The Hearst Deal—
A New Low Standard for Conservation in California
Tarren Collins

The Hearst Corporation must be really happy these days. Why? Because the state of California is in the final stages of approving a deal for the Corporation to get $95 million of taxpayer’s money and likely be allowed to substantially develop their land. And what will the people of California receive in return for this princely sum? …Ownership of only 1,100 acres of the 82,000 acre central California Hearst Ranch and a conservation easement over the rest with holes a truck can drive through!

This deal, as it stands today, would allow Hearst to retain ownership of over 98% of the property, reduce public access, and allow the construction of a 100-room resort and 27 mansions scattered across the ranch.

This Deal Will Set a New Low Standard for Conservation Deals from Eureka to San Diego—demonstrating to every single land owner in California that they too can get public dollars, while retaining ownership of their land and excluding the public from accessing the places their money has been used to “protect.” The price to purchase and protect open space in your community will go through the roof.

The Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, NRDC, the California Native Plant Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Coastwalk and other environmental protection groups believe that THIS DEAL MUST NOT BE APPROVED UNTIL IT IS IMPROVED—not just for the residents of San Luis Obispo County but for all of us who are working hard to protect our local coastal areas.

Developers and landowners throughout California are surely watching this process and we can expect more bad deals like this which will drive up the cost of protecting open space in the future. The Mateo Coast, wetlands in Marin County, fragile coastal cliffs of San Diego, and the rugged coastal open spaces of Mendocino County are just a few examples of important coastal open space that environmentalists are working to protect. Think about how much more difficult it will be to protect California’s great coastal places if we must ante up the kind of money Hearst is asking for (and apparently getting) from the State of California without any guarantee of resource protection.

Plant Natives in a River Corridor

Sierra Club Strategic Planning
Greg Casini

Does your Group or Chapter have more volunteers than it knows what to do with?

Does everyone in your Group or Chapter always get along and totally agree on all of your (clearly articulated) goals?

Is the Sierra Club a beloved household name in your community, always widely covered by the media and sought out by legislators?

WE DIDN'T THINK SO.

Announcing: Strategic Planning For Sierra Club Chapters and Groups

WHAT? 1 or 11/2 day interactive strategic planning workshops tailored for your volunteers and delivered by trained members of the Strategic Planning Committee.

The workshops are designed to help your Group or Chapter

WHEN? When it is convenient for your leadership. Contact Greg.Casini@sierraclub.org to schedule your workshop or call 303-861-2844 with questions.

HOW? Groups and Chapters arrange for the meeting space and necessary equipment, provide lodging for workshop facilitators, and serve lunch during the workshop. The Strategic Planning Committee covers travel expenses for facilitators.

WHY? Strategic Planning is an organizational tool to bring your Executive Committee and other key people in your chapter or group together to talk about the future. Chapters and groups often face a host of opportunities and problems that are hard to address one by one or through a single conservation campaign. Strategic planning is the way to resolve an interrelated set of issues in an intentional, coordinated manner. It's the way we set an agenda, rather than letting it be set for us. A strategic plan allows all other planning (budgets, staffing, fundraising, conservation campaigns, outings, newsletter, political & legislative activity) to be coordinated and for those elements to support your strategic goals instead of splintering your energies.

"This workshop would be invaluable to any chapters that feel they could benefit from new directions and some outside assistance to renew their vision and their internal spirit. That is what I feel you have helped us achieve, and we can never thank you enough for it."

- Dick de Seve, Chair, NH Chapter Strategic Planning Committee

California Calls For Action on Ocean and Coastal Protection
Draft Action Plan Review and Invitation to Public Workshops

California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman and Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Terry Tamminen today (August 4, 2004) announced the release of the draft plan, California Ocean Resources Management: A Strategy for Action Plan prepared in response to Governor Schwarzenegger's June 4, 2004 directive for California to renew its longstanding commitment to protect and manage its ocean and coastal resources. Both the US Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission have identified an emerging national crisis situation regarding this nation's ocean and coastal resources.

"Today we are releasing a draft Action Plan for public review which suggests a bold new approach to protecting and managing California's ocean and coastal resources," said Secretary Chrisman." It proposes to establish a cabinet-level Ocean Council to conduct a top to bottom review of our ocean protection laws, evaluate the economic contribution of the ocean and coast to the state, establish a state ocean research strategy, and coordinate California's approach to protecting and managing marine resources, coastal water quality, and even the sand on our beaches."

"The Governor's directive specifies that this plan assess ocean strategy and indicate the important actions that can be taken by the Schwarzenegger administration and our partners in both the private sector and the environmental community," said Secretary Tamminen. "The final Action Plan to protect our precious coastal resources will be on the Governor's desk by September 2."

