Published By: Commission
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MINUTES COMMISSIONERS |
DEPARTMENTS AND ENTERPRISES Water Enterprise Gavin Newsom Michael Housh |
ORDER OF BUSINESS:
1. Call to Order: 5:12 P.M.
2. Roll Call: Present – President Ann Moller Caen, Vice President F.X. Crowley and Commissioner Francesca Vietor
Public Comment: There was no public comment.
REGULAR BUSINESS
President Caen announced that given their inter-related nature all of the action items would be called together and encouraged public speakers to address their concerns with each in their public comments.
4. Discussion and possible action to approve the Phased Water System Improvement Program (Phased WSIP) Goals and Objectives and adopt California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Findings, including a statement of overriding considerations and the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP).
5. Discussion and possible action to endorse the selected Water Supply Elements (Elements) of the proposed new wholesale Water Service Agreement (WSA), and direct staff to negotiate a new agreement in substantial conformance with the Elements for approval by the SFPUC and each of the wholesale customers prior to the expiration of the existing Contract on June 30, 2009; and adopt findings pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). (Carlin)
6. Discussion and possible action to authorize the SFPUC General Manager to request that the Mayor recommend to the Board of Supervisors approval of a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $1,923,629,194 to fund the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP), including capital projects of $1,670,983,056, and related financing costs of $252,646,138, through June 30, 2010, and request an increase in the Water Commercial Paper Program from $250 million to $500 million, and adopt Findings pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). (Rydstrom)
General Manager Ed Harrington presented a brief overview of the lengthy five year process that brought these items to the Commission for its approval. The General Manager then described aspects of the proposed actions and discussed the various issues that had been seriously and deeply considered by staff before they recommended the adoption of the phased variant for the Water System Improvement Program that was before the Commission for action. Then Assistant General Manager for Business and Finance Todd Rydstrom walked the Commissioners through the request that the Board of Supervisors approve staff’s request for a $1.9 billion supplemental appropriation to fund the WSIP Program. In follow up, Mr. Rydstrom explained related financial issues including the need to expand the Water Commercial Paper Program. Responding to a question by President Caen, Mr. Rydstrom pointed out that the SFPUC had been able to avoid becoming enmeshed in the recent turmoil in the financial markets and was able to conduct any needed borrowing at very reasonable rates.
3. Public Comments
Chief Executive Officer Arthur Jensen, Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) expressed his members’ serious concerns that as proposed the phased variant did not sufficiently address their objections with additional burdens it could impose on the SFPUC’s regional customers and urged that staff’s recommendations in this respect be reconsidered.
Mayor Rosalie O’Mahoney of the City of Burlingame and Chair of the Board of Directors, BAWSCA urged that the Commissioners move forward quickly to get the program underway and agreed with Mr. Jensen’s concerns noting that regional partners could face unjustified and unacceptable limitations on their access to supply.
The Hon. John Fannon, Hillsborough Councilmember and Member of the Board of Directors, BAWSCA expressed his community’s great concerns with the ongoing serious seismic risk to the water system and urged that the Program move forward quickly in this regard while also expressing concerns about the SFPUC’s process in addressing regional partners concerns with elements in the proposed Program.
The Hon. Barbara Pierce, Redwood City Councilmember and Member of the Board of Directors, BAWSCA, noted her community’s aggressive use of recycled water and decried what she described as SFPUC unilateral decisions in response to concerns about limitations on access raised by its regional customers who were already doing everything possible to conserve.
City Manager Alvin James of East Palo Alto noted in these challenging economic times getting this critical public works program going was economically important to his community, however he also noted that East Palo Alto was already very near its reasonable ability to conserve and that further limitations to access could pose a serious problem for his city’s efforts to grow.
Former San Francisco Supervisor Bill Maher recalled his years of service on the Board’s Public Works Committee considering these kinds of issues and urged that zealous and aggressive action be taken to promote conservation including action to bring online dual piping systems in the new Mission Bay and the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard neighborhoods, as had been originally proposed, suggesting that the WSIP Program could not appropriately meet its goals without doing so.
Mr. Joe Johnson, a San Bruno Avenue merchant, pointed out that the efficient and safe operation of the water system was essential to hundreds of thousands of people and our the entire community as well as small and large business and was a severe risk for seismic damage and that therefore action to move this Program forward quickly was essential.
