Posted on 06/16/2008 8:53:09 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO - Guarding against a unilateral move by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to build a revised Peripheral Canal, key lawmakers have inserted special provisions in the state budget to prevent an end-run around the Legislature and voters.
Schwarzenegger's top water advisers maintain they have no intentions of independently launching a new north-to-south delivery system. But, the state has already initiated exploratory environmental studies for four different conveyance options.
Even the Legislature's own attorney, in a recent opinion, concluded that the Department of Water Resources "has the authority, without further legislative or voter approval, to build a conveyance facility, commonly referred to as the peripheral canal."
Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, who requested the opinion from the Legislative Counsel, called it troubling.
"I am concerned that an issue of this statewide importance could be made unilaterally by an agency without the deliberation it deserves," he said.
And if the governor insisted on using that power? "I would find that a troubling development," Blakeslee said. "The Legislature should be at the table."
Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, said the Senate wants to make the point that "we're not out of the game." Lowenthal, who chairs a subcommittee, stripped $1.4 million from the governor's request to fund eight positions to study conveyance options.
"Without us taking this specific action at this moment, the Legislature would have no role at all on this important subject," Lowenthal said.
Contractors that rely on state supplies -- growing more strained by the drought and a court order to protect the rare Delta smelt -- have offered to pay the approximately $4 billion price tag for a new canal that, they say, can protect fish and the fragile Sacramento Delta estuary even as water flows to the south.
Schwarzenegger champions a new canal, but has not publicly suggested that he would sidestep lawmakers or the public to start pouring the concrete. He advocates a comprehensive approach, which includes an $11.7 billion bond to pay for a new delivery system, restore the Sacramento Delta, build reservoirs and accelerate conservation. He also has appointed a panel of experts that is developing recommendations for a comprehensive restoration plan.
Nevertheless, Assembly and Senate lawmakers want to make sure he doesn't get a chance to seize his authority. They know that Lester Snow, the governor's top water adviser, has long held that the state "has broad authority and discretion" to build a facility, as he told them in a letter last fall.
Budget subcommittees in the Assembly and Senate have taken different approaches, but each has the goal of using language in the 2008-2009 spending plan to ensure that the Legislature has a major say in the final program. The governor's team says it wants to continue negotiations on a system-wide fix.
That suits Lowenthal, who believes the governor should be free to move ahead on environmental studies -- but stop short of independently selecting a conveyance route.
Unless there is a breakthrough, the canal could move up alongside taxes and education as hot-button hang-ups if the budget stalemate drags through the summer, as expected.
Mindy McIntyre, who monitors the issue for the Planning and Conservation League, said the Department of Water Resources "would benefit greatly from legislative oversight and stakeholder input" rather than go it alone.
"There are a lot of projects that are legal that aren't politically viable or environmentally viable and not good for California," she said.
McIntyre said someone needs to apply the brakes to make sure that if a project proceeds it answers environmental concerns over fish, water quality and other environmental issues beyond moving water south.
"We're not saying no. We're saying show us it can work," she said.
Water officials have tried without success to bring back a smaller, more fish-friendly Peripheral Canal, rejected by 62 percent of the electorate in 1982. Each time, worries about cost, environmental damage and the possibility of the south draining supplies from the north derailed the campaigns.
Blakeslee said much has changed in the last quarter-century to warrant a new look at the delta's plumbing system, including global warming, dry spells, plummeting fish populations and revelations of greater seismic threats.
"The Legislature should step up proactively and put their own proposal forward," he said.
Wow. The Peripheral Canal. There’s a blast from the past. I don’t even remember how I voted on that one. That was the year George Deukmejian beat Tom Bradley.
I seriously doubt if anything that large and expensive will be built in CA again. Too many competing groups get involved.
1982? I had never even voted then.
Yeah...I’m showing my age there.
LOL...good point!
Guess Ahnold really swallowed the hook, line, and sinker on GW.
Everything old is new again...
Holy crap! More water from the north, to go south???
My county of Contra Costa is on WATER RATIONING right now. The state will not stop the expansion and building of new housing and businesses (because they are tax sources) nor will they build more water storage capacity which the state needs very badly (the green weenies own the state legislature) -— so California citizens must carry the burden (as usual) -—
This is the mindset of a sick liberal socialist state that continues on a path of self-destruction. More people (mainly illegals) coming in, more building demanding more water — and no expansion of capacity.
This sure has a familiar ring to it, doesn’t it?? Just like our fine national energy policy, right?
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