City of Coronado
Office of the Mayor
RICHARD BAILEY
1825 STRAND WAY · CORONADO, CA 92118 · TEL (619) 522 -7320 · [email protected]. US June 4, 2024
The Honorable Sam Graves
Chairman
U.S. House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Rick Larsen
Ranking Member
U.S. House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
2163 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable David Rouzer
Chairman
Subcommittee on Water Resources and
Environment
2333 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Grace Napolitano
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Water Resources and
Environment
1610 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
RE: Please Support New Authorization for Tijuana River Valley Watershed Environmental Infrastructure in the 2024 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) Dear Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, Chairman Rouzer, and Ranking Member Napolitano:
On behalf of the City of Coronado, I am writing to express my support for the new Environmental Infrastructure authorization in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s 2024 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) for the Tijuana River Valley Watershed. The City of Coronado urges your support to include this necessary measure in the House’s WRDA bill. Once enacted, this language will authorize $10 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to leverage their expertise to address the ongoing sewage crisis in the Tijuana River Watershed As you may know, the millions of gallons of contaminated water flowing across the U.S. – Mexico border every day from the Tijuana River into the Pacific Ocean have resulted in beach closures, public health concerns, environmental damage, and financial struggles for local businesses in the City of Coronado and other nearby cities. Furthermore, it has caused health issues for Navy SEALs training in these waters and Homeland Security-Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers, which disrupts our national security and military readiness. Your support of this Item 12c.
authorization will contribute to achieving a lasting solution to the decades-long issue of untreated sewage and waste flow affecting the Tijuana River Valley and San Diego region.
This authorization is a critical next step in leveraging the environmental infrastructure and ecosystem restoration knowledge, expertise, and experience of the Army Corps of Engineers to mitigate, respond, and control the pollution in the Tijuana watershed. We look forward to further collaboration with you and your staff to see this language enacted into law, and continued efforts to support vital infrastructure projects aimed at confronting cross-border pollution.
Sincerely,
Richard Bailey
Mayor
CC: Coronado City Council
Item 12c.