The Newsletter of the Conservation Committees
Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club Email items or articles to Editor: Robin Ives, Publisher/Webmaster: Lori Ives
The Conservation Committees provide forums for Club members to discuss impending conservation issues and to coordinate efforts of conservation subcommittees with groups and sections. They meet monthly every third Tuesday (Orange County) and third Wednesday (Angeles Chapter). Contact the Conservation Committee Chairs by the end of the previous month for a place on the agenda. Deadline for newsletter submissionsarticles is 16 days before the Chapter meeting.

Your motto is service. Back on the farm, when I heard that the bull was 'servicing' the cows, I looked behind the barn. And, gentlemen, what the bull was doing to the cow is exactly what you people have been doing to the public all these years.

        Will Rogers to the Board of Directors of Standard Oil, as quoted by Morris K. Udall, 1988

 

Index - September 2005

Big Win in Solstice Canyon

Cache Creek Bill Goes Into Extra Innings

Energy Bill

Exxpose Exxon

Forest Service Plans For Southern California National Forests

GIS Committee Forming

Gravel Mining Proposed for Claremont Wash

Guzzler Proposed for Sheephole Valley Wilderness

Home Depot and Its Toxic Choices

How Many Bushies...

Hurricane Damage Foreseen

Hurricane Katrina Leaves Toxic Soup in its Wake

Jeanne Wade Evans Named San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor
Jeff Yann Honored by Hilda Solis

Katrina Scams Begin Flooding in

Legislative Session Ends

Million Solar Roofs Bill Dies in California Assembly

Montebello Hills

Outing in Sequoia Monument

Owens Valley Victory
Sequoia ForestKeeper Gets Great Court Ruling on Categorical Exceptions
Sequoia Monument Fire Plan Declared Illegal

Sierra Club Opposes Proposition 76

Sit and Spin

Villaraigosa Appoints New "Environmental Board" for DWP

 

Central Group Proposed Resolution: Griffith Park Draft Master Plan (Pros and Cons deleted from web)

Orange Hills Task Force Proposed Resolution: East Orange Planned Communities (Pros and Cons deleted from web)

 

Useful Information

Chapter Conservation Committees Calendar
Chapter Conservation Mgmt Committee
Chapter Conservation Grants Committee
Chapter Conservation Committee Agenda
Orange County Conservation Committee Agenda

Orange County Special Events

 

Big Win In Solstice Canyon
by Mary Ann Webster

It has been four years since the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force took on the uphill fight to make Solstice Creek safe for the restoration of a spawning run of the endangered Southern Steelhead that existed in that stream before Pacific Coast Highway was widened in 1947. The threat was the City of Malibu’s approval of the Forge Lodge hotel project just north of Pacific Coast Highway within the 100 ft setback from the outer edge of the riparian habitat required in the City’s Coastal Plan.

 

The City approved Forge Lodge two years ago, and the Sierra Club challenged that approval in court. An adverse ruling by the trial court led to an appeal, which was heard by the Court of Appeals last month. A decision is expected momentarily. Because the Court appears to be very conservative, we are not overly optimistic.

 

We were not optimistic about the Coastal Commission hearing on August 10 either. Coastal staff recommended that the Commission approve the hotel, even though Forge already has a very profitable restaurant on the property, and they refused to crack down on numerous un-permitted structures near the stream. (The owner even penned 106 goats in the riparian endangered species habitat area at one time.)

 

On August 10 the Coastal Commission held its second hearing on Forge Lodge. With staff recommending approval, we came prepared to concentrate on scaling back the size of the hotel and making sure it was set back 100 ft, but, when we got to the hearing the Sierra Club coastal representative counted noses, and told us we “had a shot” at complete denial. We went for it, and we got it on an incredible, unanimous 9-0 vote! Forge Lodge is dead no matter what the Court of Appeals decides!

 

Meanwhile Caltrans and Fish and Game have made funding available to construct “fish ladders” on Solstice Creek where it passes under Pacific Coast Highway and Corral Canyon Road. Someday, when those projects are completed, the endangered Southern Steelhead will be able to get upstream and spawn in Solstice Canyon Park.

 

Forest Service Releases Controversial Plans
For Southern California National Forests
by John Monsen

 

The US Forest Service is expected to release its long-awaited management plans for the Angeles and Cleveland National Forests in late September. These plans will set the priorities for what should happen on these public lands for 15 years or more. The Southern California Forests Campaign will be soliciting comments from Sierra Club members about the plans in October, which it will deliver to the Forest Service management.

 

The Angeles National Forest and the northern section of the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County provide the majority of public open space in the Chapter and are home to hundreds, if not thousands, of Sierra Club outings each year. The 900,000 acres of national forest land within the Chapter serve as a vast natural heritage in the heart of one of the world’s great urban areas.

 

As the amount of open space beyond forest boundaries dwindles and our population grows, protecting the unspoiled scenic beauty and recreational opportunities provided by the four forests is of ever growing importance. However, these forests face new and rapidly growing threats to their long-term health and natural beauty. It is no longer clear that these forests will remain unspoiled for future generations unless the US Forest Service acts decisively right now.

 

The new forest management plans are expected to be controversial since draft forest plans released by the Forest Service over a year ago were headed in the wrong direction. Their main recreational focus was on expanding trails for motorcycles and other off-road vehicles in our forest backcountry, offering little for the vast majority of forest visitors. Protective zoning that would forestall development on the forests was reduced. The agency recommended a scant 2% more unspoiled backcountry for wilderness protection that would help shield more of our forests from ever increasing development pressures.

 

The Forest Service will be holding ten open houses across the Angeles Chapter to present the plans to the public in October. Locations range from San Juan Capistrano to Santa Clarita, south Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Valley. The Santa Ana Mountains Task Force, the Chapter’s Forest Committee and the Southern California Forests Campaign will be working together to gather comments on the plans and to get the word out about the open house meetings.

