E2EDEN LLC
A Geo-engineering firm leveraging recent advances in boring technology in the service of the most ambitious planetary transformation projects of our generation
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Under review by Army Corp of Engineers
03/2020
3 year State study +
3 year Federal study
Stalled in Federal Reviews
In response to obligations from the historic 2000 QSA (San Diego water transfer agreement),
The State of California Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) initiated a "Request for Proposals" due Oct 15th 2021,
and contracted with the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) to conduct a feasibility assessment of the submissions to meet their legal obligation to remedy the Salton Sea decline.
E2Eden LLC submitted a proposal to the 2021 RFP, and engaged with the Expert Panel in the $3M review.
In the year 2000, The State of California negotiated the largest water rights transfer in history, "selling" water from the farmers in Imperial County to meet San Diego's growing population and needs.
In return farmers would get funding for water efficiency including drip irrigation and concrete lined canals.
It was known this would cut runoff into the Salton Sea, destabilizing it and driving its decline.
As terms of this agreement the State of California assumed liability for the lake and a solution, to be initiated no later than 2015.
In 2015, California had not even started any effort to mitigate the effects of the QSA on the Salton Sea. The farmers sued the State, and won, resulting in the original 2018 RFP from the state.
Covid hit and stalled all progress.
California re-launched their Salton Sea "Long Term Plan" with another RFP due October of 2021.
Seeing completely unimaginative and politically and technically unworkable solutions from the 2018 RFP, E2Eden developed and submitted out unique proposal to leverage the Boring Company's recent innovations to unlock a new and aspirational future for the region.
We summarized and ranked all the proposals so you didn't have to. The costing methodology used by the participants varied widely from CA State requested formats, and consequently the below represent a best attempt to interpret and standardize the various proposals.
We are the only domestic-only water import proposal.
For 100 years, all proposals to refill the Salton tried to transit Mexico from the south. Technically straightforward. However all congressmen, officials and experts unambiguously stated such a path was politically impossible.
It would require acts of congress and presidential signatures from both countries - and with the unstable political environment in Mexico - was impossible.
100 years was proof this path would never work.
We proposed a unique option - tunnels.
Tunnels also enabled a unique opportunity: a path back to the ocean.
Where ever other plan either raised the sea or required science fiction technology, our plan proposed something transformational: a living sea.
By importing fresh sea water, and pumping out the salty brines we could continuously flush the sea and manage salinity down to levels habitable by ocean fish....economically!
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No water import
Water import only
Water Import and Brine Export
1. STATE STUDY: Completed a 3 year and $3M study funded by the State of California, under direction of UCSC Expert Panel
Result: E2Eden domestic route was the only technically feasible option, but under current California regulatory environment not politically feasible. Poseidon Desalination plant cancellation was cited as evidence of challenges.
Outcome: Other groups that submitted rejected proposals sued the state and won, claiming study changed requirements midstream and imposed impossible to meet conditions. An example: "proposals must fix the Salton but not cause land appreciation". Per the lawsuits result - all groups could submit proposals to inform the subsequent Army Corp of Engineers study at the Federal level, even those ruled technically infeasible
2. FEDERAL STUDY: Federally funded infrastructure projects must, by law, complete a 3 year feasibility study by the Army Corp of Engineers to obtain funds.
We at E2Eden submitted our proposal subsequent to the CA State study for review by the ACoE where it currently resides.
Progress: Momentum stalled with the heavy rains in winter 2023 that delayed the Hoover Dam crises by 2 years. Political will evaporated yet again. Political deadlock means any substantive progress is contingent on a drought induced crises driving public awareness and thus political urgency. Project is presumed stalled until Hoover Dam water levels inevitably reach crisis levels as are estimated to in 2025/2026.
Team is currently pursuing a bottoms up solution deploying Saltwater farms, in lieu of concrete federal level progress.