CoastWatcher

Record Volunteer Turnout In San Diego For Coastal Cleanup

BY ED JOYCE
September 21, 2009
San Diego Coastkeeper and I Love a Clean San Diego report that San Diego County had a record number of 9,587 volunteers Saturday for the 25th annual California Coastal Cleanup.

The two groups estimated that 65,000 pounds of trash was collected at 80 sites in the county and Tijuana.

Items found included cigarette butts, plastic bottle caps, plastic bags.

Unusual items such as an ATM machine, a fake nose and pickles.

The California Coastal Commission late Saturday reported that 56,877 volunteers collected 801,937 pounds of debris throughout the state.

All reported statistics are initial figures and are expected to be updated.

Ed. Note: Bob Sumner and his wife Nickie only sought a quiet beach experience.  Instead they were treated to one of California’s appalling open secrets:  thousands of vechicles destroying sensitive coastal resources and endangered species night and day, day after day, at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area.  ODSVRA, which for years has been considered a rules and nature free environmental destruction area by California Dept. of State Parks, is the most regrettable, obnoxious beach experience in the state.

And as reported by Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas, the situation isn’t about to change soon.   Just this week Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his plan to eliminate California Dept. State Parks and close nearly all state parks — EXCEPT ODSVRA.  That is wat it has come to:  State parks dedicated to nature and pollution free recreation are to be shuttered while ODSVRA, dedicated to destruction of the coast, killing off endangered species and heating the planet, will go on business as usual.

Family who had ‘nightmare’ vacation near Pier Avenue in Oceano told to go someplace else next time

Bob Cuddy – San Luis Obispo Tribune
Beach days are here,and here’s a swift kick in the pail and shovel from a top coastal protector to those looking for a family vacation experience near Pier Avenue in Oceano:
Go someplace else. The vehicles have taken over. “Without intending to be cavalier about your concerns … I suggest you find another area for your next vacation,” Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, wrote in a letter to a couple from San Jose who had a nightmare experience at the beach.

“P.S.,” Douglas added, “unfortunately, I have given this same advice to others who have had similar reactions and experiences to yours.”

The house Bob and Nickie Sumner rented in Oceano is less than a block from the Pier Avenue entrance to the Oceano Dunes. Instead of peace and quiet, they spent a week watching vehicles stream by on the beach. Tribune photo by Joe Johnston Read the rest of this entry »

Lick Litter by Pounding Butt Flickers!

Think you know about pollution, about litter, about cigarettes and smokers? Ever seen someone smoking while driving and flick a cigarette butt out the window? Or standing on the street smoking and flick one into the gutter? Turns out that billions of people are doing the same thing with trillions of cigarette butts annually!!

The BUTTsOut organization has a few facts on its side in calling cigarette butts the world’s worst litter problem…… Read the rest of this entry »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Mark Massara
Sierra Club Coastal Programs
Phone: (805) 895-0963
Email: Mark.Massara@sierraclub.org

Angela Howe
Surfrider Foundation
Phone: (510) 541-0677
Email: ahowe@surfrider.org

CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSIONER VOTING RECORDS REVEALED and EXPLAINED

Voting Records Analyzed In Connection With Upcoming Appointments

Sacramento, CA (May 15, 2009) – Today marks the release of the 2008 California Coastal Commission Conservation Voting Chart, which measures the pro-conservation scores of the California Coastal Commission, the State’s most powerful land use agency, charged with the protecting our 1,100 mile coastline.  The voting chart is produced by Sierra Club Coastal Programs, Surfrider Foundation, California Coastkeeper Alliance, Coastwalk California, Coastal Protection Network, and League for Coastal Protection, who teamed up to record, analyze and report on the most important coastal votes of 2008.  The 31 votes in this year’s chart involve significant coastal issues decided by the Commission during their twelve monthly meetings in 2008, including the denial of the proposed 241 toll road through San Onofre State Park, and approval of the largest desalination facility in North America.  The voting chart is designed to illuminate individual Commissioners’ voting sensitivities.  In addition, the report illustrates the relative successes and failures of the appointments made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate Rules Committee led by Don Perata, and then Speaker of the Assembly Fabián Nuñez.  The scoring information in the 2008 chart also sheds light on upcoming Commission appointments in 2009, including seats currently held by Commissioners Ben Hueso and Dave Potter.

