4. Authorization of the Project
The Project enjoys wide support at the federal, state, and local level because it is the environmentally superior option for addressing the seismic and flood safety concerns of the existing Dam, while simultaneously protecting people, property, the environment, watershed, and water resources.
The project management team is composed of Cal-Am, the Conservancy, and NMFS. The Conservancy has also assembled a Technical Review Team comprised of a variety of experts from, among others, NMFS, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Carmel River Steelhead Association, University of California, Berkeley, and private engineering firms. The Technical Review Team, paid for by the Conservancy, will provide guidance and assistance throughout the process.
The Conservancy is responsible for the required technical studies and design work and will meet regularly with its Technical Review Team. The Bureau of Reclamation will assist the project by conducting a Design, Cost Estimating and Construction review process. NMFS and the Conservancy will assist Cal-Am on permitting and community outreach. If actual construction costs are lower, the cost savings will be allocated between Cal-Am and the Conservancy.
The construction portion of the Project includes relocating approximately 370,000 cubic yards of sediment accumulated behind the Dam on the San Clemente Creek arm of the reservoir to the Carmel River arm of the reservoir and removing the Dam. A portion of the Carmel River will be permanently bypassed by cutting a 450-foot long channel between the Carmel River and San Clemente Creek, approximately 2,500 feet upstream of the dam. The bypassed portion of the Carmel River will be used as a sediment disposal site for the accumulated sediment. The rock spoils from the channel construction will be used to construct a diversion dike at the upstream end of the bypassed Carmel River channel.17
The Project is anticipated to start in 2012. After all permitting, compliance and preliminary engineering activities are final, the Project will take approximately three years for construction work to be completed.
When the Project is complete, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has given a preliminary commitment to accept donation of the land surrounding the Project for long-term management in a manner that will provide the public with opportunities to recreate and enjoy the Carmel River corridor while restoring critical habitat for endangered species. This commitment includes a requirement that after the Project is completed, there be a two-year monitoring of the significant design components of the Project (i.e. river diversion channel, diversion dam condition, stabilization of sediment basin in the Carmel River). Cal-Am and the Project management team are required to assist BLM in establishing an endowment which will provide BLM with funding for law enforcement and management presence in the area.18
All parties to this proceeding agree that Cal-Am must address the seismic and flood safety issues of the current Dam and that the Project is the best alternative to do so. Based on the discussion above, we should authorize Cal-Am to implement the Project, in partnership with the Conservancy and NMFS. Further, given this broad-based support for the Project, there are relatively few disputed issues for us to resolve. We now turn to these issues, which largely concern ratepayer cost responsibilities for the Project.
17 Exhibit 8, Application at 15.
18 See August 2, 2010 BLM letter to Cal-Am, Exhibit 7.
