Posted on 08/07/2006 1:44:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – For the first time, California has started to map an all-in-one strategy to safeguard an economically vital network of highways, railroads and energy supply lines crisscrossing the heart of the state.
This post-Hurricane Katrina response broadens the state's initial list of priorities beyond levees and aqueducts to target overlooked lifelines centered in the Sacramento Delta that are just as vital to the state's fiscal well-being, from San Diego to Silicon Valley.
A natural disaster in the delta could disrupt the delivery of goods and services along roads, rail lines and deep-water ports. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. facilities there bring energy supplies to millions. “We have ignored the warnings too long,” said Lester Snow, California's Department of Water Resources director. “Now is the time to come up with a different vision.”
That vision could lead to an unprecedented push to relocate highways, railroad tracks and gas lines to safer ground – potentially costly and politically sensitive moves.
Costs could be spread out, officials say. Ideas include assuming more bond debt, imposing special water-connection fees or collecting tolls to drive on newly raised roads.
The price of inertia could be flooded homes, closed transportation routes and power outages, officials warn.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, recognizing that such an ambitious undertaking will meet with resistance from many quarters, is preparing an aggressive executive order that will put reluctant interests on notice that dramatic policy changes are on the way.
“We need a plan. We need leadership. We need someone who makes decisions,” said Banky Curtis, a longtime manager in the state Department of Fish and Game. “We need to do what's real. We can't meet everybody's needs.”
Schwarzenegger also is weighing a proposal to appoint a panel of experts from across the country to help brace the delta for what may lie ahead. The proposal has been endorsed by some insiders who recognize a fresh perspective is necessary.
“It's going to take an organization that isn't just the same cast of characters,” said Greg Gartrell, assistant general manager of the Contra Costa Water District.
The effort also could include proposals to encourage local governments to rethink development in flood-prone areas. Some of Schwarzenegger's top advisers repeatedly have criticized building directly behind levees.
With the Sacramento Delta rich in fish and wildlife, the administration plans to develop a comprehensive management policy to balance growth and the protection of numerous rare species and hundreds of miles of critical habitat. The estuary's conservation plan will be modeled after similar undertakings in San Diego County and along the Colorado River.
“It's tried and true – been there, done that,” said Karen Scarborough, principal architect of the state's plan.
“I will be the first to say it won't be easy,” she said. However, it can be done “if you have the right ingredients and willing participants.”
Hurricane Katrina is the catalyst for the wide-ranging delta program, but earthquakes that could sever power lines, highways and canals without warning are just as scary, officials say. Two years ago, a levee collapse on a sunny spring day threatened to disrupt Southern California's water supplies.
“Mother Nature is knocking,” said Brig. Gen. Joseph Schroedel, who oversees U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in the delta.
The stakes are high for all of California. Two-thirds of the state's water supply flows through the 1,100-mile maze, including about 40 percent of the deliveries to San Diego County. Spread across 738,000 acres, the delta is a source of drinking water for 22 million people and a source of irrigation water for 7 million acres of farms.
For more than a decade, the state and federal governments jointly have been working on perennial issues such as reservoirs, a new canal to deliver water to Southern California and dwindling populations of rare salmon and smelt. Roads, gas lines, transmission towers, recreation and ship channels were secondary.
Until Hurricane Katrina.
Schwarzenegger's strategy has been aired throughout the water community, in boardrooms of power companies and among local governments. Reaction has been generally positive, but the more painful prospects of higher fees and more regulation have yet to be thrown their way. When that occurs, various interests are expected to balk.
Tim Quinn, a Metropolitan Water District executive and 20-year veteran of delta controversies, said history is not in the governor's corner.
“These political problems have gobbled up governor after governor, legislature after legislature,” Quinn said. “All have run up this issue and failed miserably.”
This time, the agenda takes in more than water issues, making headway even more politically dicey.
The administration has brought power companies, railroads and transportation leaders to the table, among others.
Kome Ajise, a state transportation manager, said one conundrum is whether levees should be fortified or the roads raised. Tolls to help pay for elevated highways are sure to draw fire, but Ajise said the state must give them a look.