 

“This is our last chance to influence these forest plans,” says Don Bremner, chair of the Angeles Chapter’s Forest Committee.

 

“They are likely to have some major problems, so it is very important that Chapter members turn out to the open house meetings and send in comments on the plans to the Southern California Forests Campaign for delivery to the Forest Service.”

 

Visit the Southern California Forests Campaign website at www.sierraclub.org/ca/socalforests for an analysis of the new forest plans and a link to the Forest Service website with the detailed final management plans. The forests campaign site will provide you with a list of simple actions you can take to let the Forest Service know how they can improve their plans to better protect our forests. For more information about how you can help out, contact John Monsen (213-387-6528 x203) or Juana Torres (213-387-6528 x226) at the Southern California Forests Campaign.

 

Also available on the website is the forest campaign’s new 24-page report documenting, “AT RISK: Southern California’s Magnificent National Forests,” with newly commissioned photos by Andrew Harvey. The report details ten threats to nearby forest legacy.

 

The quality of the new forest management plans is especially important since rapid population growth and increasing sprawl around our four southern California national forests (also including the Los Padres and the San Bernardino) has led to a rash of proposals for development on the forests. Our forests face bizarre schemes to flood a popular recreation area for a private hydroelectric plant, build a toll road through wilderness as a temporary patch for failed urban planning, drill for oil in condor habitat, and build massive new power transmission lines.

 

Major new developments are encircling our forests, threatening vital wildlife migration trails and increasing the risk of fire. In many areas uncontrolled off-road vehicle use is damaging our forests and disrupting the experience of other forest users. Areas like the East and West Forks of the San Gabriel River on the Angeles National Forest stand out as an example of where lack of investment provides a less than quality recreational experience for the 95% of forest users who come to hike, picnic, fish, mountain bike, and enjoy scenic vistas.

 

Visionary leadership on the part of the Forest Service can help turn that around, gain it new supporters, and lead to tangible improvements for both visitors and forests alike.

 

TAKE ACTION
— Attend A Forest Service Open House Meeting
— Write A Brief Comment Letter!

You can help protect the Angeles and Cleveland National Forests for a generation to come by attending a Forest Service open house meeting and sending a comment letter about the new plans for delivery to the Forest Service by the Southern California Forests Campaign. For more information, visit the campaign’s website, www.sierraclub.org/ca/socalforests. On the website you will find a brief analysis of the plans, sample comments, a forest threats report, and links to the full management plan map and texts.

 

Open House Schedule

 

Vicinity of Angeles National Forest
Huntington Park: October 13, 6:00-8:00 pm, Family Center-Old-timers Foundation, 3355 E. Gage Ave
Rosemead: October 17, 6:00-8:00 pm, Garvey Center, 8838 E. Valley Blvd
Santa Clarita: October 18, 6:00-8:00 pm, Santa Clarita Activities Center, 20880 Centre Pointe Pkwy
Wrightwood: October 19, 6:00-8:00 pm, Wrightwood Community Center, 1275 Highway 2
Claremont: October 20, 6:00-8:00 pm, Alexander Hughes Community Center, 1700 Danbury Rd
Los Angeles: October 22, 9:00-11:00 am, Glassell Park, 3650 Verdugo Rd
Los Angeles: October 22, 2:00-4:00 pm, Watts Community Center, 10950 S. Central Ave
West Covina: October 24, 6:00-8:00 pm, West Covina Senior Center, 2501 E. Cortez St

 

Vicinity of Cleveland National Forest

San Juan Capistrano: October 29, 6:00-8:30 pm, Old Fire Station Complex, 31421 La Matanza St
Fullerton: November 2, 6:00-8:00 pm, Community Senior Multi-Service Center, 340 W. Commonwealth

 

Outing in the Sequoia Monument
Hug a Sequoia! September 30 - October 2
by Carla Cloer

YOU are invited by the Sierra Club's Sequoia Task Force on September 30 - October 2 for a fall outing in the magnificent Giant Sequoia National Monument, about 90 minutes east of Porterville, California. You can arrive anytime after 2:00 pm Friday, September 30. Saturday morning we will have several hikes and see a wide variety of spectacular scenery. If we are lucky, the aspens will be changing colors and the dogwood will be turning red. We will hike through the Wheel Meadow Grove down the South Fork of the North Fork of the Tule River. Later we will take a short but steep jaunt to a secret waterfall. We will enjoy the vista from Dome Rock with an overview of the Kern Valley and views into the high peaks of Sequoia National Park. We will visit sites where the Sierra Club is challenging logging that is going on right now to measure stumps and count annual rings to determine the ages of these recently felled trees. Saturday night we will join together in a potluck, a favorite, creative treat.

 

As always, seeing old friends and meeting new people from all over the country are the best part of these outings. Talk with the activists who worked to protect these forests and groves for a quarter of a century and who continue to fight the Forest Service's latest plans to log in the groves under the pretext of restoration.

 

Before heading home Sunday morning, we will hike to a hidden glade in one of the most spectacular stands of Sequoias that exists with no crowds and no ORV's. Hug a Sequoia that may well have been a seedling when Cleopatra was crossing the Nile. If enough of us make the trip, we just might be able to stretch all our arms around one single tree. Others may chose to continue to hike to the Bush Tree at the bottom of the Freeman Creek Grove, others may hike out to the Needles Lookout before heading home

 

Participants will need their own food and camping gear. Tents are recommended but not required. We will provide the group campsite, spare gear, liquid refreshment, maps, advice, and lots of information. Complete details about this popular annual outing are available by e-mailing Carla at cac@ocsnet.net or by calling 559-781-8445. Be sure to leave your name and contact information. RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED BY SEPTEMBER 25th. This year we are asking for $10.00 from each participant to defray the costs of the campground. There are no other costs and participants are not required to be members of the Sierra Club.

WE HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US FOR A BEAUTIFUL FALL OUTING IN THE SEQUOIAS!