Mr. Jeff Miller, Alameda Creek Alliance, expressed his organization’s frustration after years of work to restore the fisheries in Alameda Creek with the lack of detailed response to their particular environmental issues related to the Calaveras Dam replacement Project in this overall Program environmental review; suggesting that the SFPUC was unresponsive to his concerns about the restoration of the aquatic environment in Alameda Creek and the SFPUC’s proposed plans constituted a further challenge for the already threatened fish populations.
Mr. Peter Drekmeier, Tuolumne River Trust Bay Area Program Director urged that the Commissioners reject any additional diversions from the Tuolumne river, citing the critical state of the salmon population and its dramatic decline in recent years. Mr. Drekmeier supported his position by citing California Department of Fish and Game studies that revealed the calamitous conditions facing the salmon population, a keystone species in the aquatic and its shoreline environments from the Sierra’s to the ocean, as well as other fish populations and demonstrating that spring flows were essential to maintaining or restoring fish populations.
President Caen responded by asking if any difference was made when diversions were taken in differing seasons or when there were greater or lesser levels of flow in the river?
Ms. Amy Fowler, Santa Clara Water District, expressed her community’s dismay at the potential that under the proposed Program their access to the system could be interrupted as this would have an extremely severe impact on the economy of her communities. Ms. Fowler expressed concern at uncertainty as to their available supplies of water were sure to be the result of its adoption.
Ms. Rebecca Cremeen, Program Director for the Tuolumne River Trust - Sierra Nevada urged that the Commissioners reject any additional diversions from the Tuolumne River, noted the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors vote in opposition, and the potential negative impact on the local economy of any additional diversions from the river argueing for more aggressive conservation and use of recycled water instead.
Mr. Bob Hackamack, Twainharte resident, called attention to critical evaluations of the additional proposed diversions that he concluded were not addressed in the staff reports, and additionally urged that any increased use could reasonably be met through recycling and greater conservation.
Mr. Jessie Raeder of the Tuolumne River Trust submitted petitions she said contained 8,000 signatures in opposition to any further diversions from the Tuolumne River and urged that the Commissioners to defend the already endangered salmon and trout, vital species in the environment, who could not defend themselves.
Mr. Stan Christensen, an experienced water mediator, urged the Commissioners to consider that what had happened in the past was not guaranteed to happen in the future, cited the successful examples of dramatically increased water conservation in Los Angeles and Phoenix due to the decline in water available in the Colorado River. Mr. Christensen observed that staff’s projections concerning the impact of climate change could be significantly wrong and that no additional diversions from the river ought to be considered saying as the snowpack declined the availability of water diminishes.
Ms. Diana Scott asked that the Commissioners not approve any plan that would take additional water from the Tuolumne Rivers saying increased conservation and increased use of drought resistant plants in our lawns and landscaping was the only way to appropriately meet future needs
Mr. Bill Collins asked that the Commissioners impose pricing that reflected the value of water to encourage conservation and reduce waste noting that he often observed his neighbors wasting water hosing down driveways and that he had done everything that he could to save water.
Mr. Alan Kurotori, City of Santa Clara, objected to the serious threat of limitation for his community in the proposed program and noted that they had been making great efforts to encourage conservation and promote use of over 1 billion gallons of recycled water but that to place such a potential restriction was a very serious matter for his community and he asked the Commissioners to reconsider.
Mr. Mansour Nasser, City of San Jose, objected to the potential that his city could have its water supply interrupted; noting that even with a 5 year notice this would pose severe problems creating serious uncertainty. Mr. Nasser reported that his city had been making extraordinary efforts to conserve already and that the proposed phased variant of the WSIP did not meet the needs of all the system’s customers.
Ms. Jennifer Clary, Clean Water Action, remarked that this was an opportunity to take greater responsibility for protection of the environment and to show that system reliability was not connected to unlimited supply but that steps must be undertaken to limit demand proactively and that environmentalist should be brought in to help discuss mitigations and possible penalties for waste.
An Anonymous speaker asked that the Commissioners consider the terrible threat to the survival of fish populations in the Tuolumne that any additional diversion could pose, and applauded the ongoing key conservation efforts such as the recent “Big Blue Bucket” event where he had won a rain barrel, called for greater regional cooperation for conservation, and also called attention to a Palo Alto Program to capture runoff for reuse in that city.
Mr. Arnie Thompson noted that he liked eating fish and that the proposed diversions greater threatened the already severely reduced fish populations in the Tuolumne River.
