The Barbed Wire - August 7, 2015

August 7, 2015
RCRC’s 2015 Annual Meeting – REGISTER TODAY!!!
Forest Service Spends 50 Percent of Budget on Fire Suppression
CCC Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance
State Water Board Approves General Order for Composting Operations
State Agency Climate Symposium Examines Potential in Natural Lands
Congress Begins 4 Week Recess
Clean Water Act Rule Encounters More Rough Water
PILT, SRS, and LWCF Legislation Introduced in Senate
Bulletin Board
Regulatory Update

RCRC’s 2015 Annual Meeting – REGISTER TODAY!!!

RCRC’s 2015 Annual Meeting will be held September 23-25 at the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel in El Dorado County.  This year’s program will feature experts discussing a wide range of topics of interest to rural counties including:

  • Water in California - What the Future Holds;
  • The Hidden World of Human Trafficking in California's Rural Counties;
  • What on Earth? The Environmental Impacts of Marijuana Cultivation;
  • Bracing for the Upcoming Political Season;
  • The Future of Federal Land Payments; and,
  • From Vaccines to Vaping – How Public Health Impacts Our Daily Lives.

To register for RCRC’s 2015 Annual Meeting or to access the current program, click here.  The official registration form can be accessed here.

Forest Service Spends 50 Percent of Budget on Fire Suppression

This week USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack released a report showing that for the first time in history the United States Forest Service (USFS) has spent more the 50 percent of its total Budget on firefighting costs.  Despite predictions that it would happen this year, having it occur so early in fire season is alarming, and further highlights the need to change the structure of fire funding at the federal level. 

Fire borrowing or fire transfer – the mechanism by which fuels management, forest health, watershed improvement, and post-fire mitigation project funds are “borrowed” to pay for fire suppression costs – seems all but guaranteed this year as the fire season is far from over, and already more than half of the Budget is expended.

The USDA report highlights the staff time and funding that has been “lost” to fire fighting.  Comparing staffing between 1998 and today, fire staffing has increased 114 percent, in comparison to staffing levels for non-fire personnel, which has decreased by 39 percent.  In terms of funding, the USFS has approximately half a billion dollars less for non-fire related activities than it did in 1998.

“The release of this report is very timely based on the current hectic pace of wildfires in this country,” said USFS Chief Tom Tidwell.  “We have been pointing out this challenge for the past few years, but we have not been able to effectively address it through our current budget process.  It is important to keep the focus on this problem, ensure the discussion continues, and a solution to the funding problem be found.”

“The federal government does not pay for the response to any other natural disasters this way,” said RCRC Chair Supervisor Lee Adams of Sierra County.  “RCRC strongly supports the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act and other mechanisms to change the funding structure for wildfires on federal land.  Spending more on fire suppression and less on fire prevention efforts is exactly reversed from the direction we should be going with forest management.  We can only hope that this report finally highlights the need for the change enough that we can make appreciable changes to the funding this year.  RCRC’s message has always been that the current system is not a rational way to fund a predictable expense.”

The full USDA report can be accessed here.  A letter-to-the-Editor from RCRC Executive Vice President Patricia Megason on the broken federal funding system for wildfires can be accessed here.

CCC Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) has posted the recommended final draft of its Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance: Interpretive Guidelines for Addressing Sea Level Rise in Local Coastal Programs and Coastal Development Permits (Guidance). 

The Guidance is advisory, and not a regulatory document or legal standard of review for the actions that the CCC or local governments may take under the Coastal Act.  The Guidance will be updated periodically to address new sea level science, information, and approaches regarding sea level rise adaption, and new legal precedent.  The Guidance documents can be accessed here.

State Water Board Approves General Order for Composting Operations

Despite concerns about the cost to comply, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) approved a General Order for composting operations to protect water quality at new and existing facilities.  The General Order exempts agricultural composting, chip and grind facilities and operations, and small home composting and community gardens. 

Under the General Order, composting facilities that process at least 5,000 cubic yards of material per year are divided into two tiers, based on the size of the operation and the risk it poses to groundwater or nearby surface water.  The General Order sets standards for the construction, operation, and maintenance of composting facilities to protect surface water and groundwater.  It provides a number of requirements, including standards for the permeability of the ground underneath the composting piles, drainage, and specifications for leachate collection and containment.  The Order also includes requirements for monitoring and reporting.

Some in the industry expect the cost to comply will force a number of smaller operations to go out of business and discourage new operations from being constructed.  These regulations could affect the State’s ability to accommodate sufficient capacity to process the mandated organic diversion from landfills and meet the State’s 75 percent recycling and composting goal by 2020. 

Composting facilities have previously been regulated by the State’s nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards through Waste Discharge Requirements or waivers of Waste Discharge Requirements.  A statewide order for composting operations is intended to streamline the permit process, and will still allow the Regional Water Quality Control Boards the ability to be responsive to the individual operations. 

Additional information can be accessed here.

State Agency Climate Symposium Examines Potential in Natural Lands

The California Natural Resources Agency, California Air Resources Board, and California Department of Food and Agriculture joined together to host a day-long symposium on how natural and working lands can contribute to the State’s newly established 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals.  