 

Sequoia Monument Fire Plan Declared Illegal
by Carla Cloer

 

The California Attorney General has won a landmark lawsuit against Sequoia National Forest. A Federal judge has found that the Sequoia National Forest Fire Management Plan, the basis for much of the management of Sequoia National Forest and the Giant Sequoia National Monument is illegal. This victory doubtless will influence the Sierra Club's lawsuit against the Monument Plan, but the greatest winners are those beleaguered sequoias of Sequoia National Forest.

We are extremely pleased by the AG's victory! Bill Lockyer's staff did an outstanding job with this complicated lawsuit. We have been holding our breath for the outcome knowing that it was an essential key to winning the battle for sound ecosystem management of the Monument.

What was this lawsuit vs. the Sequoia National Forest's Fire Plan all about? We here locally had been fighting to get Sequoia Forest to write a Fire Management Plan for many years, ever since the 1988 Land Management Plan ordered that a Fire Plan be written. When we raised the issue of the lack of a Fire Plan during the Monument planning process, we were stunned to learn that they suddenly had this Fire Plan. We had seen no public notice, no requests for comments, and no environmental documentation. From somewhere in the bowels of the Supervisor's office the Fire Plan emerged as a final document—a done deal.

 

Sequoia ForestKeeper Gets Great Court Ruling
On Categorical Exclusions

Sequoia ForestKeeper (SFK) received an valuable court ruling which has helped to secure the rights of Americans to participate in the management of our public lands. Because of our court win, Categorical Exclusions can no longer be exempted from appeal. The Secretary and Undersecretary of Agriculture can't exempt decisions from appeal anymore. Also, any appeal decision must be sent to appellants when the decision is rendered rather than five days after the decision is rendered. We give special thanks to Matt Kenna of the Western Environmental Law Center, who argued the Appeals Reform Act portion of this case.

 

SFK and the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute provided on-the-ground surveys of the conditions of the forest in the area of Sequoia's Burnt Ridge Restoration Project.

 

In 2004, SFK won a lawsuit filed by our organization along with Heartwood, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Island Institute, and the Sierra Club to stop the harmful and illegal Burnt Ridge Restoration Project. The case was argued by Rachel Fazio of John Muir Project in this initial stage. The judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order and a Preliminary Injunction to stop the project until the case could be heard, and several months later approved a settlement regarding the project when the Forest Service withdrew the project before the court date. The Burnt Ridge case appeared to be at an end, but the Appeals Reform Act issues contained within the lawsuit continued to be heard long after the Forest Service removed the Burnt Ridge project from consideration.

 

On July 2, 2005, a judge in the US District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, determined that the Forest Service could no longer hide behind Categorical Exclusion to push through logging projects disguised as "healthy forest" projects. (Case No. CIV F-03-6386 JKS)

 

Categorical Exclusion (CE) was a tool the Forest Service used to sidestep the legal planning process required for all other proposed projects in the name of urgency for public health or safety. No environmental assessment was completed and the public was cut out of the review and appeal process. While it may sound like a good idea to some, CEs are often abused by the Forest Service to get the "timber" to the mill; all they have to do is change the name of a logging project to a "hazard tree" or "fuels reduction" project and it can be categorically excluded. Until now, the public has had no recourse with a CE project.

This ruling has a huge national impact that will give concerned citizens the opportunity to appeal harmful or illegal projects, and we are proud to be a part of this victory for the people and lands of this great nation.

 

Ara Marderosian, Executive Director, Sequoia ForestKeeper, California non-profit 501(c)(3) Corporation
PO Box 2134, Kernville CA 93238
760-376-4434, www.sequoiaforestkeeper.org

Katrina Scams Begin Flooding in

 

Barely a week after the worst natural catastrophe to ever hit the US, scam artists and con men are pouring forth faster than they can be identified. Chaos is a natural cover for confidence games.

 

With millions of Americans seeking ways to help Katrina victims, it took no time at all for scams to begin.

 

Phones are ringing with appeals for money for Katrina refugees, from voices that could be anyone. They count on the great compassion and generosity of those of us who can only sit on the sidelines at a distance and cringe as the devastation and losses continue to grow.

 

Our family has long had a standard response to EVERY telephone appeal for money: "I'm sorry, but we do NOT accept phone solicitations of any kind. Please take us off your call list."

 

Here are some VERY important guidelines to know BEFORE you give anything to anyone:

• NEVER give your credit card number out over the phone to anyone who calls, no matter who they say they are. This was true before Katrina, and is doubly so now and for the months to come.
• Although you may have placed your name on a no-call list, this ban does NOT apply to charities. Those who masquerade as charities are taking advantage of this loophole, and calls are already coming in daily.
• If you want to give money, initiate the call yourself to an agency you know is legitimate and can be trusted.
• PHISHING scams will come in all sorts of disguises. Phishing—as most computer users should know—is a fake computer site address that comes tucked inside a legitimate looking email appeal. But when you click on the www.website, you are switched to a site created by scam artists, often located half-way across the world.
• NEVER send credit card numbers to any computer site which you did not initiate yourself. And even then, to protect yourself and your intended gift, locate a phone number you can call. Anyone can create computer pages that look real, especially those invented by con artists.

Sad to say, but phone scams and computer cons may take over a billion dollars away from relief efforts. Protect your gift by taking the time to assure it reaches those intended.

 

But these are not the only scams coming down.

 

Within a week after 9/11, trays of American Flag Pins appeared at checkout counters in big box discount stores.

 

Shamefully, these patriotically inspired purchases did absolutely nothing for relief efforts, and worse, they were made in China, doing nothing to help any American in need.

 

China is still a communist nation, fully intent on winning over capitalism by any means, including any deception that works. Sixty percent of what you buy at Walmart directly supports the goals of Communist China. Now more than ever, if it's not made in America, don't buy it.

