Feb 7, 2024: Op Ed on the Salton Sea by Chuck Parker
Until 2030 an “eight year-fifteen million dollar” Mega study of the Salton Sea by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be ongoing. This expanded study was announced Nov. 2023 at a meeting of the Salton Sea Authority. Why will there be no restoration work at the Salton Sea until after 2030?
To justify their decision, the Army Corps cited the complexity of the problems at the Salton Sea. What is complex is not the problems to be solved at the sea, but the so-called Draft Long Range Plan which the state of California turned over to the Army Corps as a starting point for their study. This was not a plan, but fifteen so called “in basin” alternatives that rely solely on the dwindling supply of water already at the sea. This is nonsense because the problem at the Salton Sea is a lack of water. Why has the Army Corps decided to spend eight more years trying to find a solution without adding water?
The only way to restore the Salton Sea is to import ocean water and desalinate it. This could refill the sea and give new life to its deteriorating ecosystem and minimize dependence on the Colorado River. This plan could create up to 200,000 acre/feet of fresh water per year – a fact which could mean smaller cuts in water delivered to California from the Colorado River. Ocean water importation would contribute to the fight against our warming and drying climate, and prevent massive new emissions of greenhouse gases coming from the Salton Sea’s expanding dry lakebed. But in 2022, the state paid two million dollars to a UC Santa Cruz group which sabotaged the Water Import proposals by making desalination, potable water, and aqueduct systems seem ridiculous plus ten times more expensive than the cost estimates worked up by reputable engineering companies. Why?
In 2026 the Bureau of Reclamation will come up with a new way of dividing up the Colorado River. Reclamation will be apportioning water disbursement without taking into consideration the needs of the drying Salton Sea. This makes no sense, since the Salton Sea is part of the Colorado river watershed. Why would the Army Corp wait to make their plan for the Salton Sea until after Reclamation has cut water supplies damaging it further?
Meanwhile, on January 26 there was an opening ceremony at the Salton Sea to celebrate the beginning of construction of a new lithium plant by an Australian company, Controlled Thermal Resources. The Army Corps expedited permits to speed up construction of the lithium plant to please the Department of Energy.
Here is the link to a report from the LA Times titled: At Salton Sea, a win for clean energy
The Army Corps has coordinated with the Department of Energy, now it needs to do the same with the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency which sets water policy. Human bodies are over 50% water, why prioritize energy needs over water needed by fish, birds and human life?
We need our elected leaders in Congress to step up and lead the fight for a sensible policy which incorporates renewable energy, water for all, and the restoration of one of our last wetlands. We CAN have lithium and a healthy Salton Sea.
(To watch the presentation by the Army Corps go to the Salton Sea Authority website and click on Meetings and Agendas. Then enter November 2023 and watch the recording of the meeting. There is a password right there to use to access the meeting. The pass code is RC4$yxQP. The report starts at 39 minutes and lasts about 16 minutes.)
Salton Sea Coalition 