Agenda Item #10 Consider report on collaborative planning in San Francisco-to-Stockton Ship Channel. CONTRA COSTA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT 30 Muir Road Martinez, CA 94553 Telephone: (925) 674-7824 TO: Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee (Supervisor Federal Glover, Chair; Supervisor Mary N. Piepho, Vice Chair) FROM: John Greitzer, Water Agency staff DATE: June 27, 2012 SUBJECT: Report on ship channel navigation issues RECOMMENDATIONS: 1) Consider the attached report; 2) move the report to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation to authorize staff to proceed with the next steps outlined in the report. ATTACHMENTS: Report from the County’s ship channel consultant on the status of County efforts on ship channel/navigation issues. DISCUSSION The Board of Supervisors in October 2011 authorized staff to conduct a series of stakeholder discussions on potential opportunities for collaborative efforts on navigation issues. The effort particularly looked at the potential for broadening the County’s joint powers agreement (JPA) with the Port of Stockton and for creating a successor to the assessment district that was in effect on shoreline industrial properties from 1999 to 2004. Staff and our navigation consultant, Lawrence G. Mallon, have completed several rounds of interviews with local ports; cities and counties with navigation interests; regional, state and federal regulatory agencies; and advocacy organizations involved in navigation issues. Those interviews, along with research and analysis by staff and Mr. Mallon, culminated in the attached status report on our navigation efforts. The report specifically recommends the County proceed to expand its current JPA, and conduct further discussions with local shoreline industries on the potential for a new assessment district or other financing mechanism in which industry, as beneficiaries of navigation improvements along the shipping channel, would pay a fair-share assessment to help finance such improvements. Staff asks the Committee to consider this report and pass it along to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation to authorize staff to proceed with the next steps outlined in chapter 7 of the report. 10-1 Report to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors via the Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee on San Francisco-to-Stockton Ship Channel Navigation Issues Prepared by Lawrence G. Mallon for the Contra Costa County Department of Conservation and Development (Water Agency) June 2012 1 10-2 Executive Summary Contra Costa County staff and consultant conducted 20 interviews with stakeholders in the navigation community including private sector, local, regional and state officials to determine existing and future navigation needs and gaps in current coverage. Here are our key findings based on these interviews and our research and analysis. • A common need was expressed for identifying sites to dispose of dredged material, for beneficial reuse of the material for purposes such as restoring levees or habitat. Some disposal sites are nearing their capacity, and environmental policies are limiting future use of in-Bay or ocean sites for disposal, putting even more emphasis on the need for upland disposal sites (meaning sites that are on land instead of under water). • The Army Corps’ effort to develop a long-term management strategy for disposal of dredged material has stalled for years due to a lack of funding. The County’s annual congressional requests for federal funding for this effort have not been granted. • No regional entity exists to coordinate these needs and work with the Army Corps of Engineers on a plan to deal with dredged material. • No regional entity exists to work with the Army Corps of Engineers on their ship- channel deepening projects (the County is one of the local sponsors of these projects). • The stakeholders, such as local jurisdictions and ports, indicated they are interested in a collaborative effort to deal with these issues, along with joint advocacy for funding for navigation improvements. • The County’s existing joint powers agreement (JPA) with the Port of Stockton could be broadened to include all the stakeholders and establish a regional collaborative entity to deal with these specific needs in the navigation community. Other institutional options could also be considered. • Several stakeholders encouraged joint regional advocacy for federal funding for ship channel improvements, rather than each entity lobbying on its own. • An initial discussion was held with the Western States Petroleum Association on a potential new assessment district that would levy annual assessments on shipping- dependent industries to help finance creation of disposal sites for dredged material. As beneficiaries of the dredging, these businesses would pay a “fair share” assessment. However, no commitment has been made. Further discussions will be sought by the County in the months ahead on this issue. • Available revenues from a now-expired assessment district could help defray costs of dealing with dredged material disposal issues which are outlined in this report. 