UPPER LAKE — A multi-billion dollar bill that includes water projects throughout the nation was passed by the House of Representatives Wednesday night. It is one step forward for substandard levees in Upper Lake that have waited on Congress for five years.
Usually passed every other year, the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA) authorizes all of the public works projects for the Army Corps of Engineers, and it includes the Middle Creek Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project. Controversy over what should continue to be the responsibility of the Corps has kept the bill from passing over the past five years.
The bill passed the House of Representatives Wednesday by a vote of 394-25, according to a press release from Congressman Mike Thompson”s office.
Its passage is one step forward after two apparent steps backward when the 109th Congress convened for elections in November. The House and Senate had each passed different versions of the bill last year, but failed to resolve their differences in the conference process that followed, according to Congressman Thompson”s office.
Thompson was again instrumental in adding language to this legislation that will fund, design and construct the Middle Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project, according to a press release.
The water bill still needs to be authorized by the Senate, after which it will go back through the conference process to become a joint bill. Currently it needs to go to the Senate floor after being approved recently in the Senate Subcommittee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer.
Anne Warden, a spokesperson with Thompson”s office, said both the House and the Senate hope to have the bill on President Bush”s desk by July 4. She said the bill would authorize about $14 billion in projects nationwide.
County Assistant Public Works Director Bob Lossius estimated $46 million of that would go to the Middle Creek project. Approximately $15 million of that is non-federal funding, which the county must procure.
“Right now we just need to get this authorized so I can continue to pursue additional funds,” said Lossius. He is pursuing state funding from Prop. 84 and 1E, passed in November. Currently, applications are being drafted for those funds by state water agencies, he said.
Lossius said he is simultaneously asking Senator Pat Wiggins” staff to support the effort with legislation that would require the state to provide assist in a portion of the county”s match, which he said would probably be at least 50 percent.
Bordered by Highway 20 and Rodman Slough north of the Nice-Lucerne cutoff, the project area holds off Clear Lake”s rising lake level during flood season with approximately 86-year-old levees constructed around 1920. After a Corps feasibility study found that the levees would overtop during a 35-year flood event rather than providing the 100-year flood protection they were designed to provide, and after finding that it would cost over $6 million to repair the levees, a decision was made to propose the current four-phase project rather than attempt repairs.
The project aims to relocate residents whose homes are at risk of flooding as they sit behind the substandard levees. “The most important thing is the public health and safety of those people behind those substandard levees, and that”s why we”ll continue to pursue state and funding to continue to purchase homes and property from willing sellers,” said Lossius.
There are 18 homes in the project area, along with approximately 1,280 acres of agricultural land. Using state funding, Lossius the county has purchased seven of them to date, with two more in escrow. The value of that property, approximately $4 million, could go toward the county”s non-federal match, said Lossius.
In addition to the relocation effort, the project would almost double Clear Lake”s existing wetlands after an approximate 81 percent loss over the years, according to Lossius and Victoria Brandon of the Lakeport chapter of the Sierra Club.
A press release from Congressman Thompson”s office states that the project will restore 1,200 acres of wetlands and 500 acres of floodplain in the Clear Lake area. It entails reconnecting Scott”s Creek and Middle Creek to the historic Robinson Lake wetland and floodplain. These two watersheds provide 57 percent of the water flow into Clear Lake.
Lossius added that the restoration of the wetlands could reduce the lake”s total nutrient load, primarily phosphorous, by up to 40 percent.
In addition, the project involves raising the eastern portion of the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff to 100-year flood event standards, adding a bridge to allow water flow in the restored area, raising portions of Highway 20 that currently fall below the 100-year flood level, and reinforcing major power lines running east to west through the area, said Lossius.
“Restoring Middle Creek is a critical step toward enhancing the area”s flood protection and improving the wetlands surrounding Clear Lake,” said Thompson.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