 

Already, China is gearing up to produce tons of cute and sympathetic point of purchase gimmicks to separate you from your money. This junk does nothing for victims.

 

TV news media are already announcing these, such as a "dog collar" to raise money for Katrina relief. If you really want to help, DO NOT buy bracelets, trinkets, stickers and other trash that ALWAYS enriches whoever makes it.

 

Think Smart. Give all your money directly to the agencies doing the work, without supporting some opportunistic entrepreneur's profit margin. Katrina victims don't need more trash and tragedy in their lives.

 

Gene Messick

Guzzler Proposed for Sheephole Valley Wilderness

 

The California Department of Fish and Game is proposing to construct a large bighorn guzzler on the west side of the Sheephole Mountains inside the Sheephole Valley Wilderness, according to BLM Needles Field Office NOPA-CA690-05-01. Deadline for commenting on this Notification of Proposed Action is 10/4/05. For information contact Needles FO Wilderness Coordinator J. Dan Abbe, 760-326-7021, jabbe@ca.blm.gov.

Sierra Club Opposes Proposition 76

The Sierra Club opposes the Governor's initiative to fundamentally restructure California's budgetary process. At its core, Prop 76 would give the Governor dramatic new powers, under relatively common situations, to slash agency budgets without involving the Legislature.

 

The ability of the Governor to unilaterally cut budgets could have dramatically bad effects on environmental programs. It is not hard to envision a situation where a Governor hostile to environmental protection programs would use this authority to eliminate the budgets and staff of programs such as the Coastal Commission or water and air quality programs.

 

The "Live Within Our Means" initiative is essentially a power-grab by the Governor. Sierra Club urges a No vote on Prop 76.

 

Paul Mason

Legislative Representative, Sierra Club California

 

Legislative Session Ends
by Bill Allayaud, State Director

Here is quick rundown on the hot issues in Sacramento as the session winds down (the last day is set for Friday September 9, although they are threatening to finish a day earlier than that). Our team of legislative advocates, Bill Magavern, Jim Metropulos, Paul Mason, and myself, supported by legislative aide Sabrina Juarez and receptionist Bev Clairfield, have been very busy trying to assure that the good bills pass and the bad bill or bad amendments to good bills are squished.

 

We will give another report after the session ends. Since the Governor has 30 days to veto or sign legislation, we will not know the fate of many of these bills for some time.

 

Lobby Day: We completed another successful Lobby Day, with training on Sunday August 28 and working the Capitol on Monday August 29. We had about 30 volunteers from around the state lobby their Assemblymembers and Senators on four priority pieces of legislation: SB 1, SB 44, SB 646, and SB 999, all of which are mentioned below. Thanks to all that came. From their feedback, they had a fulfilling training and activist day.

 

Governor's Appointments: On September 1, the state senate rejected the nomination of Cindy Tuck, longtime lobbyist for the oil and utility industries, to chair the California Air Resources Board. Sierra Club CA had warned the governor's office before the appointment that Tuck would be strongly opposed by clean air advocates. Senate president Don Perata came through magnificently for all of us who breathe polluted air.

 

Sierra Club California and Committee to Bridge the Gap opposed the nomination of 2 people from the radioactive waste generators' lobby to a radioactive waste commission. On August. 31, the Senate Rules Committee voted against confirming James Tripodes because he was not truthful to the Committee.

 

The other nominee, Donna Earley, passed out of Rules on a 3-2 vote, and now proceeds to the Senate floor. Senator Debra Bowen used the information we provided to grill the nominees.

 

Legislation: The following Senate bills are pending action on the Assembly floor. In what is getting to be an old story, and one very frustrating to the environmental community and to progressive legislators, the "Moderate Caucus" in the Assembly is balking at passing the following bills:

• SB 999 (Machado), reform of the San Jaoquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Assemblymember Arambula of Fresno is key in this close fight.
• AB 1415 (Pavley), reduction of mercury in products, which is sponsored by Sierra Club California.
• SB 109 (Ortiz), enforcement of air quality laws
• SB 646 (Kuehl) would strengthen the requirements to receive waivers from waste discharge requirements from the Regional Water Boards.
• SB 44 (Kehoe) would require "air quality elements" in each city and county general plan.
• You have probably read about the politics involved in one of our top priority bills, SB 1 (Murray). This would implement the Governor's Million Solar Roofs Initiative. The bill aims to generate 3000 MW of power from solar energy and make the solar industry self-sufficient by 2013. The bill is being held in the Assembly until the issues of prevailing wage on solar projects and the licensing of solar installers are resolved. There may be a public hearing in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee on Tuesday, September 6 or Wednesday, September 7.
• Bills already on their way to the Governor: SB 695 (Kehoe) would establish a public registry with information on conservation easements. It has passed the legislature and is currently being considered by the Governor.
• The Assembly approved SB 484 (Migden), which would provide consumers with information on the safety of cosmetics. Final Senate action is assured, and we will urge the governor to sign this bill into law.
• AB 1328 (Wolk) would designate a 31 mile stretch of Cache Creek in Yolo and Lake counties as part of the state's Wild and Scenic Rivers program.
• AB 1328 has passed the legislature and is currently being considered by the Governor. He has to sign or veto the bill by midnight, Tuesday, Sept. 6 or it automatically becomes law.

Cache Creek Bill Goes Into Extra Innings

 

Governor Schwarzenegger asks for more time to review the Cache Creek Wild & Scenic River Act. The California Assembly gives him 30 more days until October 7. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked for more time to review AB 1328 — the Cache Creek Wild & Scenic River Act. At the request of the bill’s author, the bill was sent back to the Assembly, which gives the Governor 30 more days to sign or veto the bill.

 

The bill had already been approved by the California Legislature, which sent the bill for his signature on August 25. The California Constitution requires the Governor to sign or veto a bill within 12 days, or the bill passes automatically. But as the midnight deadline for gubernatorial action on AB 1328 approached, the Governor’s staff requested more time to provide a full briefing to the Governor concerning the bill. When it became clear that the alternative was a possible veto, the request was ultimately agreed upon by the bill’s author, Assemblymember Lois Wolk (D-Davis)

.

