Posts

Tensions Rise Over Red Hill Bay in Part III of Hearing

/in , /by /Holtville Tribune by Elizabeth Varin

Tensions grew in a series of back-and-forth exchanges between attorneys for the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District and the Imperial Irrigation District regarding the Red Hill Bay project site during a third day of hearings over an air-pollution violation order against the district.

A hearing board met Friday, Feb. 19, for the third part of its hearing to discuss a petition from Air Pollution Control Officer Matt Dessert for an order for abatement against the district for violations of air district rules and regulations. An order for abatement is an enforcement action that requires an owner or operator who is out of compliance to take specific action to get back into compliance with air district rules.

Full Story

New River: Imperial County Looks at Options to Force Action

/in , , /by /Holtville Tribuneby Elizabeth Varin

Imperial County officials are considering suing the federal government over continued inaction at the polluted New River.

Members of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors during their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 23, discussed potentially suing the United States government or sending a strongly worded “demand” letter to federal officials to try to sway them to take action on building a wastewater treatment facility on the border to help clean the filthy waterway.

Full Story

State Launches Salton Sea Restoration Effort

/in , , /by /KPBSby Erik Anderson

California is poised to begin the first major restoration project at the Salton Sea. The state is investing more than $200 million in a project that will create flooded ponds and other habitats on the exposed lakebed at the southern edge of the lake. “We’ll complete the work over the next two-and-a-half years, I believe completing the project in 2023,” said Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. The Salton Sea has been shrinking rapidly and exposing a dusty lakebed since the Imperial Irrigation District stopped feeding the state’s largest lake mitigation water in 2018.

Full Story

Salton Sea: Could Ocean Water Import Be Long-Term Fix?

/in , /by /Holtville Tribuneby Luke Phillips Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

In many ways, California has stepped up in its commitments to the Salton Sea as tens of millions of dollars have flowed toward restoration efforts for smaller-scale projects planned over the next 10 years. Those projects will largely address potentially hazardous conditions to human and animal life brought on by exposed seabed and loss of bird habitat from ever-shrinking inflows of water.

Full Story

Salton Sea: Congressmen Ruiz and Vargas Reintroduce Bill to Address New River Pollution

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

U.S. Reps. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, and Juan Vargas, D-San Diego reintroduced a bill this week that is aimed at cleaning up the New River, a highly polluted waterway originating near Mexicali, Mexico that flows north, emptying into the Salton Sea. The bill, HR491, would direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to create an organization to be called the California New River Restoration Program, which would coordinate funding and cleanup projects.

Full Story

Salton Sea Habitat Project Breaks Ground Near New River Delta

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

Construction began this week on a 4,110-acre wetlands project on the Salton Sea’s playa near the mouth of the highly polluted New River, the California Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday.

Full Story

Tired of Waiting on Salton Sea Fixes, Desert Shores Residents Take a Stand

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

These days, the house where Donna and John Winters planned to retire in the Southern California desert reflects in a stagnant pool of blood red water, their dream home becoming something of a nightmare.

Full Story

Climate Change Spells Trouble for the Colorado River. But There’s Still Hope

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

One of the best road trips I’ve ever taken was a sightseeing tour of the Colorado River, where it straddles the California-Arizona state line. I stood at the edge of Imperial Dam near the Mexican border, which diverts water to the farm fields of the Imperial Valley, then drove north to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, home to lots of birds. I walked along the river in Laughlin, Nev., where there’s a hotel called the Colorado Belle that looks like a boat, and in Needles, Calif., where Snoopy’s brother Spike lives.

Trump Signs Spending Bill That Could Send Millions of Dollars to the Salton Sea

/in , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

President Donald Trump on Sunday signed a roughly $900 billion stimulus package meant to tackle both COVID-19 relief as well as federal spending. Tucked in the 5,593-page-long law, courtesy of Southern California Democrats, are provisions that hold the potential to unlock millions of dollars of new federal spending to address the Salton Sea.

The bill notably modifies the Water Resources Development Act by authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite a study on the feasibility of constructing a perimeter lake around the Salton Sea. It’s one of the large-scale plans floated to address the lake’s woes, and this move could speed up the process.

The law also includes more than $150 million for the Army Corps to carry out such studies on water issues at the Salton Sea and elsewhere.

Full Story

Will California Finally Fulfill its Promise to Fix the Salton Sea?

/in , /by /High Country News/The Desert Sun by Mark Olalde

Red flags flutter outside the schools in Salton City, California, when the air quality is dangerous. Dust billows across the desert, blanketing playgrounds and baseball diamonds, the swirling grit canceling recess and forcing students indoors. Visibility is so poor you can’t see down the block. Those days worry Miriam Juarez the most.

Full Story