Governor Schwarzenegger made his concerns known in his June 4, 2004 comments on the Preliminary Report of the US Commission on Ocean Policy when he said this is a wake-up call, the oceans are in trouble and in need of help. In response to this need, actions must take place at the international, national, state, regional and local levels, as these issues are just as important globally as they are to the citizen trying to protect the waters off a local beach. The Governor's comments were clear—action is needed to protect and manage our ocean and coastal resources.

The goals of this Action Plan for leadership are simple yet far reaching:

California's ocean management mission is to ensure comprehensive and coordinated management, conservation, and enhancement of California's ocean resources for their intrinsic value and for the benefit of current and future generations. The need for enhanced ocean and coastal management measures is underscored by the demands of California's growing population, both along the coast and inland. There is a clear need for action to address our current management challenges and those that will be faced by future generations of Californians.

Two upcoming workshops, where public comment will be taken on the draft report are scheduled for:

Many of you may remember the days when old time radio programs offered listeners free premiums just for mailing in a box-top or label from the sponsor's product. One of our favorites was the secret decoder ring that Ovaltine - the chocolate flavored milk additive - used as their premium.

We thought one of these rings might come in handy to try and decode what the Bush administration is selling in their "Key Bush Environmental Accomplishments" fact sheet that they released on July 14, 2004.

 

(Message #1) The Bush Administration's Environmental Philosophy:

 

"We need to employ the best science and data to inform our decision-making..."

 

(Message #1 Decoded)

This is so not true. The administration has a habit of using the so-called science that best agrees with the administration's corporate buddies. The administration declares scientific studies that support its position to be "sound," while those that oppose it are "junk."

Example: When the Interior Department was forming new rules for snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park, it deleted the advice of its own scientists who recommended that snowmobile exhaust emissions be reduced. Secretary Norton proposed instead an increase in snowmobile traffic in the park. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan subsequently sent Norton back to the drawing board, declaring that the process she had used to formulate the new rules was "completely politically driven."

(Message #2) Land Conservation and Stewardship:

"...President Bush signed legislation implementing key provisions of his Healthy Forests Initiative. The President's initiative is helping restore the health and vitality of forests and rangelands, and helping reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires..."

(Message #2 Decoded)

Umm no. The Bush administration has opened up millions of acres of our wild forests to logging, road building, and other development on top of the close to two-thirds of our National Forest land that has already been hammered by development that destroys the forests, pollutes the water, devastates wildlife and is subsidized by American taxpayers. The Bush administration's Initiative does little to reduce the threat of wildfire to our communities. The Forest Service's own scientists found that the best way to protect communities from fire is to thin brush and small trees within 500 yards of homes but the administration initiative allows timber companies to cut large, fire-resistant trees that actually help protect the forest from wildfires.

(Message #3) Improving Our Air Quality—Clear Skies Initiative:

"President Bush's initiative, which has been introduced in Congress, would dramatically improve air quality by reducing power plants' emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury, by approximately 70 percent over the next 15 years, more than any other clean air initiative..."

(Message #3 Decoded)

Pardon? I'm sorry can you speak up? The Bush administration's so-called "Clear Skies Initiative" gives industries the right to poison our air and water with more health-threatening soot, smog and mercury and puts our families and communities at risk. Strict enforcement of the Clean Air Act would put us on the road to cutting mercury pollution 90 percent by 2008. So why is the administration trying to fix what isn't broken? Enforcing the current law holds polluters accountable and requires them to use today's technologies to protect our health and safety.

So what's the hidden message here? Telling other people you're good on the environment doesn't really make you good on the environment!

Presto Change-o!
The Bush Administration Has Turned Into an Oil Company!

Last month, The US Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) released a five-year royalty management plan that expands federal royalty-in-kind (RIK) programs. Royalty-in-kind? What is that? Good question.

When oil and gas companies drill on federal lands and extract public resources, they are required to pay royalties to the government. A RIK program would allow oil and gas companies to pay royalties to the Bush administration in the form of oil or gas, instead of cash. Companies would pay a percentage of the actual oil and gas they produce in barrels of oil or units of gas rather than in dollars. The Bush administration would then turn around and sell this oil and gas in commodity markets.

In a nutshell, the Bush administration would no longer have to live vicariously through its oil buddies, and would be able to sell oil and natural gas production itself.

And oil companies? They get a great deal—they can pay royalties to the government when the price of oil is really, really low, and sell it on the open market when the price is really, really high.

And the American people? Well, we're the real losers. Under the RIK system, the American taxpayer has lost out on nearly $2 billion in unpaid oil royalties since 1980.

How is the Bush administration spinning it? Gale Norton said it best: "The new MMS Five Year Royalty in Kind Business Plan provides the blueprint to successfully increase revenues and decrease administrative costs associated with managing our oil and gas royalty assets," and "[we] are applying proven private sector business practices to improve government efficiencies and effectiveness."