Ms. Estela Tarano pointing to the vital economic role that the water system played in the region and urged greater cooperation on conservation but it was critical that this Program go forward quickly to secure the reliability of the water system against seismic risks.
Mr. Galen Weston an organic farmer opposed additional diversions and noted the opposition of the Tuolumne County Supervisors as well. Mr. Weston suggested that there was a lack of appropriate baseline studies to justify the proposed plans and that as proposed this program would harm fish and wildlife urging that the Commissioner be good neighbors and reject it.
Mr. Dan Balifer, an editor and activist, noted the severe loss of fish in northern California rivers and the related economic impact on Central Valley economy, additionally he noted that this mountain to coastal ranging fish species were a critical economic resource that merited doing everything possible to preserve saying history showed loss of fish soon lead to loss of people.
Mr. Alonzo Emergy, East Palo Alto, commended the cooperative efforts of SFPUC staff to work with his community and asked that the Commissioner quickly approve the staff recommendation and get this program underway quickly to provide critically needed employment for youth and business opportunities for residents of the entire region.
Ms. Catherine Sneed of the SFPUC’s Earth Stewards Program introduced two young members of the program George and Johnson who were beneficiaries of the training and employment opportunities created by this program, brought vegetables from the program for the Commissioners, and supported its adoption.
President Caen commended Ms. Sneed and applauded the success of this model program.
Mr. Ron Meyers urged quick approval of the proposed Program that offered opportunity for greater youth employment, and in particular cited an important training program to provide skill in Tunneling. Mr. Meyers commented that this vitally important and significant public works program could bring employment and restore economic vitality throughout the region.
Mr. Eric Wesselman while noting the critical nature of the seismic threat to the water system suggested that the future needs could be met without diversions by embracing recycling of water and greater conservation. Additionally Mr. Wesselman criticized what he found to be a lack of appropriate baseline data and found the proposed mitigations inadequate.
Ms. Christy Hurlburt a San Francisco Customer emphasized the critical importance of a safe and reliable water system but found that additional diversions not necessary and urged the Commissioners to consider water was a vital resource that should be priced appropriately so that customers had an incentive to conserve.
Mr. Albert Chang asked that this Program go forward as proposed quickly to secure the safety of our water supply.
A representative read a letter from Mr. Michael Theriault of the San Francisco Building Trades Council calling attention to the many compromises which the SFPUC staff had made to mitigate environmental concerns and emphasized the seismic threat to the security of the entire Bay Area warranted quick approval to get this critical public works program underway to secure our water reliability and provide economic benefits and employment opportunities to the people of the region.
Mr. John Rosapepe, an angler, spoke strongly against any additional diversions of water from the Tuolumne River noting the already serious condition of the salmon population and called attention to a similar situation in Seattle which he said had successfully implemented conservation and recycling programs to address limited water resources available without harming the aquatic environment.
Ms. Becky Evans, Water Stewards, opposed any further diversions from the Tuolumne River citing the experience of the Colorado River that supply can be exhausted and urged that this question be considered in the context of the problem in the entire Western United States. Ms. Evan s applauded SFPUC staff’s cooperation with her organization and noted they were also working with BAWSCA to promote greater conservation.
Ms. Ann Clark, a San Francisco customer, commented that information about the Program was unclear and that the facts were poorly presented particularly the economic data was vague and insufficient to clearly understand. Ms. Clark urged greater openness and transparency in Program activities and that yearly data on water sales and conservation achieved be widely available.
Mr. Dave Whittum observed that the situation was so dire that there was no simple way to restore the salmon populations and that any diversions would worsen the existing crisis urging that there be no diversions as there was no real evidence of a need for them and instead old attitude should be discarded.
Mr. Duncan F. MacLean, a fisherman, opposed any diversions from the river and that instead regional efforts to promote conservation and end wasteful practices should be undertaken and water ought to be put back into the river to promote the aquatic environment.
Mr. Aaron Albert opposed additional diversion from the Tuolumne River instead calling attention to effective ways to conserve existing supplies in response to the conditions resulting from climate change as well as noting that people did not understand if current practices continued the river could not recover. Mr. Albert recommended that rates be increased, landscaping practices be modified, and that the seismic risks be quickly addressed.
Mr. David Temblador expressed serious concern with the limitations he found in the PEIR documents and suggested that the down stream impact was not considered sufficiently. In addition he found that averaging masked the true numbers of use and asked that the Commission reject the staff’s proposed Program.