2 10-3 I Purpose of this report The purpose of this report is to summarize the recent review by County staff and consultant of existing institutional arrangements that deal with navigation issues along the San Francisco-to-Stockton Ship Channels, and particularly the issue of where to dispose of dredged material. The San Francisco-to-Stockton Ship Channels consist of two adjacent channels: The San Francisco or “John F. Baldwin” Ship Channel which extends from the Golden Gate, through the Carquinez Straits, to approximately the Pittsburg/Antioch border; and the Stockton Ship Channel, from Pittsburg/Antioch to the Port of Stockton (see Map 1). The report specifically looks at: (1) the 1999 Joint Powers Authority formed by the County and the Port of Stockton to deal with planning for the deepening of the San Francisco to Stockton Ship Channels. The JPA was formed for the purpose of providing Local Sponsorship for project planning purposes, including supporting operation and maintenance of the critical Suisun Bay and New York Slough channel segments; and (2) necessary re-programming of existing planning funds and the potential need for the establishment of a successor to an assessment district that was administered by the County from 1999 to 2004 for shoreline industrial property owners roughly from Martinez to Antioch (along the portions of the channel known as Suisun Bay Channel and New York Slough).. The annual assessments were levied to help finance the creation of a new site for disposal of dredged material. II Background and synopsis (How we got here) 2.1 San Francisco-to-Stockton Ship Channels Federal Navigation Project, Local Cooperation Agreement, and the Joint Powers Authority (JPA) 2.1.1 The modern designation of the San Francisco Bay to Stockton (John F Baldwin and Stockton Ship Channels Project) (the unified “Project”) owes its Congressional authorization to local initiative including support from then US Representative John Finley Baldwin Jr of Martinez (the project’s namesake) for its inclusion in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1965. The Project and its natural and manmade navigable tributaries throughout the San Francisco Bay region represent a post California gold rush marine gateway to the State Capitol of Sacramento and the New Deal era public works agricultural link to the Central 3 10-4 10-5 Valley. The Project is no less iconic to the State than the Golden Gate or the Bay Bridge as a ongoing manmade engineering achievement. The Project and other interdependent navigation projects authorized by Congress at various times constitute a single regional navigation system linking the Central Valley, Delta and San Francisco Bay to the global economy in which 95% of the world’s goods by volume still travel by waterborne transportation The Project includes two principal segments: (1) the San Francisco Bay (John F Baldwin) ship channel with an authorized depth of 45 feet, and (2) the Stockton Deepwater Ship Channel (from Avon to the Port of Stockton) with an authorized depth of 35 feet. “Authorized depth” is the maximum depth that a shipping channel is permitted to be, per an act of Congress that specifies it. The authorized depth in a Congressional act is based on recommendations from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Some shipping channels have not yet been deepened to their authorized depth, including portions of the San Francisco-to-Stockton Shipping Channels. The San Francisco Bay has been improved in consecutive phases from: (1) the 55-foot authorized depth of the San Francisco Bar and Main Deepwater Ship Channel and a width of 2000 foot across San Francisco Bay authorized in 1950 and completed in 1958; (2) Phase I 45-foot John F Baldwin segment and Richmond Harbor Long Wharf Maneuvering Area and Southampton Shoal Channel completed to the authorized depth in 1974; (3) Phase II Central Richmond Harbor West (Southampton Channel Shoal) approach authorized depth of 45-feet completed to 35 feet in depth in 1984-85; and (4) Phase III John F Baldwin 45-feet General Reevaluation Review (GRR) initiated in 1997 to include deepening of Pinole Shoal Channel (San Pablo Bay), Carquinez Strait, Suisun Bay to Point Edith and Avon Turning Basin for larger tankers at five regional refineries (four located in Contra Costa and one in Solano County). The Suisun Bay Channel (from Martinez to Chipps Island) lies between Contra Costa County and Solano