Officials Push New Spending for Santa Ana River Control

Orange County officials descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday to press for $65 million in new spending for the massive Santa Ana River flood control project. They left heartened and hopeful.

Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez and James F. McConnell, the county’s Washington lobbyist, said they were encouraged by favorable comments made by key members of the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development.

During a subcommittee hearing on water projects, Reps. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento) and Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) said Orange County’s commitment to contribute as much as $445 million in local funds to the $1.5-billion Santa Ana River project helps the county’s case.

“Vic feels that certainly without this kind of local support, the project wouldn’t go forward,” a Fazio aide said later. “His reaction is very favorable.”

In an interview after the hearing, Lewis, a strong backer of the project, said: “I think over the years, public officials involved have communicated to this committee in spades the critical nature of the threat. . . . The bipartisan mix (of support) is very helpful.”

The Bush Administration has proposed spending $65 million on the project during the 1991 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. For the current fiscal year, Congress appropriated $20 million for preliminary work. Annual appropriations are expected to grow to well over $100 million in the next few years.

Formal ground breaking for the project, designed to save 3,000 lives and avert billions of dollars in property damage in a catastrophic “100-year flood,” is scheduled for May.

The undertaking will involve construction of a new Seven Oaks Dam in San Bernardino County, improvement of the Prado Dam in Riverside County and construction and improvement of flood channels along the river’s 100-mile course from the San Bernardino Mountains to its mouth between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

Vasquez told the subcommittee that Orange County already has set aside $150 million to pay its eventual share of $445 million in construction costs.

“Local . . . costs are now estimated at 36% of the project’s total cost,” Vasquez said, “substantially above the 25% minimum. . . . By these actions, Orange County demonstrates its commitment and willingness to contribute substantial monies to this project.”

The local funds will largely pay for land and right-of-way acquisition. Nearly all the remaining funds-more than $1 billion--will come from the federal government. San Bernardino and Riverside counties will make small contributions to the construction costs.

In addition to Vasquez, all five members of the Orange County congressional delegation appeared before the subcommittee to push for the appropriation.

“The (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers has described the Santa Ana River as the most serious flood threat west of the Mississippi,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Lomita) told subcommittee members.

“There were 124,940 flood control (insurance) policies sold last year in California,” said Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), who noted that Orange County accounts for only about 8.6% of the state’s population but purchased about 32% of the flood policies.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) reminded subcommittee members that his district, and the flood plain, are home to both Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.

“There could be no more ghastly sight than seeing Mickey (Mouse) and Donald (Duck), and over at Knott’s Berry Farm, Snoopy, and all the rest of the gang standing on top of those beautiful rides and exhibits with 20 feet of water below them, seeing all those children crying . . . ,” Dornan said.