BILL ANALYSIS �
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2011-2012 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: SJR 17 HEARING DATE: March 27, 2012
AUTHOR: Corbett URGENCY: No
VERSION: As Introduced CONSULTANT: Alena Pribyl
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: No
SUBJECT: Coastal resources: San Francisco Bay
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The San Francisco Bay Restoration Act (SFBRA) has been
introduced both in S.97 (Feinstein) and H.R. 3034 (Speier), and
is currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress. The
SFBRA would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean
Water Act) to establish a San Francisco Bay Restoration Grant
Program.
Under this program, an annual list would be compiled by the
administrator of the EPA that would prioritize activities,
projects, and studies to be funded that would advance the goals
stated in the San Francisco Estuary Partnership's Comprehensive
Conservation and Management Plan. The San Francisco Estuary
Partnership (SFEP), the state of California, and affected
stakeholders would be consulted during development of the
priority list.
Federal grant funding for activities, projects or studies under
the program will not exceed 75% of the total cost of the
activity, project or study. The current versions of the two
bills provide federal funding of either $5,000,000 (Senate
version) or $20,000,000 (House version) for each fiscal year
2012-2016.
The SFEP (formerly The San Francisco Estuary Project) was
established by Congress in 1987 and is one of the original
national estuary programs designated by the EPA following the
creation of Section 320: The National Estuary Program (NEP).
The goal of the SFEP is to "restore and maintain the chemical,
physical, and biological integrity of the Estuary" through the
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development and implementation of a Comprehensive Conservation
and Management Plan (CCMP).
The San Francisco Estuary CCMP is a collaboratively produced,
consensus-based agreement about what should be done to protect
and restore the estuary. The initial CCMP was completed by the
SFEP in 1993 and was most recently updated in 2007. The CCMP
outlines nine program areas with specific goals and actions for
each program area. These program areas include:
1) Aquatic Resources
2) Wildlife
3) Wetlands Management
4) Water Use
5) Pollution Prevention and reduction
6) Dredging and Waterway Modification
7) Land Use and Watershed Management
8) Public Involvement and Education
9) Research and Monitoring
PROPOSED LAW
SJR 17 resolves that the California Legislature endorses S. 97
and H.R. 3034 and urges Congress to pass the SFBRA promptly.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
The author states that the deteriorating ecological condition
and the rising sea level of the San Francisco Bay are
threatening the many benefits it provides to the 7 million
residents of the Bay Area. Continued delays in pursuing water
quality improvement and wetland restoration projects endangers
flood protection and in turn makes the projects more costly to
undertake. Restoration of the San Francisco Bay has lagged
behind similar efforts in other major American watersheds due to
lack of federal funding. There is a large disparity between
what the San Francisco Bay receives in federal dollars and what
watershed programs around the country receive. Chesapeake Bay
and the Great Lakes have each received $151,833,000 and
$596,741,000, respectively, over the last five years. In
contrast, the San Francisco Bay only received $16,922,000, over
the same period.
The Bay Institute states that "the greatest threat to low-lying
development around the Bay over the next 50 years will be from
storms as sea level rises." The natural marshes that once
existed in the Bay were such effective barriers against the
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erosive forces of wind and wave that early settlers mistook them
for islands. Employing the concept of nature's "horizontal
levee," over 100,000 acres of the Bay's historic tidal marshes
would serve as an offshore barrier against rising tides. The
San Francisco Bay Restoration Act would provide the needed
funding to help implement such actions in the CCMP as enabling
the Bay's marsh restoration project to be completed quickly so
that the horizontal levee can start to perform its critical role
in flood protection over the coming decades.
The other supporters of this resolution cite the importance of
the San Francisco Bay to fish and wildlife and the disparity in
federal funding between SF Bay and other watershed programs.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received
COMMENTS
Funding for the San Francisco Estuary CCMP has been erratic
since its initial development in 1993. Prior to 2008, federal
funding from the National Estuary Program (NEP) averaged about
$321,000 per year and state/local jurisdictions and private
entities provided the majority of funds. There are currently 28
designated National Estuaries in the National Estuary Program
(NEP) and NEP funds are divided equally among these. As of 2008
however, the San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund
(SFBWQIF) was established under authorization of the NEP; this
has provided between $5 million to $7 million each year to fund
implementation of the San Francisco Estuary CCMP. The SFBWQIF
has no independent authorization of its own however, and there
is no timeline for how long funds will continue to be
appropriated.
Other geographic regions including three designated National
Estuaries have their own federally authorized grant programs for
restoration under the Clean Water Act. These regions include:
Chesapeake Bay (Section 117), the Great Lakes (Section 118),
Long Island Sound (Section 119), and Puget Sound (Section 123).
Over the last five years, the Great Lakes have received over
$596.7 million in EPA funding, Chesapeake Bay has received over
$151.8 million, Puget Sound has received over $89.2 million, and
Long Island Sound has received $16 million. San Francisco Bay
has received $16.9 million during this time period (due to the
SF Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund).
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The grant program established by S. 97 and H.R. 3034 will
provide stable grant funding for implementation of the San
Francisco Estuary CCMP over the next 5 years through a federally
authorized grant program of its own. This funding will support
effective planning and implementation of the locally-driven,
consensus-based CCMP. This resolution will send a strong
message to our State Representatives and Senators to support the
passage of S.97 and H.R. 3034.
SUPPORT
The Bay Institute (Sponsor)
The San Francisco Bay Joint Venture
Save the Bay
San Francisco Estuary Partnership
PRBO Conservation Science
Marin Audubon Society
OPPOSITION
None Received
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