The Newsletter of the Conservation Committees
of the Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club — on the web at http://angeles.sierraclub.org/
Email items, articles, graphics to Publisher/Webmaster: Lori Ives.  Editor: Robin Ives

Quote of Note

"I think we're seeing more young and sick penguins because of global warming, which effects ocean currents and creates more cyclones, making the seas rougher."
—Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro's Federal University on the record number of baby penguins that have washed up this year on Brazil’s shore.

 

AUGUST 2008 The following have been moved to separate sites on the web:   Cons Comm Agendas: Angeles Chapter Orange County (no Aug Mtg)
Conservation Calendar    (including Newcomer Mtgs) Take Action Information   Proposed Resolutions   Green Path North   Uses of Conserved Water   Pacific Heights    INDEX SCC Stands Up for Parks Air Quality Legislation   Climate Change Coping Strategy   Desert Tortoise Threatened   Mining Projects Threaten Warblers and Drinking Water   Natl Arctic Campaign Organizer   LA Has Stopped Growing   Enviros to Intervene for Port Trucking Plan   Chapter Conservation Comm Info   Wilderness Support Poll   Calif Supreme Court Sides with Environmentalists   Bush Admin Stalls on Emissions   Teamsters not involved in ANWR   New Look to Newsletter		Sponsored by Sierra Club, LA Dept of Recreation and Parks, Humane Society of the United States, Canada Goose Project, others. No admission charge. Modest lunch provided for attendance at afternoon workshops.      Photo by Michael Caroff See CALTRANS explain the "Wildlife Corridor Bridge over the 405 Freeway" Hear Nobel Peace prize recipient Dr. Danny Harvey explain "The Race to Save Our Wildlife"   Participate with students from North Hollywood High School Zoo Magnet, " Our World Inherited from You"   Have Fun with Wildlife Rehabilitators and animal friends   http://www.gmnac.com/ESTFSignup.html    Reservations/Questions? 818-769-1521   Sierra Club California Stands Up For Parks SACRAMENTO — In the early part of the last century, Sierra Club founder John Muir successfully persuaded Congress to set aside Yosemite, a true California gem.     Now, Sierra Club California and activists from several other Sierra Club chapters across the state have joined forces to protect state parks, state beaches and other land that has been set aside for conservation and recreation. While the Governor’s proposed budget no longer closes the gates in front of California’s natural treasures, it does little to turn back the harm that year after year of cuts and under-funding has created.     “California’s state parks have suffered long enough from the effects of deferred maintenance,” said Jim Metropulos, Sierra Club California’s Senior Advocate. “This is our land, our legacy. Protection must be a priority.”     Lawmakers can make state parks a priority by backing Assemblymember John Laird’s proposal to fund state parks via a small addition to the motor vehicle fee, Metropulos said. Laird’s proposal would provide a total of $282 million, allowing state parks costs to go to zero and funding sustained maintenance and preservation of our wild and historic treasures.     “Think what this means: thousands of California families would have a new chance to discover our state’s treasured natural and historic treasures,” Metropulos said.      Some of California’s wild parks face even more imminent threats. A proposed six-lane toll road threatens San Onofre State Beach. This road, if built, would run through the heart of California's fifth most popular state park, ruining nearly 60% of the park.

