New Funding for Arroyo Study???
May 21, 2006 - PASADENA - Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, announced last week that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water has agreed to provide funds for the Arroyo Seco Watershed Study.
The Energy & Water appropriations bill is expected to pass the House this week.
As part of the bill, the Arroyo Seco will receive $200,000 in Army Corps of Engineers General Investigations funding for its Watershed Management Plan Feasibility Study.
The Arroyo Seco Watershed Management Plan is a project supported and coordinated by the County of Los Angeles to develop a comprehensive, environmentally friendly approach to manage the Arroyo Seco Watershed. The project is supported by the Arroyo Seco Foundation, North East Trees, the California Coastal Conservancy, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, and the cities in the watershed.
-- Pasadena Star News
President's Budget Fails to Include Arroyo Study
March 23, 2006 - Congressman Adam announced today that he has submitted an appropriations request for the US Army Corps of Engineers Arroyo Seco Watershed Feasbility Study. In addition he has met twice in recent months with the District Commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers to emphasize his support for the Corps' study. In those meetings, the congressman has inquired how previous funds for the program have been spent and urged the Colonel of the Los Angeles Office to make good on the Corps promises to fulfill the Arroyo Seco study in a timely manner.
Two local residents, Tim Brick, ASF Managing Director, and local historian and activist Michele Zack, have submitted written testimony to the House Energy and Water Committee to back up the congressman's appropriation request.
Testimony of Tim Brick | Testimony of Michele Zack
In a meeting with Arroyo Seco Foundation officials at his Pasadena office, the congressman discussed the prospects for obtaining funding for the study. He urged Arroyo afficionados to turn up the heat on the Corps and on local congressional representatives to ensure that adequate funding is made available. "Congressman Xavier Becerra has been a tremendous ally in this cause," Schiff said, "but we now need to bring in the support of Congressman David Dreier." Congressman Dreier represents the La Caņada Foothill region of the Arroyo Seco Watershed, which has several projects that could benefit from the study.
Arroyo Seco lovers were enthusiastic when the US Army Corps of Engineers held a kickoff meeting for the Arroyo Seco Watershed Feasbility Study on October 26, 2005 at La Casita del Adobe in Pasadena. Two week later, however, on November 9, 2005 the 2006 Energy and Water Development Act came out of the joint congressional conference committee with only $100,000 in federal funding for the $2.8 million study.
In February the Presidential budget proposal submitted to Congress totally omitted the program along with 85 other studies in California. "Without these studies, there will be no progress in meeting California's urgent water and environmental needs," said Tim Brick.
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- Congressman David Dreier
- Senator Dianne Feinstein
- Senator Babbara Boxer
- Congressman Xavier Becerra
- Congressman Adam Schiff
Arroyo Funding Background | Congressman Schiff's Fight