Environmental Press # 258

Subj: Coastal Commission in crisis again
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 08:28:25 -0700
From: Doug Korthof <doug@seal-beach.org>
To: voiceforveterans@aol.com (via list)

Hi,

Unbeknownst to many, the CA budget "crisis" (i.e., Enron, Dynegy, Reliant, Southern Co., Duke Power et al. stealing our surplus via the electric scam) and the Bush emergency has wiped out the margin of funding for critical state agencies such as the
Coastal Commission. Meanwhile, the siege mentality of the lame duck Davis Administration savagely lashes individual Commissioners to avoid antagonizing the powerful -- that means developers.

This is not the first time that Davis forced appointees to bow to the forces of evil, these are just the obvious:

1. CARB lay down in the dust for the Oil Lobby and surrendered California's innovative and successful Electric Vehicle program -- bowing to massive megabucks now in control of the federal government, the Oil Lobby ("the Oilies").

 

2. Pacific Lumber, under investigation by courageous Humboldt D.A. Paul Gallegos, seems involved in apparent payoffs to those responsible for regulating PL -- as well as a pattern of lawlessness. Yet, it seems, CA Atty. Gen. Lockyer has been forbidden to assist in this public service investigation that needs such help against the powerful PL.

This Coastal Commission, spurred by the ever-articulate, ever-present, developer-friendly McClain-Hill, has developed a cabal of control that forms a barrier, at least for now, to Coastal protection.

Unfortunately the Commission, itself, possesses little actual power, and this is, with rare exceptions, "par for the approval course", as it were. Almost all of the difficult
protections that we celebrate as due to the Commission were NOT done by the Commission standing up to the powerful. With rare exceptions, the Commission itself has bowed down to the powerful and approved illegal permits -- 3 times at Bolsa
Chica, at Hellman, at Little Shell, many others. It was popular outrage, lawsuits, picketing, and publicity that forced these ever-harried Commissioners to follow the actual law. That's what a lawsuit against the Commission is all about -- it's an "administrative lawsuit", based on the record of the hearing, forcing the developer to follow the law it flouted. In the case of Bolsa Chica and Hellman, it was Sect. 30233, 30240 and 30250, among others: black and white stark testimonials to the failure of the system to perform the job we, the Taxpayers, are paying for.

The Commission meets in Long Beach, at the Queen Mary, Wed., Thur and Fri this week, cramming the hearings into 3 days to save money, cutting public comment down to 2 minutes, rushing through approvals.

Wednesday, they approved a gigantic destination hotel-golf complex for the bluffs near Point Vincente on Palos Verdes, went against staff to approve apparently illegal permits, and celebrated the massive public campaign that saved Crystal Cove from yet another resort-convention complex that had been planned by the powerful and infamous.

Thursday, the Commission will consider the very difficult issue of the statutory requirement for review of "Local Coastal Programs" (LCP). The LCP is a sort of mini-Coastal Act that gets embedded into local building codes, and enforced by l

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