The road would cause the likely abandonment of the San Mateo Campground, run through the last pristine watershed in Southern California, and possibly affect the best surf break in North America. Not only is the park in jeopardy, but the Native American sacred site of Panhe and the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy are also at risk.     If California’s fifth most popular state park is paved over, all of our state’s parks are at risk, said Robin Everett, Conservation Organizer for Sierra Club.     “Californians need places to enjoy and explore nature and the proposed Foothill-South Toll Road would ruin one of the few places left that working families can vacation affordably on the coast,” Everett said. “Our state parks are not warehouses for future development. They are meant to be held in perpetuity for future generations to enjoy.” State Launches Effort to Craft Climate Change Coping Strategy     While the California Air Resources Board is taking comments on its Draft Scoping Plan to reduce the emissions that cause global warming, the California Resources Agency is kicking off efforts to help California respond to those effects of global warming that are now considered unavoidable due to past pollution.     Last Thursday, July 31, the Resources Agency held its first public briefing on the preparation of a Climate Adaptation Strategy for California. Tony Brunello, Deputy Secretary for Climate Change and Energy for the Resources Agency,said he hoped to have a draft of the strategy for public review by January 2009 and a final draft to the Governor by April of next year.     The strategy will be drafted by representatives from across state government. They plan to identify top priority climate impacts for oceans and coastal resources, water, biodiversity and habitat, public health, working landscapes, and infrastructure and outline necessary actions their agencies will take in each of these areas.     Although support for the planning effort was high, many participants urged the Resources Agency to act more aggressively to tap the experience and expertise of scientists and policy experts early in the process. Others stressed the need to prioritize solutions that strengthened the resiliency of natural systems while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Key Air Quality Legislation, SB 974 (Lowenthal), Awaits the Governor's Signature     On Tuesday, the most significant air quality measure of the 2008 legislative session passed the Senate and is now headed to the Governor's desk for his signature. SB 974 (Lowenthal), the Clean Ports Investment Act, has now passed both houses of the Legislature with bi-partisan support. The bill's supporters are optimistic that Governor Schwarzenegger will sign the bill into law, particularly in light of his statements from last August on the need for a measure that would provide funding for mitigation efforts at California ports.     SB 974 collects up to $30 per shipping container processed at California's three largest ports, Oakland, Long Beach, and Los Angeles, and reinvests that money evenly between infrastructure improvement projects and air quality mitigation measures.     Nearly half of all goods entering the United States come in through these ports, and the ships, trucks, trains, and cargo equipment needed to get the goods to store shelves are responsible for substantial toxic air pollution. Operations at the three ports and related freight transport generate thirty percent of the statewide emissions of nitrogen oxide, a smog-forming pollutant, and seventy-five percent of all diesel particulate matter pollution.     These pollutants contribute to increased rates of asthma, respiratory disease, and premature death. In fact, diesel pollution is the worst toxic air contaminant in California, responsible for seventy percent of the state's air pollution-related cancer risk. Approximately 3,700 deaths and 360,000 sick days in California each year are directly linked to toxic emissions from goods movement. The California Air Resources Board estimates that over the next fourteen years, the state will spend an additional $200 billion in health care costs directly related to goods movement pollution.     If the Governor signs SB 974 into law, it will provide a steady funding stream that is expected to generate nearly $500 million dollars annually for new infrastructure and air quality improvements. That's a tremendous benefit to California's environment and an exceptional step forward for our state's health.

Desert Tortoise Threatened by Recovery Plan's Weakening Protections

RENO — August 4, 2008 — The US Fish and Wildlife Service today released a new draft “recovery” plan for the threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), which was protected under the Endangered Species Act nearly two decades ago. Though desert tortoise populations have continued to crash since that listing, the new draft plan weakens protections and provides few on-the-ground actions for tortoise conservation.
    “This plan weakens tortoise protections and directs the Service to study, instead of stop, the tortoise’s decline — caused by threats like off-road vehicles and livestock grazing,” said Ileene Anderson, a Center for Biological Diversity biologist. “We already know what threatens the desert tortoise, and the Service should immediately act to reduce those threats. This plan would speed up the tortoise’s slide toward extinction.”
    In place of providing immediate, firm protections for desert tortoise, the draft plan proposes a time-consuming process of monitoring and adaptive management. The plan provides only vague descriptions of recovery actions and fails to derive those actions from the best available science. For example, it fails to tackle solutions to many of the scientifically recognized threats to desert tortoise, including disease, roads, off-road vehicles, grazing, weeds, increased fire risk, and other causes of habitat degradation.
    “Under the proposed plan, the Fish and Wildlife Service is abandoning its legal responsibility to protect the desert tortoise by leaving the animal’s recovery up to local stakeholder groups that lack the scientific expertise to develop recovery strategies,” said Anderson. “Desert tortoise recovery requires on-the-ground action, but this plan’s focus is ‘planning to plan.’ The current recovery plan provides a science-based roadmap to recovery. But the administration has spent the last two years rewriting and weakening the plan because it finds recovery actions to be politically inconvenient,” said Anderson. “Without an immediate course correction, the administration is effectively pushing the tortoise to extinction.”
    This recovery plan may replace a more rigorous and science-based recovery plan that has been in place for over 15 years — a 1994 plan that contains specific on-the-ground conservation recommendations but has never been implemented adequately.
The comments on the proposed draft are due by November 3, 2008, and a copy of the proposed draft plan can be found at fhttp://www.fws.gov/nevada/desert%5Ftortoise/documents/recovery_plan/DratRevRP_Mojave_Desert_Tortoise.pdf.

