opinion

Celebrated momentum fades at the Salton Sea

Considering the history of the past 15 years, it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that the long-delayed and much-scaled-back vision for restoration of the Salton Sea only recently committed to by the state already has fallen behind.

We’re not shocked, but disappointed would be an understatement.

Just five months ago, the Editorial Board cheered what appeared to be real momentum behind the plan to build wetlands along the receding rim of the dying salty lake to quell potentially violent, health-ravaging dust storms and create wildlife habitat. Key signs that things were finally happening: Actual construction of wetlands was underway and the California Legislature had approved a massive bond measure for the June ballot that would commit hundreds of millions of dollars to sea restoration work.

“Once work is occurring in earnest, we expect the positive aspects will only increase both momentum and resolve at the state level to keep it going,” we argued in our Oct. 29 Our Voice editorial. Sea proponents made a strong case that projects should proceed aggressively with available state and federal funds rather than awaiting the bond vote.

STATE UPDATE: Salton Sea point man details work so far

HEALTH EFFECTS: Dust inflames asthma conditions around sea

BIRD CRISIS: Wildlife populations crashing at ailing sea

At a recent presentation before the State Water Resources Control Board, Gov. Jerry Brown’s Salton Sea point man, Bruce Wilcox, said the effort is anything but “full steam ahead.”

As reported by The Desert Sun’s Ian James, Cox says that in the year since the state put forth its 10-year, $383 million plan, less than 50 acres of the 500 acres of wetlands projects promised by the end of 2018 are ready. Meanwhile, the projected overall cost of the plan — which is nowhere near fully funded at this point — already has increased to $410 million.

Wilcox told the SWRCB — which approved the state’s master plan for the sea last fall and is responsible for overseeing its implementation — that various obstacles are slowing the pace, such as how to deal with endangered species at the sea and the need to determine who might be liable for harm caused by potential release of toxins as more seabed is uncovered.

This harkens to the years of “one more study is needed” that we’d wearily grown accustomed to as we witnessed the sea’s long decline, which shifted into overdrive with the end of Colorado River water inflows at the close of 2017.

Still, it is shocking to hear this type of refrain so shortly after the state finally stepped up with its plan to fulfill its commitment to sea restoration under the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement that has shifted the water that had been replenishing the sea to thirsty urban customers.

Get to work, folks. Promises were made and the state cannot let the now more-rapidly receding sea spiral into an ecological and environmental disaster which will have effects far beyond its own shores. As suggested by sea advocates, the SWRCB should consider proactively demanding a plan now on how the state will accelerate efforts to complete its promised projects for 2018 rather than waiting until it misses the deadline.

As it is, the state’s plan, if seen to fruition, will leave the sea as a much smaller, though hopefully somewhat stable, body of water a generation from now.

Time has expired on preparing to get started. All involved must energetically press the work on the ground as they resolve any problems that remain so many years down this road.

Meanwhile, this problem of the Salton Sea faces the same threat all things do when it comes to reliance on state funding: the looming potential of an economic downturn. Gov. Brown has been warning of such a setback and, for now, has aimed billions of the current state budget surplus into its “rainy day” fund.

History has shown how quickly a recession can decimate the state’s fortunes, however. The sputtering commitment to the sea that we’ve seen so far likely could come to a complete halt if the state’s coffers begin to dry up.