CoastWatcher

ed note: Just how much money has Malibu City Attorney Christi Hogin steered from taxpayers to her own pocket in the last 10 years on failed lawsuits against the California Coastal Commission? At a minimum, it is hundreds of thousands of dollars. And now she’s done it again! Malibu is suing the Commission to prevent….. CAMPING?!? Are the Malibu City Council braindead zombies? Are Malibu voters and residents asleep at the wheel? Why doesn’t someone fire this menace?!?! Hogin is, without doubt, the most unqualified, incompetent local government attorney in all of California. Yet these lawsuits, and legal losses that damage Malibu’s credibility and reputation, continue to spout….

Malibu City Council votes for lawsuit against California Coastal

Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:20 AM PDT
California Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas says the city attorney is doing “technical hair splitting” with her interpretation of the law. He says there is no basis for a lawsuit.
The Malibu Times
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor

The City Council at its meeting Monday night unanimously voted to file a lawsuit against California Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas because of his support for an application for overnight camping and other parks enhancements by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and its sister organization the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. The suit was approved during the closed session portion of the meeting and the decision was announced at the beginning of the public session. Read the rest of this entry »

State leaders pan Bush drilling plan

By Rob Hotakainen
McClatchy Newspapers
Article Last Updated: 07/15/2008 05:58:31 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — Fearing environmental damage to the state’s coastline, California’s top leaders made it clear Monday that they want nothing to do with President Bush’s plan to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. Read the rest of this entry »

Republicans are currently engaged in a $40 million PR campaign to convince Americans, despite all the evidence, that more subsidies for Big Oil and more drilling for fossil fuels will somehow reduce the cost of a gallon of gas. That Big Lie campaign is designed to keep America from pursuing alternative energy, developing sound energy policy or electing responsible politicians in November. Simplistic, silly cheerleading for a ‘Gas Holiday’ while the planet roasts….

Soaring cost of oil renews debate over drilling in U.S. coastal waters

By Mike Lee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 9, 2008

Every year for nearly three decades, Congress has considered whether to allow more oil drilling in coastal waters, including those off San Diego County.

And every year, it has maintained a ban on expanding oil exploration and production in large parts of the Outer Continental Shelf – submerged land that extends about 200 miles offshore.

Soon, Congress is expected to take up the issue again. The backdrop is the public’s growing demand for lawmakers and presidential candidates to do something about escalating oil prices. Read the rest of this entry »

As the LA Times reports today, California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez pays his aid Dan Eaton over $300,000 a year.  It makes you wonder how, with that kind of massive investment, the Speaker has made such poor Coastal Commission appointments, whose pro-development decision making efforts have resulted not in improved beach access and protection of California’s coastal economy, but instead in the further degradation of wetlands and resource destruction.  Worse, with that kind of high bucks advice, why in the world did the Speaker end up supporting a series of ill conceived and ultimately failed development projects, including Pebble Beach Company’s plan in Monterey (cut down 20,000 native Monterey Pine trees for golf and resorts), the BHP liquid natural gas terminal off Malibu and the outrageous proposal to build a toll road highway through the middle of San Onofre State Beach Park.  Hope all that money was worth losing a legacy for….

La Jolla Man Sentenced For Threatening Seal Activist

July. 7, 2008
SAN DIEGO – A man who pleaded guilty to sending a threatening e-mail against a Children’s Pool seal activist learned his fate Monday.

Kent Douglas Trego, 54, was ordered to undergo a year of anger-management counseling and to stay away from the La Jolla beach where harbor seals gather. Trego had been held without bail for 4.5 months, since his arrest. A federal judge ordered him to serve five years of supervised probation and 180 days on GPS-monitored house arrest. He is also prohibited from using a computer unless it is monitored. Read the rest of this entry »