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On Thursday night, the House of Representatives passed a final version of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA), according to Congressman Mike Thompson's office.
The legislation authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to construct $21 billion in flood protection ane ecosystem restoration projects, and improve the nation's rivers and harbors.
The bill, the National Audubon Society reported, includes an unprecedented $5.5 billion in funding for ecosystem restoration on the Mississippi, coastal Louisiana, and for the Great Lakes and the Everglades.
WRDA also authorizes the Corps to design and construct the Middle Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project, as Lake County News previously reported.
The legislation states that the Middle Creek project will cost $45.2 million, with an estimated federal cost of $29,500,000 and an estimated non-federal cost of $15,700,000.
Bob Lossius, Lake County's assistant director of Public Works, said in a previous interview with Lake County News that the county was only seeking $1.2 million at this time to get the project started.
"Restoring Middle Creek will improve our area's protection from flooding," said Thompson in a statement issued shortly after the House vote. "It will also have a very positive effect on the wetlands surrounding Clearlake.”
The project will restore 1,200 acres of wetlands and 500 acres of floodplain in the Clear Lake area. It entails reconnecting the Scotts Creek and Middle Creek to the historic Robinson Lake wetland and floodplain.
The Scotts and Middle Creek watersheds provide 57 percent of the water flow into Clear Lake.
No WRDA bill has been passed since 2000, a fact that's been attributed to a desire to reform the Corps' policies and prevent pork barrel politics, as Lake County News previously reported.
The House passed a version of the WRDA bill in April, with the Senate passing its version the following month.
The bill then went to conference committee, where the differences in the House and Senate bills were worked out, according to GovTrack.us. WRDA then headed back to the two chambers for final approval.
The House's Thursday vote was 381-40 in favor of the bill.
The Senate has yet to consider and approve its final version of WRDA, but it could happen as soon as this week, Thompson's office reported. The bill would then go to the president.
But even if the bill gets through the Senate, it's not home free.
In May, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy that reported President Bush was opposed to the bill.
He has since renewed his threat to veto the bill, which has groups from the Louisiana Congressional delegation to the National Audubon Society asking him to reconsider.
Some members of Congress – including those from Louisiana – have stated that they have enough votes in Congress to override a possible veto.
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LAKEPORT – The body of a man found in the Mendocino National Forest late last month has been positively identified.
According to a statement Lt. Cecil Brown of the Lake County Sheriff's Office issued late Thursday, the man was Owen Andrew Lampman, 55, of Clearlake Oaks.
Lampman's body was found July 21 by a hunter in the Corbin Creek area of the Mendocino National Forest, near the border of Lake and Glenn counties, as Lake County News previously reported.
Glenn County Sheriff's Office deputies initially responded and found Lampman's body in the bed of Corbin Creek, near a burned up pickup truck that was registered to him, Brown reported.
Mary Beth Stanbery, administrative services officer for the Glenn County Sheriff's Office, told Lake County News in a previous interview that sheriff's deputies also found a handgun and documents at the scene.
Brown had previously reported that the Lake County Sheriff's office was contacted by Glenn County July 22, once they realized the body had been located within Lake County's jurisdiction.
Dental records were used to confirm Lampman's identity, Brown reported.
About three weeks before Lampman's body was found, Brown's report explained that the sheriff's office received a missing person's report regarding Lampman.
The man who filed the report on July 9 said he had not seen Lampman since June 25, according to Brown.
June 25 was also the date that firefighters responded to Lampman's home for a structure fire, Brown reported.
Battalion Chief Lou Dukes of the Northshore Fire Protection District's Clearlake Oaks station said Thursday that the fire was located in a storage unit a few doors down from Lampman's home on Fifth Street.
“It was a total loss,” said Dukes.
He added, “It's still under investigation. We didn't have any luck finding any cause.”
Brown said the sheriff's office entered Lampman into the Missing or Unidentified Persons System database as a missing person and initiated an investigation, which didn't identify anyone who had seen Lampman since June 25.
But the cause of Lampman's death still isn't known, Brown reported.
The sheriff's office ordered an autopsy to determined what killed Lampman, but the results aren't yet available, according to Brown.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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