Mining Projects Threaten Warblers and Drinking Water
by Carl Pope

     In mountaintop removal mining, a coal company literally blasts apart the tops of mountains to reach thin seams of coal buried below.
     To minimize waste disposal costs, they then dump millions of tons of the waste rock into the valleys below, destroying vital wildlife habitat, permanently burying streams and polluting rivers that provide drinking water to millions of Americans.
Take action now to protect our drinking water and protect habitat for the rare and beautiful cerulean warbler and other wildlife.
    Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NY) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) have introduced HR 2169, the Clean Water Protection Act — legislation that will effectively end mountaintop removal mining by preventing companies from dumping their waste in rivers and streams.
    Make no mistake about it: passing this bill is an important step to end a practice that destroys vital habitat for cerulean warblers and hundreds of other wildlife species.
    Urge your representative in Washington DC to support this important legislation. When President Bush legalized mountaintop removal mining in 2002, this destructive practice had already been banned for a quarter century. Since then, coal companies have gone eagerly back into the business of obliterating whole mountains. The federal government has estimated that past and future mountaintop removal mining could destroy more than 1.4 million acres. Hundreds of species are threatened and so are people — from the blasting, coal dust, and poisoned drinking water.

New National Arctic Campaign Organizer

Kit McGurn here – the new National Conservation Organizer for the Arctic Campaign. Although I have been with the Sierra Club for close to two months now I have not had a chance to formally introduce myself to the broader Sierra Club community.
My overall hope with this position is to engage many different chapters across the country in Arctic issues. I am interested in a true national Sierra Club effort to gain additional permanent protections to America’s Arctic. Let’s take America’s Arctic off the table for continued oil development with a unified and proactive national campaign.
    My position represents a significant increase in outreach efforts around the Sierra Club’s Arctic Campaign. The Sierra Club is attempting to step up our field outreach across the country focusing on protecting the coastal plain or the Refuge, special areas in the western arctic and critical polar bear habitat in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea. I will coordinate outreach to our national volunteers and activists, give slideshow presentations and house parties, and coordinate online communications for the Arctic Campaign. I hope to be working closely with the Sierra Clubs volunteer networks to engage membership in each Chapter and numerous groups. Combining this outreach to the volunteers with the new convio electronic system we are building the Sierra Club’s Arctic Action Network where we will have key leaders in key areas across the country ready to take action and engage local networks to build demand for protection of the special places in America’s Arctic. I look forward to working with you all, and please do contact me with thoughts, suggestions, and any ideas you might have to make this an effective Sierra Club campaign. Best,

     Kit McGurn, Arctic Campaign Conservation Organizer
     Sierra Club - Northwest Office, 180 Nickerson Street Suite 202, Seattle, WA 98109
     Office: 206-378-0114 ext. 324, Cell: 206-462-9252, kit.mcgurn@sierraclub.org

LA Has Stopped Growing
by Dean Waldraff

    An editorial in the LA Times today by D.J. Waldie (at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-waldie27-2008jul27,0,401428.story) cites statistics to the effect that the City of Los Angeles has pretty much stopped growing:
a. From 2000 to 2007 the city's population grew an estimated 3.8% (total, I think, not annually)
b. Between mid-2006 and mid-2007, the population of Los Angeles went up by only 0.3% — by 10,832 — according to census estimates issued July 10.
    A state agency predicts state population growth and translates that into growth for housing. It then divvies this up by county, and the counties are supposed to update their general plan housing elements to conform, to figure out where the housing for those extra people should go. I think the County Planning Dept. does this partly by allocating some of that to cities within the county. The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation for the City says that 112,876 new housing units will need to be built between 2006 and 2014.
    This is wrong, if LA is not actually growing. The business boosters think no-growth is terrible, but I think it would be great. Maybe LA could become the first sustainable city, having a policy of no growth. This would mean no new housing, except to replace existing housing. I realize that the political reality is that this policy has zero chance of being adopted. For one thing, there have been decades of violent political fights about slow-growth policies. But perhaps an idea of sustainable land use could be worked into the Green L.A. agenda.