Say what? These are the uncooked facts:

Expanding the RIK program makes no economic sense. The real winners are the Bush administration and its oil buddies. Who loses? The American people, who risk $4 billion dollars in revenue while the Bush administration attempts to turn itself into an oil company.

Puente-Chino Hills Task Force

Eric Johnson is going to be taking over the chair of the Puente-Chino Hills Task Force from Jeff Yann. Jeff will still remained involved in helping preserve the Puente-Chino Hills, but his efforts on the San Gabriel River Task Force are taking up too much of his time to be able to serve as chair.

The Puente-Chino Hills Task Force still meets on the 4th Monday of the month, so we have another meeting coming up this Monday, August 23, at 7:00 pm at 170 Copa De Oro Road in Brea. We are still fighting our longstanding battle with AERA Energy, but now we have another battle with the City of Industry, which has purchased Lower Tonner Canyon in the "Missing Middle." So we can use whatever help you can provide.

Eric Johnson, eric@revenuecost.com, 714-524-7763

Environment2004

Thought you would like to know about a political organization called Environment2004 started by folks like Bruce Babbitt and Carol Browner. The goal is to expose and publicize the environmental record of the Bush administration, which has not received a great deal of attention in the campaign so far. They have put together an almost 100 pg booklet called "Putting Polluters first" that covers the record on air pollution, water pollution, global warming, toxic waste, environmental enforcement, children's environmental health, food and drinking water, Bush-Cheney energy policy, environmental security, national parks, national forests, Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, endangered species, oceans, and other public lands. For each unit there is a section on "The Bush record," "How Bush misleads the public," and "There is a choice." Their website is www.environment2004.org

Judith S. Weis, Professor
Dept of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark NJ 07102, j
weis@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Phone: 973 353-5387, fax 973 353-5518
http://newarkbiosci.rutgers.edu/faculty/weis.html

The Orange County Native American Sacred Sites Task Force
Rhonda Robles

The Orange County Native American Sacred Sites Task Force was formed last year, after many of us realized we had to take a stand against those who would steal our history and desecrate that which he call sacred without hesitation. The Task Force has similar goals to CCRPA, but has the distinction of being a part of the Sierra Club. Task Force members work with the Spirit of Capistrano, a group of concerned citizens in the Casitas housing adjacent to Putiidhem. My family and I are working to preserve the site through the non-profit Friends of Putiidhem.

We all have joined together to fight JSerra, a powerful land developer which, despite evidence that the Putiidhem site is rich with rare Native artifacts, as well as burial remains of scores of our people, is determined to unsettle and then wipe away all of that history with a private playfield. The project is a deep insult to everything that we are as Native Americans, as caring Californians. It’s also not a sound design plan, in that it proposes to destroy what has become precious natural wildlife habitat and clog the area with enormous congestion.

Forestry Report
Paul Mason

The Governor’s “No Tree Left Behind” Timber “Reform” Proposal: Just before Memorial Day, the Schwarzenegger Administration released a proposal to dramatically change the Forest Practice Rules through the budget process. The proposal would have extended the length of timber harvest plans to 10 years, increased the size of Non-Industrial Timber Management Plans (NTMPs) to 10,000 acres, and, most seriously, created a new type of logging plan for big industrial timber companies that would be of unlimited size and duration. The proposal was unambiguously bad on policy grounds, and far too grandiose for inclusion as a budget trailer bill.

Sierra Club California worked with Sharon Duggan, staff attorney for the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), to create a detailed legal review of the implications of the proposal. We then coordinated a sign-on letter with many of the largest and most relevant environmental groups and generated some media around the proposal. We were also able to work with relevant staffers in the Legislature to explain the implications of the bill and prevent it from getting any traction.

The proposal was not included in the budget, and appears to be dead. We can expect to see additional proposals for major changes to the Forest Practice Rules in the coming year, but hopefully we can be proactive and have some role in developing new approaches to regulating logging at the landscape level.

Other Budget Issues

We had some initial success during budget negotiations, including moving $10 million of the State’s cost of reviewing Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) to the industry as fees, and protecting the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board from losing more timber review staff. Unfortunately, as the budget impasse/negotiations drag on, we’re losing ground. The THP fees are currently off the table (we’re working to ensure that the loss of that $10 million is back-filled from the General Fund, to prevent draconian cuts to the THP review process). Also, the Governor’s proposal to transfer 5 people from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board timber unit to the Central Valley and Sierra Regional Boards seems to be moving forward. We had opposed that shift because it will badly hurt the North Coast Region’s ability to adequately review plans, and we had succeeded to getting both the Senate and Assembly sub-committees to recommend against the transfer, but the Administration succeeded in getting the transfer included in the budget at the Conference Committee.

