Section 12565.

The two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) made available to the director pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 12562 may be expended solely for the lining of the All American Canal and the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal and only if all of the following requirements have been met:

(a) The Salton Sea Authority commissions a study of seepage and subsurface inflows to the Salton Sea from the All American Canal and the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal, and that study is completed. The study shall determine the nature of subsurface and drainage canal water movements from the unlined canals to the Salton Sea and to existing adjacent wetlands, and shall quantify the amount of water that may be lost to the Salton Sea and to those wetlands due to the canal lining projects. The Salton Sea Science Subcommittee shall review the requests for proposals for the study and shall be consulted in selecting the contractor responsible for conducting the study.

(b) Environmental documentation and permits required by the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 4321 et seq.), and any other applicable state and federal environmental laws are approved and certified for the All American Canal Lining Project or the Coachella Branch Lining Project.

(c) Pursuant to its responsibilities as a trustee agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), the Director of Fish and Game makes a finding that a canal lining project that is the subject of a request for funding pursuant to this chapter will avoid or mitigate all significant effects of the project on fisheries and other wildlife. The finding shall be accompanied by a statement from the United States Secretary of the Interior certifying that measures for the replacement of incidental fish and wildlife values adjacent to the All American Canal and the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal foregone as a result of the lining of the canal, or the mitigation of resulting impacts on fish and wildlife resources from the construction of a new canal, or a portion thereof, meet the statutory requirements of Section 203(a)(2) of Public Law 100-675. These mitigation measures shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based on ecological equivalency, and shall be implemented concurrent with the construction of the canal lining project.

(Added by Stats. 1998, Ch. 813, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1999.)