Enviros to Intervene for Port Trucking Plan
NRDC, Coalition for Clean Air and Sierra Club Set to Intervene to Defend Clean Trucks Plans

by Tom Politeo

    The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) will represent all three organizations to defend the common concession model used by both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach's Clean Trucks Program.

    The defense of the concession model is vital in defending such programs not just for trucking, but where they are used elsewhere in government-owned facilities, like airports and power plants.
    Additionally, we will defend the employee mandate which is part of the Los Angeles concession model and is sadly not part of the Long Beach model, if the American Trucking Association (ATA) specifically challenges that.
    Long Beach had adopted a concession model without an employee mandate as a method of avoiding just this sort of lawsuit. As it is, their strategy has clearly failed. The ATA had indicated they would sue simply on the basis of a concession model. For Long Beach, this is a case of "we told you so."
    Our attorneys, and those of the City of Los Angeles, believe we are in a strong position to defend these programs.

Support for Wilderness Strong Across Party,
Demographic, Religious & Regional Lines

WASHINGTON DC — 7/21/2008 — Nearly nine in ten Americans believe that protecting public land as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System is important, according to a new Zogby International poll of 1039 likely voters across the country. These voters view as "very important" (57 percent) or "somewhat important" (30 percent) the protection of publicly owned land as wilderness, leaving it just as it is. The support cuts across political parties, regions, age groups, and ethnic and religious backgrounds. Twelve percent said it was not important to protect the nation's wilderness.

     When likely voters were asked whether they would vote for a presidential candidate who strongly supported wilderness protection of public lands, 71 percent said they were "likely" to do so. Less than two in ten (19 percent) said they were "not likely to." A clear majority of Democrats (93 percent), Republicans (81 percent) and those who identified themselves as Independents (88 percent) say they think protecting public land as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System is important to them.

     "What this polling confirms is that support for protecting public land as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System is broad and deep across every region of the country," said Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign for America's Wilderness, a public-interest organization that commissioned the poll. Americans understand that some places are irreplaceable and their value for wildlife habitat, importance for clean air and water, and opportunity as recreation sites are too important to sacrifice to development."

     A Zogby International poll of 1001 likely voters across the country in 2003 found that a strong majority (65 percent) of Americans favor designating more land as wilderness in their own state, support that also cut across party lines.

     Congress is currently considering more than a dozen wilderness bills which could yet be enacted this year, adding a significant amount of permanently protected land to the National Wilderness Preservation System — from Oregon to Idaho to West Virginia.

     These new wilderness questions were asked as part of a Zogby International omnibus telephone poll of 1039 likely voters conducted from July 9-13, 2008, when gas prices averaged $4.10 a gallon nationally. The margin of error was +/- 3.1 percent. For methodology, contact: Zogby International's Fritz Wenzel, 315-624-0200 ext. 229, or 419-205-0287.

California Supreme Court Sides with Environmentalists
in Decades-Long Forest Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — July 17, 2008 — After decades of legal wrangling, environmentalists emerged victorious in a California Supreme Court case that promises improved protection for California’s endangered species and industrial forestlands.

Today’s ruling in Environmental Protection Information Center & Sierra Club v. Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, is the culmination of a challenge to the permits issued as part of the Headwaters Deal in 1999 and centered on endangered species protection and sustainable forestry mandates. It holds state agencies responsible for upholding these protections.

“This is a stunning victory for the environment and for holding government agencies accountable. When agencies won't do their job and follow the law, the courts will not defer to them,” said Scott Greacen of EPIC. “The California Supreme Court clearly saw that CDF and the Department of Fish and Game weren’t following the law.”

     California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, who wrote the court’s unanimous opinion, ruled that Pacific Lumber failed to turn in a “sustained yield plan” for its Humboldt-area holdings, as required by the Headwaters Agreement. The court also chastised the agency for approving a document that did not actually exist.

     The court also ruled that the Department of Fish and Game broke the law by assuring Pacific Lumber that it would not need to do additional conservation if new species become endangered in the future.

     The California Department of Fish & Game shouldn’t have agreed to the “No Surprises” provisions, which limited the timber company’s obligation to mitigate certain impacts on endangered species, including the effects of natural disasters. Instead, the court ruled, those who hold endangered species permits must work to “fully” protect these animals and plants, especially if their behavior enhances the effects of natural disasters on animal or plant life.

