LAST CALL: DEADLINE ARRIVES FOR BILL INTRODUCTIONS, PCL PROUD TO ANNOUNCE SLATE OF SPONSORED BILLS
Last Friday was the deadline to introduce new bills in the State Legislature. Lawmakers made the most of it but introducing piles of them in the waning hours of the day. Among them are hundreds of bills that affect the environment, on topics as diverse as wildlands preservation, toxic remediation, water quality, and energy development.
The Planning and Conservation League (PCL) is proud to be sponsoring several innovative measures in 2009 to protect California's environment and promote public health. Here's a quick summary:
Senate Bill 565, authored by Senator Pavley and sponsored by PCL, targets the enormous untapped potential of safe recycled water. Using the successful model of AB 939 (Sher), SB 565 directs the State Water Resources Control Board to ensure that California recycles 50% of the water that would otherwise be discharged to the ocean by wastewater facilities by 2030. This measure would result in the development of roughly 2 million acre feet of new water by 2030. That makes SB 565 the largest water development program in California since the State Water Project of the 1960's.
Assembly Bill 1408, authored by Assemblymember Paul Krekorian and co-sponsored by PCL and the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, provides a new tool to allow communities to accommodate growth without increase water demand. AB 1408 would institute a water neutral development option that developers and water agencies can voluntarily choose to utilize during the development approval process. The bill would encourage developers to build highly efficient houses, and further encourages developers to fully offset the water demand of the development by taking part in water conservation programs for existing homes and businesses.
Assembly Bill 499, authored by Assemblymember Jerry Hill and sponsored by PCL, is a critical measure relating to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that will help ensure important legal challenges are not dismissed on a technicality. Currently, confusion over which "real parties in interest" to list when a lawsuit is filed can lead to cases being dismissed before they are heard. AB 499 clarifies that the parties that must be named in a CEQA lawsuit for a particular project are those listed by the lead agency as "recipients of approval" for that project in the agencies' Notice of Exemption (NOE) or Notice of Determination (NOD).
Along with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and others, PCL is co-sponsoring Senate Bill 194by Assemblymember Dean Florez and Assembly Bill 835 by Assemblymember Bill Monning. SB 194 asks local jurisdictions to develop and implement a plan to address the existing financial and political barriers that are part of the cause of regional inequity and infrastructure deficits in unincorporated communities throughout the State. AB 835 promotes policies that reduce the use of pesticides with high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ensures that these toxic chemicals are not substituted for others that are also hazardous to the environment and public health.
We're still combing through the thousands of other bills that have been introduced to determine where we'll need to focus our efforts in the year ahead. To find a complete listing of environmental bills introduced this year, visit our website at www.pcl.org.
DROUGHT DOUBTS: GOVERNOR WAIVES ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN RESPONSE TO LOW WATER AVAILABILITY
Last Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger invoked his emergency powers authority and proclaimed a statewide emergency due to drought. According to the Governor's proclamation, three consecutive years of drought have reduced California's water supplies to critical levels. In response, the proclamation provides broad exemptions to the California Clean Water Act and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Soon after the proclamation, many questioned the dire characterization of the drought. Reports from early this week reflect that late winter storms are stacking the Sierra snowpack, bringing it close to 90% of average in some regions. Yet while the precipitation is nearing a reasonable range, reservoirs are at dangerously low water levels.
So what's to blame for that short supply? It may have to do as much with over-prescribed water and unrealistic demands as Mother Nature. One such example: in past periods of low precipitation, some agricultural areas have foregone water deliveries to row crops and transferred that water to urban areas. However, in the last decade 500,000 acres of land in the state have been converted from row crops to permanent crops that cannot be fallowed, eliminating that flexibility during tight water times. This transition was facilitated in part by state policies that sought to eliminate previous agreements to safeguard water deliveries to urban areas during drought.
Californian water history warns that dry times like this year (and much drier) are part of life in the Golden State. Indeed, climate change forecasts indicate that dry conditions may be more severe and more frequent in the future. California shouldn't be taken by surprise when these forecast and warnings become a reality. The Governor's drought proclamation demonstrates the critical need for our state to begin to adjust water policies, management, and expectations to increase our ability to meet water needs in California's water reality.
DOROTHY GREEN HONORED BY PCL FOUNDATION; NEW FELLOWSHIP CREATED
Water policy advocate, author, and activist extraordinaire, Dorothy Green died on October 13, 2008, from melanoma. Dorothy was an active member of the PCL Board of Directors and her work seamlessly intertwined with PCL's water policy efforts at the statewide level.
The PCL Foundation created this fellowship to memorialize Dorothy's legacy as a leader in California water policy. The recipient of the Dorothy Green Fellowship will focus specifically on education and research of California water issues.
We invite you to be a part of Dorothy's legacy by contributing a tax deductible gift to the PCL Foundation. All donations made towards this fellowship will be solely applied to a fellowship on Dorothy's behalf, specific to water policy and research. Please make a donation today.
1107 9th Street, Suite 360, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone (916) 444-8726 • Fax (916) 448-1789
1107 9th Street, Suite 360, Sacramento, CA 95814 • Phone (916) 444-8726 • Fax (916) 448-1789 •
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