CA: State levee repairs benefit from federal emergency spending plan

AP on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 6/15/06 | Erica Werner - ap

[NormsRevenge]

President Bush on Thursday signed a $94.5 billion emergency spending bill to fund hurricane relief and the Iraq war that includes $30.4 million for Sacramento flood protection and levee repairs.

The money includes $23.3 million targeted for 29 levee sites that state officials say represent an urgent risk. Last month, the state and federal governments agreed to allow expedited environmental reviews so those projects can be completed by Nov. 1. State officials now estimate the total cost of repairing those levees at less than $150 million.

The remaining $7.1 million is for stream repairs in south Sacramento.

The total was close to the $37 million that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the Appropriations Committee, obtained in the Senate version of the emergency spending bill last month.

The House version had no money for California levees, but the funding mostly survived negotiations by House and Senate lawmakers on a compromise bill despite White House pressure to keep the cost down.

"This funding is a critical piece of the puzzle to restoring our levees," Feinstein said in a statement. "The Army Corps of Engineers has indicated that this money could be spent immediately on critical projects. If we do not act, the risks are clear - to lives, to property and to drinking water supplies."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also welcomed the bill's passage.

"The federal government owes the people of California for the cost of our levee repairs and border security. This is a step in the right direction, but much more money is owed," he said in a statement.

Also in the bill:

- $227.5 million for advance procurement work on C-17s, which Feinstein and other congressional supporters hope will show strong support for keeping production of the plane going. The Pentagon has forecast shutting down C-17 production after the 180 planes currently planned are delivered in 2008. That has raised concerns that production would shut down at the Long Beach plant where Boeing manufactures the plane.

- $708 million to reimburse states for the costs associated with sending the National Guard to assist the U.S. Border Patrol. The amount of California's share is not yet known, according to Schwarzenegger's office.

- $309 million to reimburse California for emergency work on federal roads and highways, including: $245 million for December 2004 storms in Southern California; $9.3 million for August 2004 flash flooding in Death Valley National Park and Inyo County; $3.6 million for damage from the December 2003 San Simeon earthquake in San Luis Obispo County; and $51.2 million for Northern California storms in December 2002.