Mr. Lech Naumovich, Native Plant Society, called attention to the impact of the proposed diversions on both the aquatic and plant life of the associated environments urging that we needed to realize that we could do more with less and that native plant in particular suffered and were exposed to being overrun when the balance of their environment was so significantly shifted against them. He urged that greater creativity be employed to find ways to protect our vulnerable environments.
Mr. Andrew Cushman, San Francisco resident and member of the Tuolumne River Trust, opposed any diversions from the river and instead asked that greater focus and efforts be made to preserve and restore salmon as the keystone species in the entire range of environments from the Sierras to the Bay, also saying that the natural flow of the rivers needed to be protected and restored.
Ms. Carin McKay, a San Francisco Chef, said that we could not afford any additional diversions from the Tuolumne River recalling an abundance of fish when she was young, noted the importance of fish in our culinary culture, and urged that greater efforts and attention be devoted to protecting and enhancing them as a vital matter of food security
Mr. Marc Sugars opposed the proposed diversions from the Tuolumne River saying this would further damage the environment and the already severely threaten fish populations, especially the salmon.
Mr. Will Grant, a San Francisco resident, decried the collapse from thousands into mere hundreds of the keystone species salmon population in the ecosystems ranging from the mountains to the sea and opposed any further diversions from the Tuolumne River suggesting that conservation instead be undertaken to meet any needs and observed that a restoration of the natural three year cycles of the river could restore the fish populations to health.
Ms. Jody Davidson noting that there were no real innovations being considered opposed the proposed diversion as harmful to our environment and urged conservation be undertaken instead.
Ms. Catherine Davidson noting her family’s long history in California and her studies of the environment in school expressed great concern for the heath of the river and urged that everyone even while brushing there teeth and taking showers consider the need to conserve as the water belonged to the fish first.
Mr. Casey Allen observed that creation of green jobs would be a better way to promote employment and that diversion from the river would be a step backwards in environmental progress. He instead urged great emphasis on conservation and recycling of water already available.
A member of the Cameron Group noted the lack of innovations being considered instead of diversions and described how waste heat could be utilized to desalinize seawater for consumption instead.
Commission action
President Caen indicated that she had no additional questions.
Commissioner Vietor observed “I have only served on this Commission for less than two months, but I have had questions for years of where this region will get its future water supplies and I have long shared the concerns of the environmental community that the SFPUC was not doing enough, in San Francisco and with our wholesale regional customers, to push for greater conservation, water recycling and new groundwater sources. Commissioner Vietor noted, “ I want to acknowledge how far the SFPUC has come in the last few years from the originally proposed Water System Improvement Program. This is in large part because of the advocacy of so many in this room, but also because of a renewed commitment to the environment by the SFPUC. When this Program EIR began, and as recently as two months ago I was standing before the board at my confirmation hearing, the “preferred alternative” had us taking 25 million gallons more a day from the River, and here we are today, considering the “Phased WSIP Variant” that is forcing us first to focus on greater conservation, water recycling and groundwater before making any decision to increase long term deliveries from the watersheds.
Commissioner Vietor then said “We have come a long way, but we must always push for more. And I respect and appreciate that so many are here today to do exactly that. I want to acknowledge the work of Jeff Miller and the Alameda Creek Alliance—I read their extensive comments with great interest and I share your concerns about Alameda Creek and the threat to our resident rainbow trout, crashing salmon populations and other threatened fish. While baseline mitigations are included in the PEIR, the specific WSIP projects such as the Calaveras Dam rebuild, will allow us the opportunity to further address mitigations, restoration and flows below Calaveras Dam and elsewhere in the Alameda Creek watershed. We look forward to working together to address your concerns. Secondly, thank you to Peter Drekmeir, Jennifer Clary of Clean Water Action, Sierra Club and the other Bay Area Water Steward members for their comments, attention and focus on this important program. Commissioner Vietor continued “I share concerns about the 2 million gallons/day or any other additional diversions from the Tuolumne so I’ll be very vocal and vigilant in looking for new ways to avoid any further diversions from our watersheds. In particular, if the variant is adopted. I would like the staff to report back to the Commission within 90 days on efforts on the Tuolumne River to supplement flows to offset the 2 million gallons/day to support salmon and steelhead in the lower river. When the Kirkwood studies are complete in 2009, I would like the PUC to come back and report on results and recommendations so we can have a public hearing and move forward; and to continue dialogues with Turlock and Modesto to agree upon what water transfers are necessary for healthy fish populations.
