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 »

ed. note: You have to love the babble. Gov. Schwarzenegger ‘orders’ state agencies to prepare for sea rise…. What a nice headline.  You might even think the speechmaker was an environmentalist….

Not one word, however, about the fact that just two weeks ago he imposed historic budget cuts and involuntary work furloughs on agencies like…. The California Coastal Commission.

Nothing about the fact he has cut budget of Coastal Commission every single year he has been in office.

Nothing about the fact he has imposed a hiring freeze on Coastal Commission, which has lost 20 staff positions this year and now has just a single analyst for three entire counties in central California.

The emperor has no clothes. Just who does AS think is going to do this work?!?

Schwarzenegger orders climate change strategy

Friday, November 14, 2008
(11-14) 18:07 PST Sacramento, CA (AP) –

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered state agencies to begin preparing for the projected impacts of global warming on California’s economy, people and natural resources.

The executive order calls on state officials to develop a “comprehensive climate adaption strategy” to cope with rising sea levels, higher temperatures, increased flooding, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather events. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09gore.html?em=&pagewanted=all

November 9, 2008
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

The Climate for Change

By AL GORE
THE inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for another fateful choice that he — and we — must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.

The electrifying redemption of America’s revolutionary declaration that all human beings are born equal sets the stage for the renewal of United States leadership in a world that desperately needs to protect its primary endowment: the integrity and livability of the planet.

The world authority on the climate crisis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, after 20 years of detailed study and four unanimous reports, now says that the evidence is “unequivocal.” To those who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists around the world, ignore the melting of the north polar ice cap and all of the other apocalyptic warnings from the planet itself, and who roll their eyes at the very mention of this existential threat to the future of the human species, please wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late.

Here is the good news: the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis. Read the rest of this entry »

Groundbreaking at the site of the new Hearthside Homes at the Bolsa Chica wetlands

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

State to consider charge that developer

mishandled Indian remains

On Nov. 13, Hearthside Homes’ officials will defend its development permit for a 300-home project in Huntington Beach.

BY CINDY CARCAMO

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/permit-commission-developer-2216348-remains-site#
HUNTINGTON BEACH — State officials will consider revoking a housing development permit after a group of American Indians complained that the developer mishandled their ancestor’s remains and failed to report 6,000 bags of artifacts and 10 boxes holding fragments of ancient human remains.

On Nov. 13, the California Coastal Commission will hear a request that they revoke the permit for the 300-home Brightwater Hearthside Homes project, which sits atop what is believed to be an ancient burial ground and village once shared by the Gabrielino-Tongva and Juaneño band of Mission Indians. Read the rest of this entry »

The surfer takes it!

Dive Hotel – Dive, small boutique hotel on Coogee Beach, is about 20 minutes drive from Sydney Airport and the City. It’s a door-to-door bus ride away to the City, Opera House, NSW Uni, Randwick Racecourse, Aussie Stadium, and Cricket Ground. And it’s a Frisbee throw away to parks and pools, cliff top walks and Coogee’s thriving restaurant, pub, club and cafe culture. It featured in Travel & Leisure USA, Conde Nast Traveler, NY Times, Time Out, Lonely Planet, London Observer and Guardian. Find out more at Whole Travel, http://www. wholetravel.com/ supplier/dive-hotel.

Blue Sea Stinger, 80 mile Beach, Kimberley, Australia