The California Legislature has passed and sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill to create the Salton Sea Conservancy to lead multi-million-dollar efforts to restore the shrinking and increasingly toxic inland sea.
The new conservancy would be the state’s 11th and the first established in over 15 years. The goal would be to protect residents’ health, foster ecological recovery of the area, and empower local stakeholders.
“The Salton Sea continues to deteriorate and threaten the communities that call the region home,” said state Sen. Steve Padilla, who co-sponsored Senate Bill 583 to create the conservancy, after Friday’s unanimous vote in the Senate.
He said the under-served agricultural workers living around the sea are already experiencing the impacts of climate change, breathing toxic dust as the water recedes.
“This conservancy will empower local voices, those that face this reality every day, and give them meaningful say in the process of remediating this public health crisis,” said Padilla, who represents the South Bay and Imperial Valley,
The Salton Sea formed in 1905 after overflow from the Colorado River spilled into a basin in the desert, creating the largest lake in California. Over the past several decades, evaporation exacerbated by droughts has reduced the sea, exposing a toxic lake bed.
Hospitalization rates for children with asthma in the area are double the state average, and residents endure a rotten-egg odor from the sea’s oxygen-deprived water.
California is making unprecedented investments in Salton Sea restoration efforts with over $250 million secured for critical restoration in the Inflation Reduction Act at the federal level, $60 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and $170 million if the voters pass the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024.
“While California has taken robust actions to protect our Salton Sea communities, including our nearly completed large-scale species habit project, establishing and funding a Salton Sea Conservancy will ensure we plan ahead to safeguard a healthier future for residents,” said Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, co-author of the legislation.
“This measure is vital to advancing our Salton Sea obligations, and we commend Sen. Padilla for his efforts,” he said.
