Monday, May 07, 2007


Pelosi Water Act S.F. Earmark to Benefit Her & Mr. Pelosi?
This past December, I raised concerns in a letter to the SF Chronicle about an HIV/AIDS earmark made by my Representative in Congress, Mrs. Nancy Pelosi. Even with my letter appearing in the paper, and numerous phone calls and emails to her SF and DC offices, she and her staff chose to ignore my request for full transparency about her earmarks.
Now, a GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, on his blog today, reports that Pelosi has apparently inserted an earmark into a water resources bill, and if the bill passes, there will potentially be some tremendous fiscal benefits to Pelosi and her husband.

This week, the Senate will take up the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, which the House passed last month. Should it pass, it will be the most expensive water projects bill that Congress has ever approved.

On Speaker Pelosi's website, it says the following about WRDA
: The Water Resources Development Act of 2007 will provide critical funding to small communities that have gone too long without assistance ...

The Speaker has her own earmark in the bill (Sec 5054) that provides for the re-development of part of the San Francisco Waterfront ...

According to disclosure forms, these properties resulted in rental income as high as $3 million in 2005 for the Pelosi's and could stand to benefit from improvement to the local neighborhood that the earmark supposedly provides.

The Pelosi properties, all located within 5,400 feet and 9,000 feet of the WRDA earmark are:

1301 Sansome LLC
Pelosi Real Estate Partnership
Rent Income: $1 million (2005)

945 Battery LLC
Pelosi Real Estate Partnership
Rental Income: $1 million (2005)

901 Battery LLC
Pelosi Real Estate Partnership
Rental Income: $15,000 (2005)

45 Beiden Place
Pelosi Real Estate Asset
Rental Income: $1 million (2005)

These properties are listed on Pelosi's disclosure forms and are available here.

This is the language, that if it's included in the final version of the bill, might be of great benefit to the Speaker and her husband:

SEC. 5054. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, WATERFRONT AREA.

(a) Area to Be Declared Nonnavigable; Public Interest- Unless the Secretary finds, after consultation with local and regional public officials (including local and regional public planning organizations), that the proposed projects to be undertaken within the boundaries of the portion of the San Francisco, California, waterfront area described in subsection (b) are not in the public interest, such portion is declared to be nonnavigable waters of the United States.

(b) Northern Embarcadero South of Bryant Street- The portion of the San Francisco, California, waterfront area referred to in subsection (a) is as follows: Beginning at the intersection of the northeasterly prolongation of that portion of the northwesterly line of Bryant Street lying between Beale Street and Main Street with the southwesterly line of Spear Street, which intersection lies on the line of jurisdiction of the San Francisco Port Commission; following thence southerly along said line of jurisdiction as described in the State of California Harbor and Navigation Code Section 1770, as amended in 1961, to its intersection with the easterly line of Townsend Street along a line that is parallel and distant 10 feet southerly from the existing southern boundary of Pier 40 produced to its point of intersection with the United States Government pier-head line; thence northerly along said pier-head line to its intersection with a line parallel with, and distant 10 feet easterly from, the existing easterly boundary line of Pier 30-32; thence northerly along said parallel line and its northerly prolongation, to a point of intersection with a line parallel with, and distant 10 feet northerly from, the existing northerly boundary of Pier 30-32, thence westerly along last said parallel line to its intersection with the United States Government pier-head line; to the northwesterly line of Bryant Street produced northwesterly; thence southwesterly along said northwesterly line of Bryant Street produced to the point of beginning.

(c) Requirement That Area Be Improved- The declaration of nonnavigability under subsection (a) applies only to those parts of the area described in subsection (b) that are or will be bulkheaded, filled, or otherwise occupied by permanent structures and does not affect the applicability of any Federal statute or regulation applicable to such parts the day before the date of enactment of this Act, including sections 9 and 10 of the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 U.S.C. 401 and 403; 30 Stat. 1151), commonly known as the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344), and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

(d) Expiration Date- If, 20 years from the date of enactment of this Act, any area or part thereof described in subsection (b) is not bulkheaded or filled or occupied by permanent structures, including marina facilities, in accordance with the requirements set out in subsection (c), or if work in connection with any activity permitted in subsection (c) is not commenced within 5 years after issuance of such permits, then the declaration of nonnavigability for such area or part thereof shall expire.

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