The Barbed Wire - November 06, 2015

Counties with Stressed Basins Grant Solicitation

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) released the final versions of the Sustainable Groundwater Planning Grant Program (SGWP) and “Counties with Stressed Basins” Proposal Solicitation Package (PSP).  DWR has set aside $10 million for counties with groundwater basins DWR has identified as being in critical overdraft or where groundwater levels are declining or fluctuating causing undesirable effects.  

This week at the Applicant Assistance Workshop it was highlighted that a Resolution from the Board of Supervisors must be submitted with the application or the date the Resolution will be before the Board.  The Resolution must be before the Board prior to the January 2016 grant award timeframe. All applications are due by 5:00 p.m. on December 8, 2015. 

The SGWP Guidelines and Counties with Stressed Basins PSP can be accessed here.  Please contact Laura Mclean at laura.mclean@water.ca.gov with any questions.

California WaterFix Notices Issued

This week, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) issued two notices related to the California WaterFix Project.  The first is a combined notice of the August 25, 2015 water right change petition (and errata) filed by the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (and a public hearing on the petition).  The second public notice is for a September 24, 2015 application for a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification for the California WaterFix Project.  

The first petition asks to add three points of diversion of water on the Sacramento River near Courtland to the water rights for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project for the California WaterFix Project. Approval of the petition is needed for construction and operation of the project.  At the public hearing the Board will receive information on whether and under what conditions to approve the petition. 

The second public notice is for a September 24, 2015 application for a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification for the California WaterFix Project.  The State Water Board must consider whether and under what conditions the construction of the California WaterFix Project would comply with water quality standards.  A certification that the project will comply with standards as conditioned is needed for the project to proceed. 

While the two notices are separate issues, testimony and evidence gathered at the public hearing on the change petition will help inform the decision on the water quality certification.

Protests against the water right change petition and Notices of Intent to Appear at the hearing are both due on January 5, 2016.  Parties do not need to submit a protest to participate in the hearing, but must submit a Notice of Intent to Appear by the due date to participate in the hearing.  A pre-hearing conference for all parties to the hearing is scheduled for January 28, 2016. The first part of the public hearing is currently scheduled to start on April 7, 2016.

A decision on the water quality certification will not be made until after the final California Environmental Quality Act document is complete for the project, projected as sometime after May or June of 2016.

Commission Delays Opener of Recreational Dungeness Crab Season and Closes Northern Part of Recreational California Rock Crab Fishery

The California Fish and Game Commission today voted 3-0 in favor of an emergency rulemaking to prohibit recreational take and possession of Dungeness crab and all rock crab from ocean waters, including bays and estuaries, north of the Ventura/Santa Barbara county line.  Read More…

Senate Votes to Stop WOTUS Rule

On Tuesday, the Senate voted on S. 1140, a bill by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), to undo the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)/Army Corps of Engineers Waters of the U.S. rule.  The cloture vote failed by a vote of 57-41 (60 votes were needed to end debate and move to a vote on the bill).  

All Senate Republicans voted in favor of cloture, and were joined by Senate Democrats Donnelly, Heitkamp, Manchin, and McCaskill.  Later in the week, the Senate passed Senate Resolution S.J. Res 22 by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) to disapprove of the water rule under the Congressional Review Act by a vote of 53-44.  The Administration has issued a Statement of Administrative Policy in opposition to the resolution and the President will veto it.  Opponents of the rule are still hopeful that a policy rider can be included in the final FY16 appropriations package to block the rule.  

House Advances Transportation Measure

On Thursday, the House overwhelming voted in support (363-64) of their Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763), to provide approximately $325 billion in funding for a six-year transportation program.  

The House considered more than 100 amendments on the floor, but ultimately few changes were made, and the measure now heads to Conference Committee with the Senate passed Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act.  One of the few amendments adopted was introduced by Representative Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) to provide an additional $40 billion to offset the total cost of the bill, which is intended to replace a portion of funding identified in the DRIVE Act.  The STRR Act includes increased funding for the Surface Transportation Program to support local transportation priorities, expands funding to local on-system bridges, streamlines the environmental review process, makes notable changes to address high risk rural roads, and establishes a new multimodal freight program, among others.  The vote this week marks the end of a decade in which the House has failed to pass a long-term transportation bill.  The House and Senate transportation measures will now head to Conference Committee where members of both chambers will be appointed to negotiate the final programmatic and funding provisions of the bill.  House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) selected Representative Jeff Denham, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi selected Representative Grace Napolitano (D-California) to serve on the Transportation Conference Committee, in addition to 26 other of their House colleagues.  The Senate will announce their appointees in the coming days. 

RCRC will work closely with our federal advocacy partners to secure key provisions of importance to California’s rural counties as part of the final negotiations between the House passed STRR Act and Senate passed DRIVE Act.  The current surface transportation program, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) expires on November 20, 2015, so another short-term extension will be needed if a final bill has not been sent to the President by that date.

Obama Administration Announces New Policy for Environmental Offsets

On Tuesday, President Obama sent a memo to the Secretaries of Defense, Interior, and Agriculture, and the administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that sets a “net benefit goal” for natural resource use.

According to the memo, federal actions, including permitting, must ensure no net loss of land, water, wildlife and other ecological resources.  The President directed the agencies to use landscape, or watershed scale planning in order to fully understand the impacts of federal action.  According to the memo, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will have one year to finalize their mitigation policies, including directing the Fish and Wildlife Service to create additional policy for compensatory mitigation under the Endangered Species Act.  Perhaps most troubling, the President wrote that agencies have the discretion to recognize resources as "of such irreplaceable character that minimization and compensation measures, while potentially practicable, may not be adequate or appropriate…" and "…agencies should design policies to promote avoidance of these resources."  No standards were included in the memo that would dictate how the agencies should utilize this directive.  It is unclear at this time if the resource agencies will need to use the public rulemaking process to adjust current policies on mitigation to fit under this new directive. 

BULLETIN BOARD

NOFA: $30 Million for HCD's Housing-Related Parks Program

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