The Barbed Wire - October 02, 2015

October 2, 2015
California Water Foundation Report: A Guide to Forming Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
Air Resources Board Releases Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy
Government Shutdown Averted
Congress Passes Six Month FAA Extension
Congress Sends Agencies Emergency Funds for Wildfire Suppression
Authorization for Land and Water Conservation Fund Lapses
BULLETIN BOARD
KEEPING UP
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

California Water Foundation Report: A Guide to Forming Groundwater Sustainability Agencies

The California Water Foundation has released a report – “Know Your Options: A Guide to Forming Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (Guide).” 

The Guide is meant to provide local agencies and interested stakeholders with a resource for groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) formation and coordination under SGMA.  It focuses on memorandums of agreement (MOAs) and joint powers agreements (JPAs), two legal arrangements mentioned in SGMA that can be used by local agencies for GSA formation and groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) development and implementation. To provide examples, the Guide examines relevant case studies of actual MOAs and JPAs to highlight how past agreements have navigated the discussed topics. Finally, the Guide provides templates for both an MOA for GSAs coordinating their respective GSPs, and a JPA for local agencies to use for creating a JPA to serve as a GSA. These template agreements may help agencies organizing management structures to better identify the challenges of governance and structure coordination to meet these challenges.

The report can be accessed here, and the appendix can be accessed here.

Air Resources Board Releases Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy

The California Air Resources Board has released its draft Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy after taking public comment on a related concept paper earlier in the year.  The strategy fulfills the mandate of Senate Bill 605 (Lara) signed into law in 2014, which requires the agency to develop a plan this year to reduce emissions from short-lived climate pollutants.  

Short-lived climate pollutants include black carbon, which comes from sources like wildfires and automobiles, methane, and F-gases, which come from refrigerants and motor vehicle air conditioning systems.  These pollutants remain in the atmosphere for a shorter time than longer-lived climate pollutants, but are estimated to be responsible for about forty percent of current net climate forcing.  Governor Brown has identified reductions of short-lived climate pollutants as one of his “five pillars” to meet the State’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to forty percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

The State is expected to announce a series of workshops to take public comment on the draft in the coming weeks.  The draft Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy can be accessed here.

Government Shutdown Averted

Speaker of the House John Boehner’s resignation late last week cleared the way for the House to pass - with the help of House Democrats - legislation to fund the federal government through December 11, 2015.  Prior to announcing his resignation, the Speaker had expressed reluctance at relying on Democrats to pass the funding measure, but is now willing to do so.  

The two and a half month continuing resolution prevents a government shutdown for now, but sets the state for a major fight in mid-December over government spending as well as federal funding over various controversial programs. 

Congress Passes Six Month FAA Extension

With authorization for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs set to expire on September 30, 2015, Congress this week approved H.R. 3614, the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2015.  The bill provides for a six month extension of the FAA’s authority to award grants under the Airport Improvement Program for airport development and to operate the air traffic control system.  

This six month extension provides Congress with more time to develop comprehensive FAA reauthorization legislation.  Neither the House nor the Senate has introduced such legislation at this time. 

Congress Sends Agencies Emergency Funds for Wildfire Suppression

On Wednesday, the President signed into law a Continuing Resolution that will temporarily fund the government through December 11, 2015.  Beyond funding the rest of the federal government, the resolution also sends the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture an additional $700 million in emergency wildfire suppression funds.  

The additional money is equal to the amount that the agencies have already transferred from non-fire accounts so far this calendar year to pay for suppression activities.  Some lawmakers had hoped to include the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, an RCRC-supported bill that would allow the land management agencies to access disaster funding during a fire event to prevent borrowing prevention funding, into the continuing resolution but were ultimately unsuccessful.  Congress may address the issue this year as a part of the forest management or drought measures. 

Authorization for Land and Water Conservation Fund Lapses

For the first time in its fifty year history, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has lost its Congressional authorization.  As of October 1, 2015, the popular program has ceased collecting offshore oil fees which in turn pay for conservation work throughout the United States.  

Republicans and Democrats could not come to a last minute agreement on the Senate floor Tuesday night that would have extended the program’s authorization for an additional 60 days in order to give members of Congress enough time to work out a deal on some of the more politically controversial provisions.  Congressional supporters of the program will look toward “must pass” legislation this fall in order to pass a reauthorization.  Lawmakers have eyed the transportation bill and an energy bill that authorizes the sale of American crude oil overseas as potential legislative vehicles for LWCF reauthorization. 

BULLETIN BOARD

ACWA Regulatory Summit: SGMA – One Year Later

Click here

KEEPING UP

Bureau of Land Management Announces New State Director

This week the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that Jerome (Jerry) Perez will replace retiring BLM California State Director Jim Kenna.  In this capacity, Mr. Perez will oversee the management of 15.2 million acres of public lands, nearly 15 percent of California’s land mass.  

Additionally, BLM manages 47 million acres of subsurface minerals, 2.5 million acres of privately owned land, and 592,000 acres of tribal land where BLM operates the mineral operations on the trust lands.

Perez most recently served as the BLM Oregon/Washington State Director and also worked for the U.S. Forest Service in a number of positions, including Deputy Forest Supervisor for the Stanislaus National Forest in California, and National Litigation Coordinator in the U.S. Forest Service Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

RCRC members are encouraged to share letters addressed to state and federal representatives and regulatory bodies with RCRC’s Government Affairs staff.  Click “Read More” to access information related to the current status of legislation impacting California’s rural counties.  

AB 325 (Wood): Community Development Block Grant Program: Funds.  Assembly Bill 325 requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to respond to completed Community Development Block Grant applications within 60 days, and if the applicant is denied by the state agency, requires HCD to list the reasons for denial and what steps need to be taken for approval.  Status:  AB 325 was signed by the Governor.  RCRC Position: Support