Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

SALTON SEA, CA — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, and Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D. (D-Calif.-25) joined federal and state leaders to announce the expansion of a restoration project at the south end of the Salton Sea through the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP). The event celebrated the groundbreaking of the expansion of the Species Conservation Habitat (SCH) Project after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation awarded California $70 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for the project last December.

The investment is a portion of the $250 million that Padilla, Ruiz, the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Representative Juan Vargas (D-Calif.-52) secured for the SSMP from funds included in the Inflation Reduction Act for drought resiliency. The federal funding commitments were made in the 2022 Commitment to Support Salton Sea Management Related to Water Conservation in the Lower Colorado River Basin Agreement.

The expansion of the SCH Project represents a multiagency collaboration to address the ecological challenges facing the Salton Sea. The commitments made by the federal and state governments, as well as from regional agencies, will add 750 acres to the project’s footprint. This unprecedented support helps set the current project footprint at nearly 5,000 acres with the potential to expand to around 8,000 acres.

“As the Salton Sea lakebed recedes, toxic dust is contaminating air quality and threatening the stability of the local ecosystem,” said Senator Padilla. “The $250 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding we secured for the Salton Sea Management Program is essential not only to protect public health in surrounding communities, but to restore the habitat of the abundant aquatic and avian wildlife in the region. Today’s exciting groundbreaking of the Species Conservation Habitat Project expansion will expand critical wetland habitat and improve air quality around the hazardous exposed lakebed.”

“For years, my constituents have shared their concerns about the harmful impacts of the Salton Sea. As a physician in Congress, I have been committed to addressing this ongoing public health and environmental crisis,” said Congressman Ruiz, M.D. “Thanks to our partnership with the Biden-Harris administration and the $4 billion secured through the Inflation Reduction Act to stabilize the Colorado River Basin, we are bringing vital resources to our communities that will protect the health, environment, and economy of our region.”

“Our largest project at the Salton Sea to suppress dust and restore habitat is getting bigger,” said Wade Crowfoot, Secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency. “The Biden-Harris Administration and our Congressional delegation delivered major funding to get this done, and it’s another step forward at the Sea. I’m proud of our partnerships and progress, while we all know much more work lies ahead.”

“It was less than two years ago that we signed a memorandum of understanding for the Salton Sea, and here we are today breaking ground on phase two of the Species Conservation Habitat Project, on the heels of signing the largest water conservation agreement with the Imperial Irrigation District,” said Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. “We’re grateful to our partners in the State of California, the Imperial Irrigation District Board, and farmers and growers in the Imperial and Coachella Valley for leading the way for the Sea and the Colorado River Basin.” 

“California’s commitment to protecting the Colorado River by conserving 1.6 million acre-feet under the Lower Basin Plan would not have been possible without the leadership of the Biden-Harris administration and Commissioner Touton,” said JB Hamby, Chairman for the Colorado River Board of California. “Their historic $250 million investment in California’s Species Conservation Habitat — the largest ever for Salton Sea restoration — marks a turning point. Together, these efforts protect both the Colorado River and the Salton Sea.”

Located at the south end of the Salton Sea, near the community of Westmorland, the project aims to restore ecological value at the Salton Sea and help protect regional air quality by

• Creating a network of ponds and wetlands;
• Providing a habitat for fish and birds that visit the Salton Sea; and
• Suppressing dust within the project area.

In August, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Imperial Irrigation District agreed to conserve nearly 230 billion gallons of water by 2026, facilitate land access for project implementation, and provide an additional $175 million in federal funding to accelerate California’s Salton Sea restoration efforts.

Comprised of the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Department of Water Resources, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the SSMP is implementing a 10-year plan to improve the conditions around the Salton Sea by constructing 29,800 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects while establishing a long-term pathway for the Salton Sea’s success.

Senator Padilla worked to include $4 billion for drought resiliency and inland waterways, including for projects to address historic drought impacting the Colorado River Basin and Salton Sea, in the Inflation Reduction Act. The $250 million in federal funding Padilla secured for the SSMP allows the Department of the Interior to contribute to vital restoration projects at the Salton Sea, including to expedite existing projects that the State of California and California water users are contributing to, like the SCH Project. Last Congress, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced Padilla and Senator Feinstein’s Salton Sea Projects Improvements Act to give the Interior Department additional authorities to invest in Salton Sea ecological improvement projects and address the public health and environmental crises at the Salton Sea. Padilla also applauded the Department of the Interior last year for awarding approximately $367 million to California partners to protect the Colorado River Basin, including to restore the Salton Sea.

Additional photos from the event are available here.

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