2005 January 4 Sacramento Bee Terri Hardy and Carrie Peyton Dehlberg
Metro P: B1
Matsui's loss to be felt in flood control
The death of Rep. Robert Matsui is not likely to imperil a historic flood control
deal he helped create, but maintaining momentum and capturing the money for
those improvements could prove more difficult, flood experts and political leaders
said Monday.
Matsui, a Sacramento Democrat who was in Congress 26 years, was expert at navigating
Beltway politics and over the years muscled $900 million in flood control promises
for the region from federal lawmakers. But only $300 million in federal funds
has been paid or set aside to date, said Butch Hodgkins, former director of
the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.
"Congressman Matsui's leadership, his integrity, his ability to work with
Republicans put Sacramento in a position to make substantial flood improvements,
" Hodgkins said. "Now we have to get the money."
Matsui died Saturday night from pneumonia. His death left local officials shaken
even as they began to assess the impact to flood control projects. What is absolutely
clear, they said, is the payoff to Sacramento from Matsui's years of work on
flood issues.
"It's one of his lasting legacies," said Mayor Heather Fargo, who
also serves as a flood agency board member.
Last year, Matsui and Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, hammered out a flood
control deal that ended a dozen years of contentious fighting in Congress.
Under the new plan, it was agreed to raise Folsom Dam 7 feet to add more flood
protection.
A new bridge over the American River just below Folsom Dam also was authorized.
That would restore a major commuter route; a road across the dam has been closed
because of national security concerns.
The deal also provided $135 million for water projects in Doolittle's district,
money over which he would have virtually exclusive control as the only California
member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee.
The senior Democrat on that subcommittee said Monday that he didn't believe
the Matsui-Doolittle deal was in jeopardy.
"An agreement has been struck," said Rep. Peter Visclosky, R-Ind.
"So I do not in that sense see Bob's passing as in any way inhibiting that.
The arrangement had been struck, and I wouldn't even think that someone would
now say, well, that's gone."
Doolittle could not be reached for comment Monday.
Locally, Fargo said she and Matsui had planned a joint press conference next
week to announce the completion of major levee improvements on the Sacramento
and American rivers.
That work will reduce the flood risk for 53,000 parcels so substantially that
it will remove large swaths of the county from 100-year floodplain designation,
in which federal insurance is required. It's a large upgrade, although the flood
agency's goal is to bring the Sacramento area to the 200-year level in protection,
at which there is a 1-in-200 chance of flooding in any given year.
As a result of the improvements, homeowners no longer will be required to carry
federal flood insurance by the end of this year. Officials warn that the risk
of flooding will not be eliminated and low-cost insurance should be maintained.
Large areas in south Sacramento remain at high risk of flooding, however. Although
some funding already has been approved for improvements there, more is still
needed, Fargo said.
Other critical and costly projects remain, approved in concept but without
money attached. They include raising Folsom Dam and modifying its outlets so
more water can be released quickly before a major storm.
Matsui helped convince federal bureaucrats that the Sacramento area was a "worthy
recipient" of funding, Fargo said, and she's grateful that the case for
the projects already has been made.
But the mayor said that Matsui, a master at loosening governmental purse strings,
would be missed when the next budget is penned. Obtaining federal funding is
always very difficult, but Matsui carefully orchestrated annual trips to Washington,
D.C., during which local leaders plead their case for more flood dollars.
"Congressman Matsui was always our quarterback," Fargo said. "He
set priorities on who we needed to see and in which order we should talk to
them."
Hodgkins, the former flood agency official, said it's a given that Matsui's
successor in Congress must make flood control a top priority.
"It's the learning curve that will be hard," Hodgkins said. "These
issues are complicated and (Matsui's) successor needs to learn not to get lost
in complicated engineering explanations, to be able to explain to other members
in an understandable way why it's so important to go forward."
Doug Ose, who has returned to the Sacramento area after wrapping up three terms
as a Republican congressman, said it should help that Doolittle sits on the
appropriations subcommittee that deals with Army Corps of Engineers funding.
Lawmakers and flood officials need to ensure that preliminary engineering and
environmental work on flood control projects stays on track, Ose said, and focus
on working together cooperatively.
"We're going to have to work a little bit extra hard as a community ... to maintain the momentum, but it's doable," Ose said. Flood money
Although Congress has approved major flood control projects in the Sacramento
region, further votes are needed to actually release the cash for more than
$500 million worth of work over the next 15 years, the Sacramento Area Flood
Control Agency estimates.
Among projects still needing congressional funding approvals are:
* Raising, stabilizing or reinforcing levees in south Sacramento, the city's
Pocket area, and along Morrison Creek and parts of the American River. Approximately
$125 million authorized but not yet appropriated.
* Modifying Folsom Dam outlets so more water can be released quickly before
a major storm. Roughly $125 million authorized but not appropriated.
* Raising Folsom Dam and its surrounding dikes by about 7 feet and building
a new bridge to replace Folsom Dam Road. About $270 million authorized but not
appropriated.
Source: Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency