Protecting the Environment

The diversity and richness of California’s natural resources are world renown and among our most treasured assets. Over the past two years, this Administration has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring the wise use and protection of those resources, and voter approval of Propositions 12 and 13, in March 2000, has given policymakers a tremendous opportunity – and responsibility – to protect and develop them for generations to come.

Over the past two years, more than $2.5 billion has been appropriated for the acquisition of tens of thousands of acres of sensitive lands for wildlife habitat, open space, agriculture, and recreation. In addition, through an unprecedented partnership between government, business, and public entities, the Administration is working to improve some of our most important resources: Lake Tahoe, the Salton Sea, San Francisco Bay, and the San Francisco Bay-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. Furthermore, the Administration completed the first phase of the CALFED program, the largest and most complex water development and ecosystem restoration project in the world.

In addition to these programs, the Davis Administration has launched numerous efforts to maintain California’s nationally recognized environmental standards:

• Initiatives to improve air quality by reducing diesel emissions and remove high-polluting cars from the roads.
• Programs to improve water quality by protecting and restoring watersheds and reducing polluted runoff into lakes and rivers.
• Efforts to reduce ground contamination by assisting business and local governments in the detection and cleanup of urban "brownfields."
• Aggressive efforts to protect our coast from offshore oil drilling.

Continuing with this commitment to the state’s environment, the Governor’s Budget includes $5.5 billion dollars for natural resources and $1.6 billion for environmental protection.

Major features of this funding include:

• Implementation of the next phase of CALFED.
• A major new effort to reduce contaminated runoff that pollutes our public beaches and affects public health.
• Continued acquisition and restoration of coastal wetlands and habitat, and improved access to beaches and coastal trails.
• An increase in funding for incentives to purchase zero emission vehicles.
• An enhanced program to reduce air pollution through the replacement of conventional diesel engines with clean burning alternatives.
• Continuation of environmental improvement projects at Lake Tahoe.
• Continued focus on creating and restoring river parkways for public use.

CALFED

The San Francisco Bay-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta) is the largest estuary on the West Coast, encompassing over 738,000 acres in five counties. The Bay-Delta supports more than 750 species of plants and animals, and supplies drinking water for two-thirds of all Californians and irrigation water for 7 million acres of the most productive agricultural land in the world. For decades, the Bay-Delta has been the focus of competing economic, ecological, urban, and agricultural interests. These conflicting demands resulted in declining wildlife habitat, the degradation of the Delta as a reliable source of high quality water, and a Delta levee system faced with a significant risk of failure.

Seeking solutions to the resource problems of the Bay-Delta, State and federal agencies signed an agreement in June 1994 to address environmental concerns in the Bay-Delta while ensuring adequate water supplies for agricultural and urban water users. That agreement laid the foundation for the first phases of the CALFED program, which included identifying environmental and water supply problems, conducting environmental reviews of various alternatives, and developing an implementation plan.

On August 28, 2000, with the signing of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Report (EIS/EIR), California and the federal government announced a commitment to move forward with implementation of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program. The ROD and Final EIS/EIR provide the framework for implementation of a thirty-year program that includes ten elements: ecosystem restoration, water quality, Delta levees, watershed management, water storage, water transfers, water use efficiency, Delta water conveyance, a science program, and an Environmental Water Account.

Year One of implementation began in 2000-01 with the signing of the ROD. The Governor’s Budget, which proposes funding for the State share of Year Two of the CALFED program, includes $294.5 million of State funding and anticipates approximately $400 million of federal funding to begin implementation of the multiyear plan.

Significant components of the expenditures for the 2001-02 Budget include:

Coastal Protection

More than any of its other natural features, California’s 1,100 miles of stunning coastline are a symbol of the State. The coast offers year-around recreation, provides major contributions to the State and local economy, and attracts over 175 million visitors each year from around the globe. In addition, the coast provides valuable habitat for hundreds of species of wildlife, some found nowhere else in the world. In the last two years, over $275 million has been appropriated for the acquisition, restoration, and conservation of coastal resources. The Governor’s Budget continues this commitment by including $100 million for a Clean Beaches Initiative and $50.1 million for habitat, public access, and recreational enhancements along the coast.

Clean Beaches—Beach usage in California is higher than in the other 49 states combined. The State’s beaches are an important characteristic of the quality of life in California and a major force in our economy, generating 700,000 jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity. The State’s public health standards for beaches are among the most stringent in the world. In addition, few other places monitor their beaches more frequently than California. However, even with rigorous beach water quality standards, the State’s monitoring programs indicate that beach pollution is widespread and too often exceeds acceptable levels, resulting in beach closures to prevent public health risks. California’s insistence on strong public health standards resulted last year in 5,000 beach-closure days. This rate of closure is unacceptable and can be reduced.

