GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER THREATENS TO OVERTHROW STATE LANDS COMMISSION TO ALLOW FIRST OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING IN 40 YEARS AT TRANQUILLON RIDGE - SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
Governor Schwarzenegger and his Department of Finance, facing major budget deficits, have conspired to overthrow the decision in January by the State Lands Commission to stop the first new offshore drilling in the state coastal sanctuary in 40 years.
Their lawyers have crafted exceptions dating from 1938 to get ahold of a $100 million "signing bonus" offered by the PXP Oil Company plus a couple of billion promised to state and local coffers in exchange for slant drilling from Platform Irene at Tranquillon Ridge.
On January 29, 2009, the California State Lands Commission, headed by Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi and Controller John Chiang, voted down a proposal by PXP and Santa Barbara environmental groups to drill into the California Coastal Sanctuary. PXP also promised to close operations at four platforms and two onshore processing plants by 2022, donate 4,000 acres of land in Lompoc and Gaviota, and contribute $1.5 million towards hybrid buses, in addition to the monies promised to governmental entities. After the State Lands staff found the deal to have unenforceable end dates, many questions about title on donated lands, and significant concerns about oil spills and blow-outs on the coastal ecosystem, the commission voted 2-1 against the proposal.
Not least of the issues is the political precedent of allowing the first drilling in the state sanctuary in 40 years. Though proponents of the deal claim that this is a one-time exception, Californians must face the reality that offshore drilling leases in the Outer Continental Shelf are under consideration by the Federal Department of the Interior for the entire coast from Mendocino to La Jolla. Selling the Santa Barbara coast to oil companies, with no guarantee of the environmental benefits, creates an ominous precedent while we simultaneously advocate to reinstate the federal moratorium aganist new drilling.
Read the letters published by Wild Heritage Planners and the organized opposition to the deal in the Santa Barbara Independent...
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/mar/19/state-lands-was-right-reject-slant-drilling-deal/
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/mar/12/no-deals-oil/
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TRESTLES BEACH AND THE SAN MATEO WATERSHED SAVED!
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT UPHOLDS COASTAL COMMISSION DECISION TO DENY THE EXTENSION OF THE SR 241 TOLL ROAD THROUGH SAN ONOFRE STATE PARK.
The Department of Commerce denied the bid by the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agency to override the California Coastal Commission's decision last February denying the Coastal Consistency Permit for the SR 241 toll road extension. Federal officials could only override the state's decision if the project had no alternatives or was necessary to national security, and the announcement on December 18, 2008 said neither of those criteria were met.
The Coastal Zone Management Act, approved in 1972, was designed to protect endangered species, wetlands, archaeological sites, public access, and recreational resources. Proposed through San Onofre State Beach and the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy, the Coastal Commission did not consider the merits of building a new road worth destroying a popular campground, a world class surfbreak, the Native American sacred site of Panhe, and a wilderness conservancy protecting one of the last undeveloped watersheds in Southern California. Wild Heritage Planners has worked with the TCA, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), as well as all local and regional governing bodies to identify alternatives that would preserve state park and wilderness areas while providing for future mobility given the proposed 14,000-home Rancho Mission Viejo project slated for inland South Orange County.
Please click here and here for WHP's alternative vision for South Orange County Transportation.
See http://www.savetrestles.com/
http://morecollamer.blogspot.com/ and http://www.abolishtca.com/
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TEJON RANCH: A SPRAWL TOO FAR?
An agreement in April 2008 between five major environmental groups and the Tejon Ranch Company has arranged for the long-term preservation of 90 percent of Tejon Ranch, the largest contiguous privately-owned piece of land in California, 270,000 acres, located 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Comprising four distinct bioregions, where the Sierra Nevada rolls into the coastal range, and the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert join together across 7,000 foot mountains, its protection is the keystone to California's natural legacy, and is a significant achievement.
As part of the deal, however, the groups have agreed not to oppose major development projects proposed for the remaining 10 percent of the Ranch. These will include Tejon Mountain Village, a 3,400 home resort community set in critical California condor habitat, the massive Centennial, 23,000 homes or maybe 70,000 new residents to the highlands, and the I-5 Tejon Industrial Complex. See http://www.tejonpreserve.com/ for details. WHP asserts that these projects would not only spell jeopardy for the condor, but the regional environmental sustainability of Southern California as well. The Environmental Impact Statement for the Tejon Habitat Conservation Plan is expected soon. See WHP's response in the LA Times to this destructive urban sprawl, the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, and the original article in the Times. See also www.savetejonranch.org/
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Wild Heritage Planners is a consultant and advocacy organization dedicated to improving urban centers and existing neighborhoods through smart growth and sustainable environmental planning, formulating transportation alternatives, while preserving wilderness and open spaces.
WHP collaborates with local and regional governments, land developers, non-profits, neighborhood groups, and private citizens to offer educated and balanced solutions to environmental and urban growth issues that maximize public benefit while protecting property rights and sensitive habitats.