     The state must approve adequate sustained yield plans to ensure companies have enough timber resources to protect wildlife and maintain the local economy, the court ruled.

     EPIC and Sierra Club California first filed this challenge to Pacific Lumber Company’s unsustainable plans to endanger Humboldt’s economy and wildlife in March of 1999. In the meantime, Pacific Lumber has gone bankrupt, and its woodland holdings are being taken over by Mendocino Redwood Company, which promised to practice more sustainable harvest practices.

     “The impact of this decision will outlast Pacific Lumber itself to create a significant legacy for California’s forests and endangered species,” predicted Paul Mason, Sierra Club California’s Deputy Director. “It requires timber companies and state agencies to protect both the working families and the endangered animals that depend on these woods for their survival.”

Bush Administration Stalls on Emissions Again

On July 11, the Bush administration again refused to address global warming. This time they defied the Supreme Court by issuing a request for additional comment — an "Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" — on global warming regulations, rather than the so-called "endangerment determination" that the Court's ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA compelled and senior Environmental Protection Agency officials had argued for.

     "This action caps off eight years of catastrophic negligence on the part of an increasingly irrelevant administration, and removes whatever shadow of a doubt that may have existed about whether it was going to fail to live up to its obligations to the American public, the law, and the Supreme Court to do something real on global warming," said David Bookbinder, Sierra Club chief climate counsel.
      "The American public, Congress, world leaders, and even career government officials are counting down the days until this administration leaves town and a new president undoes the damage done by President Bush and makes up for nearly a decade of lost time — time we didn't have to waste in the first place. And the first thing the next administration will do is toss the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking into the circular file."

Teamsters pull out of Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

     At a summit on port issues related to an emerging blue-green alliance on "good jobs, clean air", Teamster General President James Hoffa announced that the Teamsters will not be involved in any ANWR development. Hoffa broadly spoke about needing to pull away from an oil/carbon based economy to a post-carbon economy, and about the benefits of moving to renewable energy.

    After Hoffa spoke, Greg Haegle, Sierra Club's National Conservation Coordinator, spoke reinforcing Hoffa's message.

New Look to the Newsletter

We solicit news stories, graphics, etc etc.

I (the publisher) have been experimenting with (i.e. learning) .html formats. These are not word processing programs! They are very tricky. The advantage is that the reader can easily copy text to use in his/her own newsletter.

If I revert to .pdf format, hard copy format is considerably easier, but this advantage is lost.

I would appreciate hearing from you about your reactions.

Lori Ives
ives@ivesico.net

The Orange County Conservation Committee is taking a vacation in August. Next meeting is September 16. Contact the chair, Patti Barnes for agenda.

 

Proposed Resolution Green Path North Resolved that the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club opposes the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Green Path North power line as proposed; opposes the construction of high-tension power lines through environmentally sensitive areas; recommends the use of existing power transmission corridors; recommends promoting more conservation in urban centers; and recommends deriving more renewable energy near and within urban areas. Argument in favor We favor the development of sustainable green energy: wind, solar and geothermal. This does not mean that pristine areas of the desert and mountains must be sacrificed. Particularly, existing power line corridors should be used.   Argument against The rapid development of green power is so important that pristine lands, wildlife habitat, and the habitat of endangered species should be sacrificed.

Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Conservation Committee Meeting     Conference call access (866) 501-6174 Conference Code: 1000400#       Agenda changes: Judy Anderson judyanderson@earthlink.net     Meeting will be digitally recorded for preparation of minutes. August 20, 2008 Draft Agenda    7:15 Introductions, Announcements – limited to FUTURE EVENTS           Approval of the Agenda      7:25 Briefing 710 Fwy Extension Legislative moves, tunnel proposal. (D Czamanske, D Clarke)     7:33 Reports (5 min) Project Renewal and Issue Committees (Michael Beck) (5 min) South Coast Wildlands Report of key wildlife corridors (Judy Anderson) (5 min) Conservation Management – website and guidelines for submitting materials to the Conservation Newsletter (Judy Anderson, Robin and Lori Ives)     7:50 Break     8:00 Action Items Green Path North (Elden Hughes) Water Conservation and Use of Conserved water (Water Committee) Hacienda Heights Development - Pacific Heights (Joan Licari)    8:45 Conservation Grants Opposing nuclear power moves (Jim Stewart)    8:55 Adjourn