“By sending the bill back to the Assembly, and immediately returning the bill to the Governor this week, the clock will be reset and the Governor will have an additional 30 days to decide on my bill,” Assemblymember Wolk stated. “It is certainly my hope and belief that with more time, the Governor is more likely to sign it into law,” she said.

 

Your letter to Governor Schwarzenneger will help convince him to sign the Cache Creek Wild & Scenic River Act.

AB 1328 proposes to add 31 miles of Cache Creek in Lake and Yolo Counties to the California Wild & Scenic Rivers System. Wild & Scenic designation of the creek would prohibit new dams and water diversions and help protect the creek’s extraordinary scenic, recreational, wildlife, and fishery values.

 

Cache Creek is located in the scenic Coast Range northwest of Sacramento. It is one of the most popular whitewater boating streams close to the Bay Area and Sacramento. It supports one of the largest bald eagle and tule elk populations in the state. It is also rich in Native American cultural heritage. The segment proposed for state designation flows largely through public lands managed by federal, state, and local county park agencies.

 

AB 1328 is supported by local county supervisors and city councils, dozens of businesses and conservation groups, and numerous university professors and scientists. It has even been endorsed by the Los Angeles Times and the Woodland Daily Democrat (the local daily newspaper), as well as the Woodland Chamber of Commerce. The bill achieved bi-partisan support in the California Legislature.

 

Please write and send a letter TODAY to Governor Schwarzenegger urging him to sign AB 1328 into law and protecting in perpetuity Cache Creek as a Wild and Scenic River. He has until October 7 to sign this important bill.

 

Million Solar Roofs Bill Dies in California Assembly

Three-year Long Effort to Establish the Nation's Biggest Solar Power Initiative Fails on Last Day of Legislative Session.

The Million Solar Roofs bill, the biggest solar power policy considered in the nation, was killed again by the California Assembly after months of high-profile attention and bipartisan votes in both chambers.

"Not air pollution, nor blackouts, nor soaring energy costs were enough to elevate the Million Solar Roofs bill above the politics of the day," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate for Environment California, the leading advocate for the Million Solar Roofs bill the past three years. "The derailment of one of the most popular and commonsense bills of the year is the new poster child for short-sighted partisan politics."

 

The Million Solar Roofs bill, authored by State Senator Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) and supported by Governor Schwarzenegger as well as more than 200 cities, businesses and organizations throughout the state, aimed to build 3,000 MW of solar panels on a million roofs, including half of all new homes, in ten years growing the market by 30-fold—enough to make the industry self-sustaining.

The Million Solar Roofs bill would have achieved its goals in three main ways:

• Provided $2.5 billion in consumer rebates to homeowners and businesses over ten years.
• Required that solar panels become a standard offer for new homebuyers just like marble countertops.
• Allowed homeowners and businesses to receive a credit on their monthly electric bill for excess power generated by their solar system.

Over the past six months the bill, SB 1, passed through five committees as well as the State Senate by a strong bipartisan vote of 30-5. The bill was derailed when it reached its second to last stop, the Assembly Appropriations Committee where three amendments were added to the bill after intense lobbying of two labor unions, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the State Building Trades Council. Two other unions, Carpenters and Laborers, opposed these amendments, two of which were geared toward electricians.

"Now the finger pointing will start, everyone having someone else to blame but at the end of the day, Sacramento failed to reach what was an easy compromise," said Del Chiaro. "Ultimately the problem with the Million Solar Roofs bill wasn't the policy, it was the politics."

Solar advocates will now turn their attention to the Public Utilities Commission, which has the authority to establish a rebate program on its own. The Commission does not have the authority, however, to incorporate solar panels into new home construction, a key component of the Million Solar Roofs bill, or increase net metering, the ability for homeowners and businesses to receive a credit on their monthly electric bills for excess power generated by their solar systems.

"In the wake of Sacramento's inaction, establishing a consumer rebate program through the administrative process is our next best bet," said Del Chiaro. "But ultimately, California needs a more comprehensive solar policy and so long as the sun still shines we'll continue to fight for this commonsense solution."

Other policy venue options include returning again to the legislature in January or taking the solar initiative straight to the voters through the statewide initiative process.

 

GIS Committee Forming

The Conservation Committee is forming a subcommittee to provide computer-based mapping and spatial-analysis services for conservation and outings entities in the Chapter. It's named the Geographic Information Systems Committee and it will make use of the ESRI ArcGIS software that the Angeles Chapter recently obtained in a grant from the software manufacturer. The committee chair is Dean Wallraff.

 

There will be quarterly meetings but most of the GIS work will be done at the Chapter office or at committee members' homes. The committee is seeking members who can volunteer a few hours of time per quarter. Familiarity with GIS software would be helpful but the committee can train new members who have facility with Windows computers and knowledge of general mapping concepts. Please call Dean Wallraff at 818-679-3141 to volunteer.

 

The committee has produced a vision map showing the desired end state for land use in the Verdugo Mountains and San Rafael Hills and is working on a detailed map showing the current status of all parcels in this area. The committee is also working to revise the map of Angeles Chapter Groups. This is needed because zipcode designations have changed since the map printed in the Schedule was drawn up.

 

Preserve the Montebello Hills
by Margot Eiser, 323-728-2315

In February, 2005, a newspaper article entitled, Oil Company Eyes Land, PXP, Plains Exploration and Production Company, Offers More Taxes While Mulling Growth in the eastern half of the Montebello Hills which border on the Rio Hondo. This was cause for alarm because the Montebello City Council and it’s Police and Fire Departments had just campaigned for a sales tax increase which was defeated.