The symposium, held at California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Sacramento, brought together representatives from academia, industry, and state and federal agencies to discuss how forests, rangelands, and agricultural lands can be managed, regulated, and incentivized to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maximize carbon sequestration potential.

Notably, this is the first symposium the State has organized specifically to discuss natural and working lands as they relate to climate change.  After many years of largely ignoring forested and other natural lands in the State’s carbon reduction strategy, Governor Brown, in his inauguration speech in January 2015, named natural and working lands as one of the “Five Pillars” of his Administration’s immediate plans for achieving California’s climate change goals.  Since then, various State agencies have ramped up efforts to develop plans and policies to improve the management and utilization of natural lands. 

Presentations from the symposium and the link for filing comments on the topic of natural and working lands can be accessed here.

Congress Begins 4 Week Recess

The Senate has adjourned for the August recess and will return to Washington on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. The House began its recess last week, and will also return on September 8, 2015. 

Congress will have several big-ticket items to complete upon its return, including a long-term highway bill, extension of personal and business tax credits, and raising of the debt ceiling.  Most importantly, Congress will need to enact a continuing resolution by September 30, 2015 to prevent a government shutdown. 

Clean Water Act Rule Encounters More Rough Water

Last week, states and industry groups critical of the Obama Administration's controversial Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to hold off on putting the regulations into effect as scheduled on August 28, 2015. 

Additionally, 31 states have filed suit against the rule on procedural and substantive grounds.  Environmental groups that generally support the rule have raised the prospect of also filing suits after internal communications at the Corps were leaked to the media and congressional committees indicating the Corps’ concern that the final rule would exempt previously protected wetlands.

Five major agricultural groups wrote EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy last week stating that there is still real confusion among their agencies' staff about what waters will be in and out under the rule.  The groups asked that the rule not go into effect until all agency staff responsible for implementing the regulations have been fully trained.

Apart from concerns about leaving some areas unprotected, the internal memos and letters from senior Corps officials to their political head, Assistant Secretary Darcy, concluded that the final rule was advanced by EPA without Corps knowledge, that some rule provisions were not based on science or experience administering the Clean Water Act, and that many aspects of the rule were legally indefensible and impossible to enforce.  Corps officials went on to urge the Assistant Secretary to withdraw the Corps’ name as an author of the rule.

Adding to confusion about implementing the rule, EPA and the Corps announced last week that they will not issue a new manual or guidance document to their regional offices to help implement its Clean Water Rule.  In a memo from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary Darcy, the agency heads say they will provide their respective field offices with a comprehensive but less formal question-and-answer document based on discussion with field staff.  According to McCarthy and Darcy, specifics in the final WOTUS rule eliminate the need for a new manual or guidance. Issuing a formal manual or guidance document could expose the agencies to legal questions at a time when dozens of states, industry groups and environmentalists are already suing over the rule.

The agencies expect to release the Q&A document before the rule takes effect later this month.  EPA will also create a database to track jurisdictional determinations of waterways and wetlands protected under the Clean Water Act.  The Corps and EPA will make this information publicly available on a quarterly basis.

The agencies are also creating a work group to help individuals navigate the federal permitting process under the rule.  The group will focus on the appropriate use of tools like general permits and better coordination with states to reduce redundancy in permit reviews.  The group is expected to provide the agencies with a "suite of options" by the end of the year.

PILT, SRS, and LWCF Legislation Introduced in Senate

This week, Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced S. 1925, legislation to reauthorize and fund the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program for six years, permanently reauthorize and fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and permanently fund the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. 

The SRS program was reauthorized for two years in April 2015, but the LWCF is set to expire on September 30, 2015.  Federal PILT is currently a discretionary program, and funding is currently subject to the unpredictable annual appropriations process that we see in Congress.  This legislation would give rural counties more funding certainty from Washington.

Bulletin Board

Proposition 1 Restoration Grants

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) is now accepting proposals for restoration projects that further the objectives of the California Water Action Plan (CWAP).

Click here

Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance Webinar

Click here

Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) Draft Regulations – Batch 2 Discussion Papers Available

Click here

Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) Interactive Map

Click here

Groundwater Information Center (GIC) Updates

Click here

South Coast Region Groundwater Chapter Posted

Click here

Regulatory Update

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funding Guidelines for Administering Agencies.  Establishes fund distribution guidance for state agencies that receive appropriations from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.  Agency: California Air Resources Board Status: Draft published for public comment, comment period extended to August 14, 2015.  Additional workshops will be held in various cities in August.  Board consideration is expected at the September 23-24 meeting.  Draft guidelines and related documents can be accessed here.  RCRC Comments: Click here RCRC Advocate: Staci Heaton sheaton@rcrcnet.org

Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds Second Investment Plan.  Establishes 3-year spending priorities for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund monies.  Agency: California Air Resources Board Status: Draft concept paper has been released for public comment, with comments due by September 1, 2015.  Workshops have been announced for various cities in August.  Board consideration is expected at the September 23-24 meeting.  Draft concept paper and workshop schedule can be accessed here RCRC Comments: Staff is seeking input from member counties.  RCRC Advocate: Staci Heaton sheaton@rcrcnet.org