To download a copy of the complete analysis, go to www.sierraclub.org/ca/coasts/ Read the rest of this entry »

CW Readers:

The Obama Administration is coming to San Francisco to hear from you about offshore oil drilling and America’s energy future.  This is our chance to give voice to the urgent need for permanent protection of our coasts and development of sustainable energy technologies!

President Barrack Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is coming to San Francisco to hear from YOU!  Please join us for an all day and evening public hearing on offshore oil drilling and our future.  Help us just say NO to more dangerous and environmentally damaging offshore oil drilling and YES to a future that celebrates sustainable energy!

As part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels, Secretary Salazar will be in San Francisco for the most important public hearing on offshore oil drilling in years.  This is our chance to stand up for protecting the California coast, our climate and our economy for future generations and we urge you to join us.

WHEN: Thursday, April 16, 2009
Doors will open at 8:00 AM
Hearing begins at 9:00 AM and will conclude at 8:00 PM
WHERE: University of California, San Francisco
Mission Bay Conference Center
Robertson Auditorium
1675 Owens Street
San Francisco, CA

For more information on the hearing and the issues at stake, go to http://oilonthebeach.blogspot.com/

For a recent editorial by Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director, go to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/23/EDLU16LLAK.DTL

Get It?

Cul-de-sac Politics:

“A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.”

-Sir Barnette Cocks

Sponsors

Books

Dorothy’s Law: To Modernize Water Policy and Management in California

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/11/dorothys_law_to.html
By Mark Gold
President
Heal the Bay

About 125 people came out to the beach at Santa Monica Pier on a cloudy Sunday to share their favorite Dorothy Green stories. Some people came as far as San Francisco, Sun Valley and Denver to reminisce about Dorothy’s amazing achievements, tireless work ethic, big heart, and sense of humor. The County Lifeguards paid tribute to Dorothy, the founding president of Heal the Bay who passed away in October, as one of their own with a boat offshore and Capt. Angus Alexander’s inspirational words at the podium.

Any event with Dorothy had to include an environmental action and her memorial was no different. Paula Daniels, Conner Everts and I put together a version of “Dorothy’s Law”: a common-sense legislative solution to California’s dysfunctional water supply management. Read the rest of this entry »

Doesn’t have to work, doesn’t need to look good, never mind the environmental damage…just has to be really, really expensive. Must be a federal homeland insecurity engineering project!! Perfect example of what happens when federal government ignores the State of California and the decision of the Coastal Commission to deny an ill-conceived, line-your-pockets, get-contractors-rich-quick scheme. Ah, The Bush Legacy…..

Border gulch fill-in faces the wet test
All eyes on dirt deposit as rain season approaches

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081127-9999-1m27gulch.html
By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 27, 2008
Three months after border fence construction began in a coastal canyon known as Smuggler’s Gulch, crews have all but filled in the once-deep breach.

LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune
Border Patrol officials say Smuggler’s Gulch is about a week away from being filled in with more than 1.2 million cubic yards of dirt that is forming a 140-foot-tall earthen berm, which is part of a border-fencing project.

Since mid-August, contractors have cut more than 1.2 million cubic yards of dirt from surrounding hills and deposited it into the canyon, creating a 140-foot-tall earthen berm that vehicles can now drive across.

While the fence has yet to be built, Border Patrol officials estimate the controversial fill-in is about a week from completion.

The project was for years contested by environmentalists who feared sediment runoff could damage the Tijuana River estuary, a claim countered by federal officials who promised to re-seed and stabilize the site to prevent erosion. Read the rest of this entry »