 

When Camille Fuller, long time Montebello resident who loves nature and lives near the hills, saw this article, she was spurred to action. She contacted many environmental groups in the area and was connected with Jane Beesley and through her to Jeff Yann. She was glad to learn that the Sierra Club was already aware of the value of the Montebello Hills and their potential to become a part of the Emerald Necklace Project and that they are home to the endangered gnat catcher.

 

Also anxious about this article, Montebello resident, Margot Eiser, wrote a letter about the need to preserve the hills which was published in the Montebello Chamber of Commerce news paper sent free to all residents. This led to Camille and Margot meeting each other and with the various Sierra Club committees. Both have joined the Sierra Club and become the Secretary and Vice Chairperson of the Montebello Hills Preservation Task Force of the San Gabriel Valley Task Force of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club (we do need a shorter name). Our illustrious Chairperson, Jim Flournoy gives us political advice based on his Rosemead “Stop Walmart Recall Campaign.” To our great relief and gratitude, we have Rachel Myers as our Conservation Consultant who gives us advice, help and encouragement. We are fortunate to have Jeff Yann share his vast knowledge and dedication with us also.

 

So far, our activities have included tabling at a community event and gathering names of those interested in working to have a park in the hills instead of houses and attending City Council meetings to contact local movers and shakers and politicians. We have plans to participate in the Chamber of Commerce City Council Candidates’ Forum to find out which, if any, candidates value open space within the suburban environment and what they would be willing to do to uphold their position. We all have committed our selves to finding a way to get at least one of us onto the Mayor’s Committee on Hillside Development, so far populated by the Mayor, the potential ‘destructor’, real estate brokers, technical advisors, business people, a few private citizens, and the new city attorney who has bragged that he has several attorneys on his side to fight environmental laws.

 

We know we have a lot of education and outreach to do since the Hills do look rather bedraggled and some folks think that the habitat of the gnat catcher can be rearranged to coincide with the historic adobe and the back entrance to the proposed housing tract.

 

With the support and expertise of the Sierra Club, we have confidence that we will do what is necessary to Preserve the Montebello Hills as a living link to our past and future.

 

No One Can Say They Didn't See it Coming
by Sidney Blumenthal

 

In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the US. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.

 

Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature.

 

A year ago the US Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the US, including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the US Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late.

 

The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they didn't see it coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

 

The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.

 

In response to this potential crisis, four leading environmental groups conducted a joint expert study, concluding in 2004 that without wetlands protection New Orleans could be devastated by an ordinary, much less a Category 4 or 5, hurricane. "There's no way to describe how mindless a policy that is when it comes to wetlands protection," said one of the report's authors. The chairman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality dismissed the study as "highly questionable," and boasted, "Everybody loves what we're doing."

 

"My administration's climate change policy will be science based," President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, when the Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on global warming to the United Nations reflecting its expert research, Bush derided it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and excised the climate change assessment from the agency's annual report.

The next year, when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report on the Environment," stating, "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment," the White House simply demanded removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At the G-8 meeting in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any common action on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have continued to accumulate impressive data on the rising temperature of the oceans, which has produced more severe hurricanes.

 

In February 2004, 60 of the nation's leading scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, warned in a statement, "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking": "Successful application of science has played a large part in the policies that have made the United States of America the world's most powerful nation and its citizens increasingly prosperous and healthy ... Indeed, this principle has long been adhered to by presidents and administrations of both parties in forming and implementing policies. The administration of George W. Bush has, however, disregarded this principle ... The distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends must cease." Bush completely ignored this statement.

 

In the two weeks preceding the storm in the Gulf, the trumping of science by ideology and expertise by special interests accelerated. The Federal Drug Administration announced that it was postponing sale of the morning-after contraceptive pill, despite overwhelming scientific evidence of its safety and its approval by the FDA's scientific advisory board. The United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa accused the Bush administration of responsibility for a condom shortage in Uganda—the result of the administration's evangelical Christian agenda of "abstinence." When the chief of the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the Justice Department was ordered by the White House to delete its study that African-Americans and other minorities are subject to racial profiling in police traffic stops and he refused to buckle under, he was forced out of his job. When the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting oversight analyst objected to a $7 billion no-bid contract awarded for work in Iraq to Halliburton (the firm at which Vice President Cheney was formerly CEO), she was demoted despite her superior professional ratings. At the National Park Service, a former Cheney aide, a political appointee lacking professional background, drew up a plan to overturn past environmental practices and prohibit any mention of evolution while allowing sale of religious materials through the Park Service.

 

On the day the levees burst in New Orleans, Bush delivered a speech in Colorado comparing the Iraq war to World War II and himself to Franklin D. Roosevelt: "And he knew that the best way to bring peace and stability to the region was by bringing freedom to Japan." Bush had boarded his very own "Streetcar Named Desire."

 

Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior advisor to President Clinton and the author of "The Clinton Wars," is writing a column for Salon and the Guardian of London.

 

Hurricane Katrina Leaves Toxic Soup in its Wake

Statement of Darryl Malek-Wiley, Sierra Club Louisiana Grassroots Environmental Justice Organizer

"In addition to being a human and economic tragedy, Hurricane Katrina is an environmental disaster of unprecedented proportions. Although the extent of the environmental devastation remains unknown, it is clear that the flooding has brought a toxic soup to New Orleans: At least two hazardous waste sites are underwater, at least two oil refinery sites in Chalmette are shut down and possibly flooded, and throughout the city gas stations and natural gas pipelines are flooded and leaking into water-soaked neighborhoods. In addition, bacteria and fecal matter contaminate the flood waters and mosquito-borne and other disease threatens.

 

"Once again, as in many environmental disasters, the most vulnerable population is bearing the largest burden—the poor and children who lacked the resources and capacity to leave New Orleans before the storm.

 

"Since the 1950's, Louisiana's coastal wetlands have been a sacrifice zone for oil and gas exploration and production to supply America's energy needs. Instead of providing a healthy buffer for storm surge, our coastal wetlands and Gulf beaches have been decimated again and the extent of damage is currently unknown.

