Budget would cut flood protection money
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Multiple flood protection projects in California are on hold after Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed cutting their funding to help cover a $22.5 billion budget deficit — a decision disappointing environmental advocates as weeks of powerful storms have caused widespread flooding that damaged homes and washed away roads.
Newsom’s budget proposal, released, last week, cuts $40 million that had been pledged for floodplain restoration projects along rivers in the San Joaquin Valley, an area at high risk of catastrophic flooding.
Those projects would allow for rivers to flood in strategic places during winter storms or the spring Sierra Nevada snowmelt, reducing the risks for populated areas downstream while also benefiting
environmental ecosystems.
Newsom approved that money, last year, when the state had a record budget surplus of around $100 billion. Just a few months later, things have changed dramatically as a sluggish stock market has slowed the state’s economy, reducing the amount of taxes
the state collects. Now, Newsom says California will have a $22.5 billion deficit this year.
The governor’s plan to cover that relies in part on cutting $9.6 billion in spending, including the $40 million for the floodplain projects. It would restore the funds, in 2024, if they are available.
“I see it as prioritizing winners and losers in California — and we’re the losers,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, an environmental advocacy group.
The Newsom administration would cut that money because “we are facing serious economic headwinds,” said Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. He said those floodplain restoration projects are eligible to get funds from other places, including the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Program and the Wildlife Conservation Board.
The decision was made, in early December, weeks before record rainfall hit the state, and Crowfoot acknowledged the recent storms could change the administration’s thinking.