State Water Board adopts one‑time $20.7M Cleanup & Abatement allocation, creates $5M environmental‑justice pilot

The State Water Resources Control Board on March 17 unanimously adopted a resolution to make roughly $20.7 million available from the Cleanup and Abatement Account (CAA) for Tier 2 secondary‑urgency projects across the state.

Board staff said the allocation breaks down into $15,000,000 for regional water boards (distributed with a baseline of $850,000 per regional board and a proportional remainder based on fines and settlements), $725,000 for the Division of Water Quality for contracts and grants, and a $5,000,000 pilot grant program for disadvantaged environmental‑justice or tribal communities. Projects for the pilot must benefit communities with a CalEnviroScreen score above 50 or tribal communities and may range from $1,000 to $5,000,000 with a five‑year completion horizon.

Josh Deese and Chief Deputy Director Karen Mogus told the board the proposal follows two years of reconciliation of the CAA’s accounts and is intended to balance funding for urgent Tier 1 projects while unlocking programmatic funding for regional cleanup, monitoring and characterization work. The staff presentation said approximately $25.8 million of CAA funds were committed as of June 30, leaving about $34.4 million uncommitted; this allocation would commit roughly $20.7 million of that balance and leave approximately $13.7 million available for Tier 1 emergencies.

Board members asked several implementation questions. Board member Nicole Morgan cautioned that Tier 1 emergency needs must remain protected and noted that prior commitments have sometimes exhausted available reserves in tight years. Ms. Mogus and Mr. Deese said the resolution does not place a strict expenditure timeline on regional allocations but encourages expeditious use and delegates grant and contracting authority to the DFA deputy director or their designee, subject to existing CAA statutes and program guidelines.

Public commenters—including representatives of California Coastkeeper Alliance and a Long Beach regional official—expressed support for sending penalty and fine revenues back to affected communities and for the environmental‑justice pilot, while noting prior barriers for disadvantaged communities to access SEP (Supplemental Environmental Project) funding.

Board member Laurel Firestone moved to adopt the resolution; the motion was seconded and the clerk called the roll. Board members Firestone, Maguire, Morgan and Chair Joaquin Esquivel recorded aye votes; the resolution was adopted unanimously.

The adopted resolution delegates authority to the DFA deputy director (or designee) to approve or deny eligible projects and execute grant agreements and amendments under the CAA. Staff said the pilot’s evaluation criteria and full solicitation guidelines would be developed jointly by DFA and the Office of Public Engagement, Equity and Tribal Affairs, with the environmental justice roundtable also advising evaluation and selection. The board asked staff to return with performance information after the pilot year and with options for future program design if the pilot is judged successful.

Action taken: formal adoption of a onetime allocation of CAA funds and delegation of award authority to the DFA deputy director. The board noted the allocation is intended to be a programmatic step while preserving resources for Tier 1 emergency needs.