A bird stands on the shore of Salton Sea near the North Shore Yacht Club before a Salton Sea Authority meeting Thursday. (ELIZABETH VARIN) |
State representatives took with them clear messages on how to handle Salton Sea restoration, a representative from the area’s local legislator reported at a meeting Thursday.
Silvia Paz, senior field representative with Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez’s office, told the Salton Sea Authority board that the assemblyman thought the Nov. 28 state budget hearing held in North Shore was a successful one. Some of the messages that the assemblyman is taking away from it is that there needs to be a clear consensus on what to do to restore the sea, the effort has to be led by locals with state help and fixing the sea has to be guided by experts.
The next step will be to reconcile how much money is available to fix the Salton Sea and move forward with a bill to shift control of the restoration process to the local officials, she said.
Allowing those at a local level to control restoration is a refreshing approach, said Salton Sea Authority board Chairman Marion Ashley, a Riverside County supervisor. It used to be that the folks most affected would not be involved in solutions to problems. However, the state’s solution isn’t what’s best for the area.
“I think they’re looking at the past,” he said. “They’re not looking forward.”
It has to be the Authority’s job to inform the state representatives about what is taking place here and what people in the area want, he said.
Even Thursday the group emphasized the importance of having locals lead the charge to restore the sea. The group approved a letter supporting Pérez’s bill to shift control to locals.
Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt had pushed at the November hearing for locals to take on control, saying that any restoration efforts have to be driven by those most affected.
It needs to be made clear that not only should locals be in charge of restoration, but that they need to have the authority to adopt a restoration plan, he said. The state’s preferred option that would cost about $9 billion is not financially possible.
“It’s our sea,” he said. “It’s in our backyard.”
The state and federal government need to be on board with the plans too, he said. It’s a joint effort to save the dying sea.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are three things that came out of Thursday’s Salton Sea Authority meeting.
1 Celeste Cantu, general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, gave an update to the authority board about the brine line project and how it can be incorporated to bring less salty water to the Salton Sea.
2 Dr. Timothy Krantz gave more specific information about a plan to restore the Salton Sea.
3 The Authority’s legal counsel updated the Authority on the most recent decision regarding the nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer, the Quantification Settlement Agreement.
Silvia Paz, senior field representative with Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez’s office, told the Salton Sea Authority board that the assemblyman thought the Nov. 28 state budget hearing held in North Shore was a successful one. Some of the messages that the assemblyman is taking away from it is that there needs to be a clear consensus on what to do to restore the sea, the effort has to be led by locals with state help and fixing the sea has to be guided by experts.
The next step will be to reconcile how much money is available to fix the Salton Sea and move forward with a bill to shift control of the restoration process to the local officials, she said.
Allowing those at a local level to control restoration is a refreshing approach, said Salton Sea Authority board Chairman Marion Ashley, a Riverside County supervisor. It used to be that the folks most affected would not be involved in solutions to problems. However, the state’s solution isn’t what’s best for the area.
“I think they’re looking at the past,” he said. “They’re not looking forward.”
It has to be the Authority’s job to inform the state representatives about what is taking place here and what people in the area want, he said.
Even Thursday the group emphasized the importance of having locals lead the charge to restore the sea. The group approved a letter supporting Pérez’s bill to shift control to locals.
Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt had pushed at the November hearing for locals to take on control, saying that any restoration efforts have to be driven by those most affected.
It needs to be made clear that not only should locals be in charge of restoration, but that they need to have the authority to adopt a restoration plan, he said. The state’s preferred option that would cost about $9 billion is not financially possible.
“It’s our sea,” he said. “It’s in our backyard.”
The state and federal government need to be on board with the plans too, he said. It’s a joint effort to save the dying sea.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are three things that came out of Thursday’s Salton Sea Authority meeting.
1 Celeste Cantu, general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, gave an update to the authority board about the brine line project and how it can be incorporated to bring less salty water to the Salton Sea.
2 Dr. Timothy Krantz gave more specific information about a plan to restore the Salton Sea.
3 The Authority’s legal counsel updated the Authority on the most recent decision regarding the nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer, the Quantification Settlement Agreement.
