(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares both of the following:

1. (1) There is an urgent need for rehabilitation and improvement of delta levees, and that the United States Army Corps of Engineers has a crucial and continuing role in that work.
2. (2) The department and the board have been cooperating with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in a feasibility study for rehabilitation and improvement of the levees in the delta. That feasibility study identified a federal interest in levee rehabilitation and improvements due to benefits to navigation, commerce, the environment, and flood damage reduction.