Commissioner Vietor then pointed out “Nothing about adopting the findings of this Program EIR tonight precludes the SFPUC from doing more.” And Commissioner Vietor further noted that, “I am going to be very firm as a Commissioner in pushing the staff to accelerate the Habitat Conservation Plans, especially for the Alameda Creek watershed, which are underway and to better address the impacts of WSIP on fisheries. And, we must get more aggressive about recycling and conservation—climate change is here and it is going to reduce our snowpack. We need to be prepared. To that end, I would like to add some language to the resolution before us, adding them in as the 3rd and 4th clauses, right after the resolved clause that describes the water supply components.
Commissioner Vietor then concluded by saying, finally in 2006 the SFPUC adopted the Water Enterprise Environmental Stewardship Policy to operate the SFPUC water system in a manner that protects and restores native fish and wildlife downstream of SFPUC dams and water diversions, within SFPUC reservoirs, and on SFPUC watershed lands.” I would like a hearing on the status of implementation of the Water Enterprise Environmental Stewardship Policy. Balancing our environmental concerns with the needs of our regional wholesale customers and the future water demands is never going to be easy. But with your continued advocacy, the staff’s hard work and this Commission’s persistence and oversight, we can move ahead on these critical seismic improvement projects AND protect our rivers and creeks from further diversions.”
Vice President Crowley seconded Commissioner Vietor’s proposed amendments to the resolution in Agenda Item 4 and commended everyone’s hard work and had no further questions.
Agenda item #4
Commissioner Vietor, 2nd by Vice President Crowley proposed amending the resolution by inserting two new resolved clauses, “FURTHER RESOLVED, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission shall set aggressive water conservation and recycling goals, shall bring short and long-term conservation, recycling, and groundwater programs on line at the earliest possible time, and shall undertake every effort to reduce demand and any further diversion from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission watersheds; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission staff shall provide ongoing updates to this Commission about the progress and development of conservation, recycling, and groundwater programs, and shall provide annual figures and projections for water system demands and sales, and provide water supply options; and be it “ after the third further resolved clause.
The Commissioners accepted this as a friendly amendment without objection.
Moved by Vice President Crowley, seconded by Commissioner Vietor, to approve the resolution as amended to approve the Phased Water System Improvement Program (Phased WSIP) Goals and Objectives and adopt California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Findings, including a statement of overriding considerations and the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP); passed (3-0 Caen, Crowley, Vietor) unanimously. Resolution No. 08-0200
Agenda Item #5
Deputy City Attorney Noreen Ambrose called the Commission’s attention to the need for a minor technical amendment to re-insert the word “Code” that had been inadvertently dropped from places in the text of the proposed resolution during editing. This technical amendment was accepted without objection.
Moved by Commissioner Vietor, seconded by Vice President Crowley to adopt the Resolution to endorse the selected Water Supply Elements (Elements) of the proposed new wholesale Water Service Agreement (WSA), and direct staff to negotiate a new agreement in substantial conformance with the Elements for approval by the SFPUC and each of the wholesale customers prior to the expiration of the existing Contract on June 30, 2009; and adopt findings pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); passed (3-0 Caen, Crowley, Vietor) unanimously. Resolution No. 08-0201
Commissioner Vietor asked that particular care be taken to include the wide range of stakeholders in discussions of any proposed environmental surcharges.
Agenda Item #6
Moved by President Caen, seconded by Vice President Crowley to adopt the Resolution as amended to authorize the SFPUC General Manager to request that the Mayor recommend to the Board of Supervisors approval of a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $1,923,629,194 to fund the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP), including capital projects of $1,670,983,056, and related financing costs of $252,646,138, through June 30, 2010, and request an increase in the Water Commercial Paper Program from $250 million to $500 million, and adopt Findings pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); passed (3-0 Caen, Crowley, Vietor) unanimously. Resolution No. 08-0202
Assistant General Manager for Water Michael Carlin asked that the SFPUC staff who had worked for long hours over several years to perfect these proposals to stand and be recognized for their outstanding work. The Commissioners applauded the staff’s dedicated hard work.
There being no other business before the Commission the meeting was adjourned at 8:00PM
Michael Housh
Secretary
