Residents Tired of Mutiple Studies on Saving Sea

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Classifieds Real estate Cars Jobs Coupons Home Page Hot Topics Quick Links News Sports Business Weather Opinion Obituaries Features Entertainment Elections Events Calendar Community Your Town Your School Special Reports Forums Technology Space Public Records Visitors Guide Customer Service Contact Us + e-mail story L123 print story -i� headlines by e-mail subscribe now! Residents tired of multiple studies on saving sea Speakers at meeting urge officials to take action quickly to restore ailing waterway By Benjamin Spillman The Desert Sun March 17th, 2004 SALTON SEA -- The people living closest to the environmental woes of the Salton Sea demanded action -- not more studies -- from state workers charged with figuring how best to avert an ecological collapse of the troubled lake. IT e More stories about the Salton Sea e More stories about water and water use e More stories about the environment About 50 people, largely seaside locals and members ' Post or read comments in our of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian tribe, online forums crowded into a meeting hall in Coachella to urge the Department of Water Resources to speed the pace and broaden the scope of its work at the sea. Many in the room urged Charles Keene of the Department of Water Resources to scrap plans for studying new alternatives for the sea and focus on a popular local plan that goes beyond the state's notions of saving habitat by adding economic and recreational elements to the vision. "For all these years it has been one study after another," said Jimmie "Tex" Ritter, who identified himself as a former ranger at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area. "I hate to say this, but I think your study is a whitewash," said Ritter, who longed for a return to the days when for anglers, "the limit of tilapia was an ice chest full." The meeting in Coachella, the first in a series of five seeking public input on the sea, mostly attracted people interested in convincing the state to join forces with locals and the federal government to control the shrinking of the sea as it loses inflows to urban water users. "Property owners and people who live here, are we still going to have a say in what the state is going to do ?" asked Leo Borunda, another seaside resident. The meetings are infant steps in an ongoing two -year, $20 million state effort to determine its vision for the future of the Salton Sea. Led by the Department of Water Resources with the Department of Fish and Game, state workers will catalog the feedback and include it in a document that outlines the environmental benefits and drawbacks of a range of proposals to restore the ecosystem for species that live at the sea. The state's secretary for resources, currently Mike Chrisman, is then charged with picking a favorite from the alternatives by the end of 2006. Once Chrisman or a successor settles on a plan, it would be up to the Legislature, and possibly California voters, to approve money for construction. But many at the meeting said they're already behind a plan by the Salton Sea Authority to divide the sea in two and create a smaller, higher quality lake. http: / /www.thedesertsun .com/news /stories2004 /local /20040317010529.shtml 3/18/2004 thedesertsun.com I Residents tired of multiple studies on saving sea Pagel of 3 Advertisements