The study also will look at relocating delta thoroughfares.
“If you're going to go through that expense, why not rebuild the entire corridor?” Ajise said.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has taken steps independently to protect its delta facilities. A sudden shutdown could cost between $200 million and $1 billion, depending on the duration, said Wayman Pon, the utility's gas operations manager.
Illustrating the complexities involved, PG&E has a potentially vulnerable gas line connected to a storage facility constructed on an elevated, geologically sound site.
“It's not something you can just pack up and move somewhere else,” Pon said.
Schwarzenegger has told his team he wants an initial proposal on his desk by the end of 2007. That's an ambitious target given the knotty issues, not to mention that he is up for re-election this year.
Nevertheless, Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman said: “We can't keep kicking the can down the road. We've got to deal with it.”
Schwarzenegger's strategy has been aired throughout the water community, in boardrooms of power companies and among local governments. Reaction has been generally positive, but the more painful prospects of higher fees and more regulation have yet to be thrown their way. When that occurs, various interests are expected to balk.
“We have ignored the warnings too long,” said Lester Snow, California's Department of Water Resources director. “Now is the time to come up with a different vision.”
That vision could lead to an unprecedented push to relocate highways, railroad tracks and gas lines to safer ground – potentially costly and politically sensitive moves.
Costs could be spread out, officials say. Ideas include assuming more bond debt, imposing special water-connection fees or collecting tolls to drive on newly raised roads.
But what about the poor black people? I see a plan to protect white rich people's investments, but nothing about how the poor black people are going to be saved from impending doom!!!! /sarc
Potentially?
Costs could be spread out, officials say. Ideas include assuming more bond debt, imposing special water-connection fees or collecting tolls to drive on newly raised roads.
Taxes, taxes, more taxes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, recognizing that such an ambitious undertaking will meet with resistance from many quarters, is preparing an aggressive executive order that will put reluctant interests on notice that dramatic policy changes are on the way.
Brace yourselves, everybody.
“We need a plan. We need leadership. We need someone who makes decisions,” ...
Translation: We want more money.... lots and lots of money.
What can ya say.
We , the electors, have very little say in gubamint and policies these days in california, no matter who we vote for, or so it would appear.
and some folks wonder why turnout continues to decline .
Looking at a topogrphical map of CA's big valley, you'll see a string of watersheds emptying their contents each winter into the bay delta.
Most of these are relatively slow moving watersheds but a "pineapple express" monsoonal rainstorm like occurred in 1986, 1995 and 1997 comes all the way from beyond Hawaii, right through the gap in the coastal range and up the American River water shed with it's three major forks.
Presently, all three forks are stopped by Folsom Dam which was built without enough capacity for rapid release because the over-all plan was to have two of the three forks dammed again just up stream at Auburn to take the pressure off Folsom Dam.
Now look back at that huge string of swollen watersheads coming from all around the coastal and Sierran walls of the big valley and think of what happens to the whole scenario when the "pineapple express" dumps on the shortest and fastest moving major watershed in the Sierra... the American River!
One of these times it's gonna be the literal straw that breaks the camel's back (Folsom Dam) and when it does overtop Folsom as it nearly did in 1986, it's "Katie Bar The Door" for the entire bay-delta system with it's below sealevel infrastructure outlined in this article and ag population.
I know old Banky Curtis. I thought he'd retired by now. Yes, if Arnold could actually do something about this by getting Auburn Dam completed, I'd possibly consider forgiving him for the Sierra-Nevada CONservancy nonsense he's foisted on CA!!!
However, as it says at the end of the article, he'll probably just "bust his pick" on this issue and the peripheral canal issue just like a whole bunch of Governors in the past!!! I don't think he's got the guts to try it now that we've all found out he's nothing but a flabby muscled gurleyman after all the roids and cigars and floozies, etc.
Exactly right. We have yet to see this simpleton take on any issue and carry it on through to a victory. He either drops the issue entirely or does a 180, joining with the Rats.
He's a total phony and the sooner we're rid of him the better.
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