BILL ANALYSIS
AJR 38
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AJR 38 (Caballero, Fuller and Arambula)
As Amended May 13, 2010
Majority vote
WATER, PARKS & WILDLIFE 8-1
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|Ayes:|Huffman, Fuller, | | |
| |Anderson, Arambula, Tom | | |
| |Berryhill, Caballero, | | |
| |Fletcher, Salas | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Yamada | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requests the United States Department of the Interior
(USDOI) to complete its study of the Two-Gates Fish Protection
Demonstration Project (Two-Gates Project) in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta Estuary (Delta). Specifically, this resolution :
1)Acknowledges that from 2007 to 2009 California experienced a
severe drought that adversely affected water supplies in many
parts of the state and the environment, including commercially
valuable fish species.
2)States that State Water Project (SWP) and federal Central
Valley Project (CVP) water supply reductions in 2009 were due
to drought, and to a lesser extent, actions to protect state
and federally listed smelt, salmon, and steelhead species
native to the Delta.
3)States that the water shortages during the drought and the
adverse economic, social, and environmental effects resulting
from those shortages underscore the need for all Californians
to manage our limited resources efficiently, carefully, and
responsibly.
4)States that the Two-Gates Project is an experimental project
that proposes to install barriers and gates in the Delta to
reduce the loss of Delta smelt at the SWP/CVP pumps and infers
the Two-Gates Project would allow greater SWP/CVP export water
deliveries.
AJR 38
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5)Underscores the importance of the Delta and the need to
identify and implement programs to advance California's
co-equal goals of protecting and restoring the Delta ecosystem
while ensuring a reliable water supply for California.
6)Calls on the USDOI to prioritize completion of the Two-Gates
Project study.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits the unauthorized take of species listed as
threatened and endangered under the federal Endangered Species
Act (ESA) and California Endangered Species Act (CESA).
2)Requires the SWP and CVP, which operate in a coordinated
fashion, to (at certain key times) restrict the degree to
which they cause Old River and Middle River in the Delta to
run backwards drawing aquatic organisms, including threatened
and endangered fish species, into the South Delta and the
SWP/CVP pumping plants.
FISCAL EFFECT : Nonfiscal
COMMENTS : The Two-Gates Project would erect a sheet pile
barrier over 800' wide from levee to levee anchored in the bed
of Old River with two gates creating a 75' channel opening in
the middle. The Project would erect a second sheet pile barrier
over 400' wide from levee to levee anchored in the bed of
Connection Slough near Middle River with two gates creating a
60' opening in the center. Each barrier would have a boat ramp
to be used when the gates are closed, which would occur
periodically December through June.
The scientific hypothesis behind the Two-Gates Project is that
Delta smelt respond to changes in salinity and turbidity and
that barriers across Old River and Connection Slough will
"manipulate water flows, transport patterns and the turbidity
field in the [Delta] so as to lessen entrainment of federally
(ESA threatened) and state (California CESA endangered)
protected juvenile and adult Delta smelt by state and federal
pumps in the south Delta" so as "to provide equal or improved
protection of Delta smelt" with higher water exports than
currently allowed under the Delta smelt biological opinion
issued pursuant to the federal ESA.
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In December 2009, the USDOI sent letters to San Luis and Delta
Mendota Water Agency (SLDMWA) and Metropolitan Water District
(MWD), the sponsors of the Two-Gates Project, advising that "the
underlying scientific premise of the project needs to be
established before the project can go forward, including the
installation of the proposed gates" and that, in addition, the
cost had escalated from an estimated $29 million to current
estimates of between $60 and $80 million. USDOI stated a
decision "to expend public funds of this magnitude cannot
prudently be made in light of the fundamental questions that
have been raised regarding whether the scientific assumptions
that underlie the project are sound and, as a result, whether
the project will serve its intended purpose." USDOI concluded
that it was moving "quickly to work with the [United States
Geological Survey] to obtain needed data" and that it was
redirecting funds on an emergency basis to enable data-gathering
work to begin in the fall of 2010.
Supporters of this Resolution feel it is needed "to keep the
federal government's 'feet to the fire' to implement the
projects as soon as possible." Opponents of the project state
it is "an expensive scientific experiment with little chance of
success?that has serious impacts on the Delta and its
communities." In addition, Delta Counties and recreational
boating interests feel the project as designed does not
sufficiently address potential impacts on navigation including
the ability of law enforcement officials to conduct search and
rescue operations and enforce laws and regulations on the
waterways.
Finally, there are concerns by some members of the scientific
community that smelt and salmon are subject to increased
predation near artificial in-river structures and that the
project may adversely affect critical habitat for listed fish
species.
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy and Igor Lacan / W.,
P. & W. / (916) 319-2096
FN: 0004351