Senator Presses Peers for Action Regarding Salton Sea

MECCA, CA - Sen. Barbara Boxer urged officials Thursday to take action regarding the diminishing Salton Sea and its receding shoreline, which she said would compound already-deleterious health effects for the lake's nearby residents and cost billions to repair the damage if not resolved.

Boxer delivered her comments during a tour of the Red Hill Marina, part of the Salton Sea where officials are attempting to restore 420 acres of now- exposed playa, to form a suitable habitat for local birds and control the spread of hazardous dust.

Boxer pointed to the Red Hill Bay project as a successful endeavor that should be replicated throughout the entire Salton Sea, but argued that the funding must be there to ensure it happens.

Recent restoration project funding has come in the form of $80.5 million included in California's state budget, as well as $3 million earmarked by the Obama administration.

"Still, it is not enough," said Boxer, D-California.

Boxer said the consequences of not acting now were myriad. These include "massive fish die-offs and declining bird populations," air quality issues that she said have given children living near the Salton Sea "the highest asthma hospitalization rates in the state," and costs of "as much as $70 billion over the next 30 years" to deal with the ecological damage that will be wrought.

Current efforts include the Salton Sea Management Program, which has a short-term goal of establishing 9,000 to 12,000 acres of habitat creation and dust suppression projects by 2020.

However, Boxer urged the California Natural Resources Agency, which heads the management program, "to stick to its deadline of December 2016 to issue its long-range plan."

Boxer said she would also urge Congress to vote to prioritize ecosystem restoration projects, such as Salton Sea restoration efforts. Boxer said federal funds that were supposed to be budgeted for the Salton Sea were not utilized as promised.

"There must be no backpedalling because the dust won't wait for us to act, the birds won't wait for us to act, and our children's lungs won't wait for us to act," Boxer said.

— By City News Service. Image via Shutterstock.