 

"Most climate scientists are now saying with certainty that global warming is occurring, and that humans are playing a major role by releasing pollution that creates a heat trapping blanket around the globe. As the planet warms, the World Metrological Organization says we can expect more violent and extreme weather, like hurricanes.

 

"Hurricane Katrina spotlights the danger of our dependence on oil, and how fragile our reliance on it is. This one event has seriously affected the production, refinery capacity, and price of oil in the United States. We can decrease the effect of future disruptions by reducing our dependence on oil, not putting up more rigs and drilling our special places. The fact is, we cannot drill our way to oil independence—the United States is responsible for 25 percent of the world's oil consumption, and yet we have less than 3 percent of the world's oil supplies. Additionally, the current lack of refinery capacity is the result of a conscious decision by the oil industry in the 1990s to limit supply to increase profitability—and they have succeeded. Exxon is the most profitable company in the world, and just last quarter posted profits of $7.84 billion.

 

"Still, America, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast have an opportunity to be visionary and think well into the future in our recovery efforts. In rebuilding New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast, we can help make America more energy independent by using green building practices that emphasize energy conservation and use renewable sources of energy. We can ensure that the neighborhoods that we rebuild are transit-oriented and people-friendly. And, we can rethink how toxic chemicals are stored and shipped through our communities."

 

"This is also an opportunity to take people who have no hope and give them jobs to rebuild their future while they rebuild their communities."

Owens Valley Victory
by Mike Prather

In July the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club had a terrific legal ruling against LADWP regarding the re-watering of the Lower Owens River. Creation of a wonderfully rich 62 mile riparian habitat is now much more assured. This victory was the result of hard local work by Toiyabe Chapter activists AND huge generosity and encouragement by the Angeles Chapter. The City of Los Angeles owns 240,000 acres in the Owens Valley and they are often mismanaged and threatened by LADWP water gathering and land management. Our local cry is, "No dehydration without representation." The Angeles Chapter is our representation.

 

Hilda Solis To Honor Jeff Yann

Hilda Solis expects to honor Jeff Yann at her coming fundraiser on September 18 at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel.

 

Villaraigosa Appoints New "Environmental Board" for DWP

 

"A clean environment is the foundation of livable community. It is not a luxury, it is a necessity. I will dedicate myself to transforming Los Angeles into the cleanest, greenest big city in America." Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles's newly elected mayor. Villaraigosa recently appointed six seasoned environmentalists to play key roles in his administration including a new Deputy Mayor for Energy and the Environment, a position he created to oversee various green initiatives across the city. 

 

The appointees are Mary Nichols, Director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment; David Nahai, a member of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board; William Burke, chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District; Nick Patsaouras, the owner of an engineering company; and Edith Ramirez, a business attorney.

 

"We can and must make the department more responsive to environmental concerns," Villaraigosa said. "We can and must transform the DWP from a municipal utility dependent upon burning coal into a leader in green power."

 

The appointees support Villaraigosa's goal of having 20% of the DWP's energy production come from renewable sources, including wind, geothermal and solar power, by the year 2010—up from 3% this year. This deadline is an acceleration of the department's current plan to reach 20% by the year 2017, a goal that agency officials reluctantly agreed to under pressure from the City Council.

 

The mayor also called on his appointees to improve relations with the Owens Valley, which has battled the agency in court for many years over water diversions to Los Angeles.

Local environmental groups have hailed the appointments.

 

Jeanne Wade Evans Named
San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor

Jeanne Wade Evans, currently National Program Manager for Fuels in USDA Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Management staff in Washington DC, will be the new Supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest.

 

“Jeanne’s national leadership experience in programs to reduce hazardous fuels and rehabilitate burned areas will be a real asset in her new job,” said Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Bernie Weingardt. Combined with her extensive field experience in watershed, range and wildlife, and her demonstrated management skills as a District Ranger, she will do great work for the San Bernardino National Forest and the communities there. I know she will continue to build on and even expand the legacy that retiring Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman created there, with his decisive action to reduce fire risk and formation of strong partnerships to help us accomplish that and other critical work. I am very pleased about having Jeanne become part of our leadership team here in California.”

 

Wade Evans, 49, received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Resources from Arizona State University in 1977. She started her Forest Service (FS) career in 1977 on the Coconino NF in Arizona as a range conservationist. She subsequently had responsibilities for watershed, range and wildlife in several ranger district and forest staff positions in the Southwest. She was a District Ranger on the Coronado NF in Arizona from 1990 to 1999.

 

After that 22 years of field work, Wade Evans transferred to Forest Service’s national headquarters in Washington DC as Deputy Director for Forest and Rangelands, where she coordinated national policy and budget for post-fire rehabilitation for the National Fire Plan. In March 2004, she became the National Program Manager for Fuels in the Fire and Aviation Management Staff there, with responsibility for national policy and oversight of the hazardous fuels program. She is currently working with several Cabinet-level Departments to organize the White House’s Conference on Cooperative Conservation, which was held in St. Louis at the end of August.

 

“My husband and I are very excited about getting back to the West and working with the Forest Service employees that have made the San Bernardino National Forest a flagship forest of the country,” Wade Evans said. “I’m also looking forward to getting to know the many people in the communities there who have created the cooperative spirit the area is noted for.”

 

She and her husband Luke have three daughters living in Arizona and Iowa. In her spare time, Wade Evans enjoys gardening, scuba diving and hiking. She will report to her new post October 2, providing some transition time until Zimmerman retires at the end of the year.

 

Gravel Mining Proposed for Claremont Wash
by Robin Ives

For the past 33 years, Vulcan Materials Company and Holiday Rock Company, both based in Upland, have held mining leases on 433 acres in the San Antonio Wash, to the east of Claremont. The land is owned by the Pomona Valley Protective Association, which was formed in 1909 to ensure that Claremont, Upland, Pomona, and La Verne, would retain their natural water resources. The area’s porous lands act as a sponge, allowing storm water to seep into an underground basin. Both companies are mining in Upland on Association owned parcels that are largely depleted. Protective Association officials say that six pits would remain after the land is excavated, and would aid in the water collection.

