O.C. Gets a Lift: More Funding for Flood Work

The best news for Orange County in the Bush Administration’s fiscal 1992 budget is a $78.2-million request that would keep construction of the massive, $1.5-billion Santa Ana River flood-control project right on schedule.

There also is money to continue work on two major aerospace projects--the Space Station Freedom and the national aerospace plane--that involve Orange County companies. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has earmarked $287,000 to study the condition of the breakwater at Newport Harbor.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation for the first time in years is asking for funds to subsidize the operations of Amtrak, the national rail-passenger corporation that provides service along the Los Angeles-San Diego corridor. Congress has provided subsidies in the past, over the objections of the Administration.

The DOT also has asked for more money for mass transit, including $300 million for new projects. It is the first time in years that the Administration has asked for an increase in the budget of the Urban Mass Transit Administration.

At the same time, the Administration is again seeking to cut off operational subsidies to transit districts in areas with populations of a million or more, a move that in the past was strongly opposed by the Orange County Rapid Transit District. The action was blocked by Congress last year.

It was not clear Monday how much, if any, money the Administration has earmarked to continue construction of a new border checkpoint south of San Clemente. The Immigration and Naturalization Service, which will pay for the checkpoint, did not provide a detailed budget breakdown, according to congressional aides.

The Santa Ana River project, which received its first funding in fiscal 1990, involves building a new dam in San Bernardino County, enlarging Prado Dam in Riverside County, and improving flood channels along the 100-mile length of the river, which stretches from the San Bernardino Mountains to the coast at Huntington Beach.

It has been identified by the Corps of Engineers as the most serious flood threat in the Western United States. Last year, the Administration requested, and Congress ultimately approved, $65 million for the project.

“That’s a big ticket item, and one which certainly keeps this project in the pipeline,” said Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), a member of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, who represents South Orange County. “If we don’t have significant dollars in each annual budget, we could lose it.”

The Administration also has set aside more than $2 billion to continue work on the Space Station Freedom, a move which had been expected. Nevertheless, the decision was greeted appreciatively at McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. in Huntington Beach. The company holds a contract for work on the station valued at $4 billion.

“Any steady news on the space station is good news,” said company spokesman Thomas E. Williams. “Right now, in the middle of a war, and in light of the financial crunch in the United States, the fact that the President and NASA are pressing on--that’s good news.”

The Administration also included more than $94 million in the NASA budget to continue planning work on the national aerospace plane, a project championed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach), who represents northwestern Orange County. The consortium working on the plane is headquartered at Rockwell International’s plant in Seal Beach.

The Air Force is also providing money for the project, but the specific amount was not immediately available Monday.

No details were available on the Corps of Engineers’ planned study of the Newport Harbor breakwater, other than that it will begin next summer and involve a survey of the condition of the breakwater to determine if it is working as it should.

On another front, the Administration for the first time in seven years is asking for funds to subsidize the operation of Amtrak. However, the $480-million request is below the amount that Congress has authorized in past years.

In addition to the subsidy, Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner said he will ask for legislation to dramatically reduce Amtrak’s operating costs.