Salton Sea emergency declared
The Imperial County board of supervisors wants action taken at the Salton Sea.
They signed a proclamation of a local emergency for air pollution at the Salton Sea.
“If this Salton Sea issue was in the Sacramento basin, it would be taken care of, and we’ve been battling this ridiculous, insane battle for ten years,” said Michael Kelley, District 3 Supervisor .
All the district board supervisors voted to pass the local emergency in hopes of sending a message to our California Governor and a message to all the entities involved in restoring the Salton Sea.
“The state of California, when the quantification settlement agreement was signed, they agreed to take over the responsibility of restoring the Salton Sea. To date not one acre has been completed by the state at the Salton Sea,” said Katie Burnworth , with the Imperial County Air Pollution District.
Imperial County’s Public Health Deputy director says they’ve already seen outbreaks with fish and birds dying of the health hazards of the Salton Sea.
The County’s Public Health Department also spoke on the health hazard to residents. They’ve seen an increase in asthma cases with residents in Westmorland and in the valley.
For Burnworth this hits home.
” My little boy, he’s two, and he has asthma. When there’s wind he gets wheezy. It’s not fun having your kid hooked up to a nebulizer, ” said Burnworth .
It’s a story for many parents in the valley.
This emergency declaration comes just a week after the county board of supervisors sent a letter to California governor Gavin Newsom , asking him to take action in addressing pollution with the New River.
They hope the governor will help with the environmental crisis Imperial County is facing.
Copyright 2018 KYMA
