feasibility studies relating to the existing and future
needs of California's water supply, conveyance, and flood
control systems.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : On March 23, 2010 this bill failed passage in the
Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee but was granted
reconsideration. Action will be limited to a vote without
further testimony.
There is wide-spread recognition that the Sacramento San-Joaquin
Delta Estuary is in decline with crashing fisheries and
unreliable water supplies. Senate Bill 1 (Simitian) from the
7th Extraordinary Session codified the coequal goals of
providing a more reliable water supply for California while
protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem. SB 1
also recognized the existing BDCP process, a stakeholder-driven
effort to draft a conservation plan which will provide the basis
for State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project
incidental take authorizations under the state and federal
endangered species acts. SB 1 includes a goal of cooperating
with the federal government to implement Two-Gates. However,
the scientific hypothesis underlying the potential effectiveness
of Two-Gates is being reevaluated.
Currently, the BDCP process is focused on a tunnel type
conveyance option as part of the "preferred project alternative"
and has discarded a through-Delta alternative that was similar
to the Delta Corridors Plan. However, SB 1 now requires DWR,
the lead agency on the CEQA Environmental Impact Report for
BDCP, to revisit a through-Delta alternative as part of a
reasonable range of alternatives.
South Delta Water Agency (SDWA), however, has continued to
promote a particular type of through-delta alternative that
isolates San Joaquin River outflows in Old River from Sacramento
River water diverted to the pumps via Middle River via a series
of barriers, gates, fish screens, etc. claiming it would be less
expensive and more effective that current configurations being
moved forward in the BDCP process. In November 2009, SDWA
AB 1797
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released a report prepared by ICF Jones & Stokes entitled The
Delta Corridors Plan and Its Potential Benefits.
However, opponents of this legislation feel that since DWR is
already required to study various conveyance alternatives,
including a through-Delta alternative, this legislation would
create new and duplicative requirements and would divert the
already-limited resources available to DWR.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Central Delta Water Agency
Planning and Conservation League
Reclamation District 999
San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors
San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation
South Delta Water Agency
Opposition
Desert Water Agency
East Valley Water District
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Valley Ag Water Coalition
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096