Beach contamination is primarily caused by two sources: sewage spills and urban runoff, which is the main contributor to beach contamination. Although local jurisdictions have invested in their water runoff collection systems to reduce the amount of pollutants that find their way to beaches, more needs to be done. The Water Resources Control Board is developing a detailed plan to coordinate the regulatory efforts of federal, State, and local agencies and identify infrastructure investments that will reduce runoff and sewage spills. The Governor’s Budget includes $100 million to fund this effort as follows:

• $70 million to be allocated by the Water Resources Control Board for local diversion, catch basin, and filtration systems that will reduce untreated runoff from reaching coastal waters. These projects will be located in areas of the State where beach closures have been most prevalent.
• $20 million for technical assistance to local communities to help target the sources of runoff and to identify bacteria and other pollutants more quickly.
• $10 million for acquisition of strategically located wetlands that can be used to filter runoff and reduce pollutant levels.

Coastal Enhancements—Following through on the major effort started in 1999-00 to provide funding for enhancements to the coast, the Budget includes $50.1 million, primarily from Proposition 12 bond funds, for additional improvements in the quality of coastal resources.

Major features of this funding include:

• $28.5 million to acquire and restore coastal wetlands and salmon habitat.
• $9.5 million to establish Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.
• $7.2 million for the statewide Coastal Resources Enhancement Program.
• $3.6 million to create additional coastal access and trails.

Air Quality

Zero Emission Vehicles—The Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program is a critical part of the Air Resources Board (ARB) plan to meet State and federal health based air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter. ARB regulations require that a portion of model year 2003 light duty vehicles offered for sale in California be zero emission or near-zero emission cars.

California has undertaken several programs to support the introduction of ZEVs in large volume, including $18 million in the 2000 Budget Act to support the purchase of zero-emission vehicles. The Governor’s Budget includes $50 million to provide further incentives for ZEV purchases. This funding will be used to offer grants of $5,000 per vehicle to offset the higher incremental cost of ZEVs until increased production levels result in more affordable retail costs. An additional grant of up to $1,500 will help defray the cost of home wiring and charger installation. The objective is to help launch the market for ZEVs toward self-sustainability. This initiative seeks to encourage the purchase of 9,000 to 10,000 additional ZEVs.

Diesel Replacement—Conventional diesel engines are a major source of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and toxic fine particulate matter emissions. Reducing these pollutants is essential to ensuring the State’s air quality. The Governor’s Budget includes $100 million to replace an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 conventional diesel engines with cleaner alternatives. The program will offer subsidies to offset the differential in cost between a conventional diesel engine and a cleaner alternative power source. This program is expected to reduce NOx emissions by about five tons per day with a portion of the credits for emission reduction earned through this program used to offset increased emissions from additional power plant operations necessitated by demands for peak electrical power production.

Reducing Emissions from State Vehicles—The Budget includes $7.5 million in the Energy Commission’s budget for the purchase of clean, energy efficient vehicles used by the departments of the Resources Agency. The Budget also includes $20.3 million in the Caltrans budget to retrofit diesel vehicles to use cleaner-burning diesel fuels and increase the number of fleet vehicles that use propane (see Transportation Section).

Fuel Cells—For the last two years, California has joined with private sector participants to fund the California Fuel Cell Partnership. The Budget continues the State’s participation by including $2 million for Phase 3 of the Partnership. This multi-year joint effort funds a demonstration program that uses fuel cells in transit busses.

Lake Tahoe

The environmental quality of Lake Tahoe and the Lake Tahoe Basin has declined significantly over the last forty years because of tourism and development. Since 1968, the Lake has lost more than 30 feet of transparency and is currently losing clarity at the rate of almost 1.5 feet per year. In an effort to reverse environmental degradation in the area, California signed an agreement in 1997 with the federal government and the State of Nevada to implement an Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) at a cost of $908 million over a ten-year period. California’s share of this commitment is $274 million. The federal government has committed $300 million, and the State of Nevada $85 million. The remainder will be funded from local and private sources.

Since signing the agreement, California has appropriated $65.6 million towards fulfillment of its commitment. The Governor’s Budget continues California’s participation in the joint effort to improve the Tahoe Basin by including $28.1 million to fund elements of the EIP. This funding will be used to acquire, protect, and restore wetlands and wildlife habitat; enhance public access to the Lake; improve recreational opportunities; and improve air and water quality in the basin.

River Parkways

In addition to the obvious value of the water they carry to meet agricultural irrigation and urban consumption needs, California rivers provide invaluable wildlife habitat and significant recreational value. Unfortunately, many of California’s rivers have been channeled and developed in ways that prevent their recreational and habitat potential from being realized. Other rivers offer significant opportunities for recreation, but public access to them is constrained.

In the past two years, California has begun making significant investments to open its rivers to public enjoyment and enhance their wildlife habitat value. The River Parkway program is a major feature of the Administration’s effort to create urban open space and recreational areas throughout the state. The Governor’s Budget includes $60 million for river parkways on the Los Angeles, San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Sacramento, and Guadalupe rivers. In addition, the Resources Agency will have $10 million available for opportunity acquisitions and improvement projects on rivers throughout the state.