New CDF Director

We have a new CDF Director – Dale Geldert, a fire guy from Oceanside. He was on the Board of Forestry in 1997, but other than that does not appear to have much forestry experience. As a practical matter, that probably leaves Bill Snyder (CDF Deputy Director of Resource Management) in charge of the Resource Management division. This probably maintains the status quo.

In related news, Craig Anthony was brought back to act as Geldert’s Chief of Staff. Some of you may recall that Craig Anthony used to be a Deputy Director at CDF in the late 90’s, and was one of the negotiators of the Headwaters Deal. He was eventually fired by then CDF Director Richard Wilson, and went to work for (you guessed it) Pacific Lumber Company as its Resource Manager. He left PL a year or two ago, and I think he’s been working for Plum Creek Timber Company. Now he’s coming back to CDF.

In the past couple weeks since Anthony returned to CDF, he apparently set himself up as a filter between the Director and the rest of the Department staff. This is exactly what we had feared and had led to our concerns. It appears that the broad chorus of concerns were heard and that Craig Anthony is no longer in that position at CDF. Apparently he has been sent to Riverside to run the fire department there.

Board of Forestry

One of the main things the Board has been working on is the development of an emergency rule that declares the existence of an “Emergency Condition” regarding accumulation of hazardous fuels in forested areas around communities. Many aspects of this discussion went well over the past 4-5 months, with the discussion focused on removing relatively small trees (up to 18 inches at stump height, which are generally 15-16 inches at breast height) and doing thorough surface and ladder fuel treatments. Key aspects of the proposal require increasing the average diameter of the stand, maintaining at least commercial thinning stocking standards, and even distribution of canopy (60% minimum in the coastal region, 50% in the Western Sierra, 40% in Eastern Sierra). At the very last minute, the Industry members of the board withheld their votes and forced the diameter limit up to 30 inches. As a practical matter, they probably won’t be cutting many trees that large because of the other requirements in the rule package, but it was a serious act of bad faith. The existing emergency rule is only good until October 23, but at the July Board meeting the Board began discussing making it a permanent rule. This is somewhat awkward because the Legislature is directing the Board to create a new exemption for fuels reduction that is very similar in intent, but somewhat more restrictive. This new exemption is authorized in AB 2420.

FYI, there are currently 4 public members and 3 industry members on the Board, but it takes 5 votes to pass a rule. However, we just heard about the potential appointment of new Board of Forestry members that could give the Industry a solid 5-member majority.

Broad Beach Access Maps Excite Public, Anger Homeowners.

Urban Parks Committee Revived

Juanita Dellomes was appointed Chair of the Angeles Chapter Urban Parks Committee. A vice chair from Orange County will be appointed. The actions of the Urban Parks Committee that affect an urban park are subject to the approval of the Chapter’s group(s) in which the park is located.

 

Environmental Resolutions Passed by ExComm
(7/25/04)

Useful Information

Action Directory
Sierra Club Legislative Hotline: (202) 675-2394
Sierra Club National: (415) 977-5500
Sierra Club Sacramento Legislative Office: (916)  557-1100; fax (916) 227-9669
White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111
White House Fax Line: (202) 456-2461
   President George W Bush president@whitehouse.gov
   Vice President Dick Cheney: vice-president@whitehouse.gov
White House Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20500
US Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
To contact your senators: Senate Office Bldg, Washington DC 20510 http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
To contact your representative: House Office Bldg, Washington DC 20515 http://www.house.gov/writerep
California Capitol Switchboard: (916) 322-9900
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: State Capitol Building, Sacramento CA 95814
      (916) 445-2841, fax (916) 445-4633, governor@governor.ca.gov mailto:governor@governor.ca.gov

Sierra Club Links
Sierra Club World Wide Web - http://www.sierraclub.org
Angeles Chapter site:http://angeles.sierraclub.org
Angeles Chapter Conservation Newsletter: http://angeles.sierraclub.org/newsletter/
Sierra Club California: http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/
Sierra Club Vote Watch Website: http://www.sierraclub.org/votewatch/
National site main page: http://www.sierraclub.org/
National Clubhouse activist resource site: http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/

Need help contacting your US representatives or finding out about legislation?
US House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/
US Senate: http://www.senate.gov/
California State Assembly: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/
California State Senate: http://www.sen.ca.gov/
California State: http://www.ca.gov/state/portal/myca_homepage.jsp
California Legislative Information: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/
California Secretary of State voter information: http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections.htm

3435 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 320, Los Angeles CA 90010-1904

 

AGENDA — Wednesday, August 18, 2004
THE MEETING IS CANCELLED!!!        Next Meeting Wednesday, September 15