Washington, DC – The final FY’06 Energy and Water Conference Report approved today by House-Senate conferees includes $40.9 million to strengthen California levees and flood control.

“A major earthquake in Sacramento or the Bay Delta is a nightmare scenario for California,” Senator Dianne Feinstein said. “The earthquake damage would be bad enough. But if it were to weaken the levees, it would cause terrible flooding, kill thousands of people, jeopardize the drinking water for 23 million people, and cost billions. That’s why we’ve got to act now. The funding approved today is a down payment on improving Sacramento-area flood control, but millions more is needed. But we will not give up the fight. We will look for every way possible to obtain the funding that is needed so that catastrophic flooding can be averted.”

"This funding will help us create the blueprints we need for the most critical levee repairs and storage expansion projects,” Chairman Richard Pombo said.  “This is just the beginning, obviously, but we are off to a good start.  I would like to thank Senator Feinstein for her tireless efforts to make sure the Delta levees are secured as soon as humanly possible.  With her leadership in the Senate, Californians can be confident the job will get done."

“I am pleased Sacramento received record funding for our flood control efforts - it is recognition that we are better off making an investment in protection rather than funding a clean up,” Representative Doris Matsui said. “However, this is only the beginning and we must continue our commitment to flood control funding to ensure Sacramento is no longer the 'most at-risk river city in the nation.”  

Sacramento and Delta Levees and Flood Control

• $15 million for American River Watershed -- Folsom Dam Mini Raise
• $9.555 million for American River Watershed -- Folsom Dam Modifications
• $4.405 million for American River Watershed -- Common Features
• $3.75 million for South Sacramento County Streams
• $6.3 million for Sacramento River Bank Protection
• $1.2 million for the Yuba River Basin
• $500,000 for short-term Delta levee assessment (CALFED 180-day study)
• $250,000 for a Delta Islands and levee feasibility study

The bill also includes $37 million for CALFED projects. Congress approved legislation sponsored by Senator Feinstein and Chairman Pombo authorizing $395 million over six years for CALFED last year. The FY '06 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill provides a total of $37 million for the Bureau of Reclamation’s California Bay-Delta Restoration Account.

“This bill funds numerous CALFED-related projects including water storage studies, the environmental water account, wetlands restoration, dam storage safety, and desalination projects,” Senator Feinstein said. “This is good news for California water and indicates Congress commitment to funding CALFED in a balanced manner.”

The following CALFED projects were specifically funded in the bill:

• $4 million for the Upper San Joaquin Storage Study
• $300,000 for the Sites Reservoir Storage Study
• $4 million for the Shasta Enlargement Study
• $3.2 million for the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Study
• $8.3 million for the Environmental Water Account
• $2.5 million for Ecosystem Restoration
• $2 million for the San Luis Reservoir Low Point Study
• $1 million for the Interagency Ecological Program
• $1.65 million for Westside Drainage and Salinity Reduction in the San Joaquin River

In addition, the following important water supply projects were funded:

• $13 million for the Hamilton Airfield Wetlands Restoration
• $2.25 for the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System (as compared to $1.25 million in the President’s budget request)
• $2.1 million for the Calleguas Water Recycling Project (as compared to $1.35 million in the President’s budget request)
• $1.875 million for the North San Diego County Area Water Recycling Project (as compared to $1.25 million in the President’s budget request)
• $1.25 million for the Long Beach Desalination Project
• $622,000 for Long Beach Recycling
• $500,000 for the San Jose Area Water Reclamation and Reuse Project (as compared to $300,000 in the President’s budget request)
• $250,000 for the Hamilton City Flood Control and Habitat Restoration
• $150,000 for the Mission Springs Water Reuse Project
• $77,000 for the Pasadena Reclaimed Water Project

Other Bureau of Reclamation projects funded in the bill include:

• $3 million for Lake Tahoe Regional Wetlands (as compared to $100,00 in the President’s budget request)
• $52.219 million for the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund
• $4.828 million for the Salton Sea Research Project
• $4.177 million for the Solano Project
• $3.35 million for the San Diego Area Water Reclamation and Reuse Program
• $1.78 million for the Cachuma Project
• $1.27 for the Orland Project
• $766,000 for the Southern California Investigations Program
• $570,000 for the Ventura River Project
• $120,000 for the Napa-Sonoma-Marin Agricultural Reuse Project

Army Corps of Engineers (Partial List)

The Army Corps of Engineers projects in California (other than the CALFED projects listed above) that are funded in the bill include:

Preliminary Study and Design (General Investigations)

• $600,000 for the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Study, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
• $125,000 for the Humboldt Bay Long-Term Shoal Management Study
• $125,000 for the Inglewood Transmission Pipelines
• $80,000 for the Norwalk Central Transmission Main
• $175,000 for the Morro Bay Estuary
• $850,000 for the Los Angeles County Regional Dredged Materials Management Plan
• $100,000 for the Carpinteria Beach Shoreline Study
• $800,000 for the Matilija Dam Removal
• $860,000 million for the Tahoe Basin
• $500,000 for Tahoe Regional Planning

Construction

• $3 million for the San Ramon Valley Water Recycling Project
• $5 million for the Upper Newport Bay Harbor Restoration
• $48 million for the Oakland Harbor 50 Foot Navigation Improvement
• $2.7 million for the Port of Los Angeles Channel Deepening
• $900,000 for the Bascule Bridge Replacement in West Sacramento
• $12 million for Napa River Flood Control
• $350,000 for the York Creek Dam Removal
• $3.75 million for Murrieta Creek Flood Control
• $8 million for Dam Safety at Success Dam, Tule River
• $5 million for Stockton Metropolitan Flood Control Reimbursement
• $3.5 million for the Upper Guadalupe River
• $3.6 million for Tahoe Basin Restoration
• $3 million for Kaweah River

• $450,000 for Port San Luis Harbor Breakwater Repair
• $3.676 million for Coyote Valley Dam, Lake Mendocino
• $4.562 million for Humboldt Harbor and Bay
• $675,000 for the San Leandro Jack D. Maltester Channel
• $900,000 for Marina Del Rey
• $225,000 for the Pinole Shoal Management Study
• $4.47 million for Redwood City Harbor
• $2.511 million for Sacramento River (30 foot project)
• $1.44 million for San Francisco Bay Management Study
• $4.619 million for Suisun Bay Channel

• $3 million for the Harbor/South Bay Recycling Project
• $2.1 million for Oyster Point Marina Breakwater Reconfiguration

Department of Energy

• Department of Energy projects in California that were funded in the bill include:
• $5 million for Renewable Energy Production Incentives
• $83 million for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Coherent Light Source Project
• $7 million for the UCLA Institute for Molecular Medicine
• $750,000 for new equipment at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
• $750,000 for a PET/CT Fusion Imaging System at California Hospital Medical Center
• $500,000 for St. Mary’s Cancer Center
• $400,000 for new equipment at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital

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