Funding for flood protection work along Llagas Creek in the
Morgan Hill area and perchlorate clean-up in South Valley were
included in the federal Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal year
2005, a $388 billion spending bill funding 13 government
departments and dozens of domestic agencies.
Funding for flood protection work along Llagas Creek in the Morgan Hill area and perchlorate clean-up in South Valley were included in the federal Omnibus Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2005, a $388 billion spending bill funding 13 government departments and dozens of domestic agencies.
Congressmen Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and Mike Honda, D-San Jose, voted in favor of the funding bill, which passed the House Nov. 20 by a vote of 344 to 51. Later in the evening, the Senate gave its approval, 65 to 30.
Funding also includes $2.5 million earmark for preliminary engineering on the extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system to Santa Clara County and $1 million for safety improvements to Highway 152, a Santa Clara County priority project that will upgrade existing access from the Gilroy Foods and WTI trucking facilities.
The measure now goes to President George W. Bush for his expected signature.
Pombo and Honda worked on a bipartisan basis to secure $1.1 million for the Santa Clara Valley Water District for perchlorate groundwater clean-up.
Pombo said the funding is for the Santa Clara Valley Water District to develop and implement clean-up technologies and treatment options for perchlorate-contaminated groundwater from Morgan Hill to Gilroy.
According to Pombo, whose 11th District includes Morgan Hill, the bill budgets $450,000 for Llagas Creek flood protection ($325,000 for investigation and $125,000 for construction.)
The project, known as PL 566, provides flood protection for 1,100 homes, 500 businesses, and over 1,300 acres of agricultural land in southern Santa Clara County. It already is in place in the Gilroy area.
It will improve water quality in the watershed, and will preserve and enhance the river’s habitat and fish and wildlife resources.
To address significant concerns in the community over potential effects of exposure to perchlorate, the water district plans to use the bulk of the funding to test and certify filtration systems that could be used on private wells. The funding would also be applied toward cleaning up the contamination.
The bill sets aside $750,000 earmark for the Valley Transit Authority’s Bus Signal Priority Project, which will improve bus operating speeds and on-time performance along various high-volume transit corridors throughout the county.
“This bill is a victory for California’s 11th Congressional District and for the people of California,” Pombo said “There are a great deal of important projects for Californians in this bill and it’s really going to make a difference.
“Over the past several months I’ve been working with my colleagues in the House and meeting with my constituents to identify how we can help at the federal level. I’m very pleased with the projects and the results.”
“It was a hard fight getting Silicon Valley the federal dollars it deserves, especially at a time of soaring budget deficits and the rising costs of war and counterterrorism programs,” said Honda, whose district includes Gilroy. “Despite the slightest increase in domestic spending since the late 1990s, several critical projects in Silicon Valley will get the financial investment they need.”