But this prospect of having a mining field as a neighbor has left Claremont residents with their multi-million-dollar estates, tract homes and 1950 cottages concerned about noise, dust, and decreasing property values. Environmentalists fear the loss of rare plant habitat. Opponents have formed Claremonters Against Strip Mining to fight the project.

 

Vulcan Materials Company and Holiday Rock Company expect to mine about 50 million tons of material over the next ten to twenty years. They argue that it is essential to reap the area’s resources in order to keep up with the construction demands of the region.

 

The companies would need the Claremont Planning Commission to amend the City’s Land Use and Development Code to include mining as a permitted use before they could begin excavation. Earlier this year the Commission and the City Council rejected the project on the grounds that the mining would cause environmental damage and harm to the residents’ quality of life.

 

The mining companies are not giving up. Vulcan filed a lawsuit against the City in June to overturn its decision. Holiday Rock’s officials say they are waiting to see the outcome of the suit before they decide what to do.

The impact of mining the parcel would be minimal said Steve Courtner, Vice President of Resources for Vulcan. He said that there would be no change in noise levels or truck traffic because the mining would be done far away from homes and the processing would be done on an adjacent site in Upland. Mark Oldfield, spokesman for the California Department of Conservation, which oversees the Mining and Geology Board said that the Board had identified 15 regionally significant mineral resource areas about 15 years ago. Claremont and Upland were among the areas that were designated.

 

“The cost of transportation of the very heavy material is high,” Oldfield said. It is a lot less expensive to build things like roads when minerals are available locally.

 

Dr Marla Law Abrolat, a local pediatrician, opposes the proposals. She argues that the dust that would be kicked up by extracting rock would harm the lungs of children who live nearby. “Children are more susceptible because they are outside more, playing and breathing harder,” said Abrolat. She has a 6-year-old son, a 9-year-old daughter, and lives 4 houses from the parcel. “This is not what we chose for our family. The impacts are too great to justify.”

 

Environmentalists, including the Sierra Club, oppose the mining plans because they say that the excavations would destroy the alluvial fan sage scrub that grows in the area’s foothills.

“It doesn’t seem that this is the only place to get the materials by a long shot.” said Dan Silver, Executive Director of the Endangered Habitats League, Inc. “There is no justification for destroying this extremely rare habitat.”

But Vulcan’s Courtner says that the companies plan to replace some of the sage scrub. He also argues that it would be more harmful to the environment to haul these heavy materials from outlying areas because of diesel fuel emissions from the trucks.

“There are people who don’t want a Wal-Mart near them either,” Courtner said. “In a perfect world, no neighborhood should have an industry within miles and miles of it.

Exxpose Exxon

The Sierra Club and over a dozen of the nation's largest environmental and public advocacy groups have joined together to Exxpose Exxon in a campaign to reveal and change Exxon's appalling environmental policies. ExxonMobil is making record-breaking profits because of record high gasoline prices but refuses to invest that windfall in renewable energy to ease America's oil dependence; in fact, ExxonMobil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to fund junk science to hide the facts about global warming and is the only major oil company still pushing to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

 

Tell ExxonMobil that you pledge not to buy ExxonMobil's gas, not to invest in ExxonMobil's stock, and not to take a new job with the company.

 

Energy Bill Preserves Dependence on Oil

Without Better Fuel Efficiency
by Orli Cotel

 

There's an old cowboy saying, "It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep." Or, for that matter, the hybrid in a flock of hummers.

 

Looks like President Bush needs to soak up more of that cowboy wisdom down on his Crawford ranch. As gas prices soar, and Americans sweat as much over their rising gas bills as they do over the rising temperatures, the president signed an that will do nothing to reduce our dependence on oil or get better fuel efficiency for our cars. Apparently, moving towards a clean energy future is just too much hard work:

 

"Most of the serious problems, such as high gasoline costs or the rising dependence on foreign oil, have developed over decades. It's going to take years of focused effort to alleviate those problems," Bush said in a speech before he signed the bill.

 

So what did our President do to promptly start fixing those problems? Well...he went on vacation. With oil prices surging past $65 a barrel, Bush's schedule included a Little League Baseball game, a nap, and some fishing. In fact, this vacation marks Bush's longest stretch yet away from the White House—although it is his 49th trip that he's taken to his ranch since taking office, putting him on his way to breaking the record for the most vacation time ever taken by a president.

 

Meanwhile, other records are being broken over at ExxonMobil, the world's largest and most profitable private oil company, where they recently announced $7.84 billion in earnings for the 2nd quarter. Of these profits, millions will be spent to cast doubt on the facts of global warming, and to lobby for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

 

You can bet your bottom gas dollar that Exxon won't exactly be jumping to use its profits for promoting fuel efficiency.

 

Home Depot and Its Toxic Choices

Home Depot—the nation's largest hardware chain—doesn't offer their customers much of a choice when it comes to animal and kid-friendly lawn and garden care. The chain doesn't offer enough natural alternatives to the toxic pesticides it stocks on its shelves. And many of the chemical lawn pesticides Home Depot offers are not only toxic to birds, bees, fish and other wildlife, but also harmful to children, pets and water quality. Let Home Depot know that toxic pesticides aren't the only choice for lawn and garden care. Take action now...

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

 

Help us pressure Home Depot to carry a full range of alternatives to toxic pesticides. As the largest supplier of lawn and garden products in the country, Home Deport must do more to support sustainable land practices that won't pollute our environment, threaten our wildlife or harm our families.

 

We need to urge Home Depot to do three things:

How Many Bushies...

How many members of the Bush administration does it take to change a light bulb?