Item 12b.
City of Coronado
Office of the Mayor
RICHARD BAILEY
1825 ST R A N D WA Y · CO R O N A D O, CA 92118 · T E L (619) 522-7320 · R B A I L E Y@C O R O N A D O.C A.U S September 16, 2024
The Honorable Tom Carper
Chairman
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and
Public Works
410 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Sam Graves
Chairman
U.S. House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Shelly Moore Capito
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and
Public Works
456 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Rick Larsen
Ranking Member
U.S. House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
2163 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
RE: Request to Support New Authorizations for San Diego County and Tijuana River Valley Watershed in the 2024 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) Dear Chairman Carper, Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Capito, and Ranking Member Larsen:
On behalf of the City of Coronado, I am writing to express my support for the new Environmental Infrastructure authorization in the Senate 2024 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) for the Tijuana River Valley Watershed, and the $200 million authorization included in the House WRDA bill for water and wastewater infrastructure in San Diego County, which can be used for fixes and upgrades at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, as well as associated projects needed to handle the persistent contamination from Tijuana. The City of Coronado urges the Conference Committee to support the inclusion of both of these critically important measures in the final version of WRDA 2024. Once enacted, this language will authorize funding for the Army Corps of Engineers to leverage their expertise to address the ongoing sewage and waste crisis in the Tijuana River Watershed.
Item 12b.
As you may know, millions of gallons of contaminated water flows from the Tijuana River in Mexico into the United States and out into the Pacific Ocean. These polluted flows result in beach closures, public health concerns, environmental damage, and financial struggles for local businesses in the City of Coronado and other nearby cities. This polluted water is a direct disruption for United States military readiness and national security as the United State Navy SEALs train in the contaminated water and United States Homeland Security-Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers are patrolling the United States border, regularly having to protect the nation by entering the Tijuana River. Your support of these authorizations 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.
These authorizations are 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