The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Salton Sea is California’s largest inland water body with beneficial uses that include fisheries and wildlife habitat and preservation of endangered species, and is a repository for agricultural drainage.
(b) The Salton Sea ecosystem is a critical link on the international Pacific Flyway and supports over 400 species of birds.
(c) The Salton Sea is threatened by increasing salinity and reduced inflows. Mitigation water inflows ordered by the State Water Resources Control Board in 2002 will expire at the end of 2017. Combined, these changes increasingly threaten the unparalleled wildlife resources at the sea, as well as air quality in the region.
(d) In cooperation with local governments, nonprofit organizations, private businesses, and the public, the State of California can help protect wildlife habitats and endangered species, improve water and air quality, and enhance recreational opportunities in the region.
(e) The State of California and the United States Department of the Interior committed through a memorandum of understanding signed on August 31, 2016, to protect the ecological values of the Salton Sea and to prevent dust emissions from at least 25,000 acres of lakebed exposed by reduced agricultural inflows resulting from the implementation of the Quantification Settlement Agreement.
(f) In restoring the Salton Sea, it is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the following:
(1) Protect and provide long-term conservation of fish and wildlife that are dependent on the Salton Sea ecosystem.
(2) Restore the long-term stable aquatic and shoreline habitat for fish and wildlife that depend on the Salton Sea.
(3) Mitigate air quality impacts from restoration projects using the best available technology or best available control measures, as determined by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District.
(4) Protect water quality.
(5) Maintain the Salton Sea as a vital link along the Pacific Flyway.
(6) Preserve local tribal heritage and cultural values associated with the Salton Sea.
(7) Minimize noxious odors and other water and air quality problems.
(8) Coordinate with local, state, and federal agencies that are responsible for air quality, endangered species, and other environmental mitigation implementation requirements of the Quantification Settlement Agreement.
(9) Enhance economic development opportunities that will provide sustainable financial improvements benefiting the local environment and the economic quality of life for communities around the Salton Sea.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 859, Sec. 4. (SB 615) Effective January 1, 2018.)