Environmental Resolutions Passed by the
Angeles Chapter Executive Committee

(3/23/03)  Opposition to the City of Irvine’s ballot resolution to block participation in the Centerline Rail Project

(3/23/03) Approval of Sections 1-15 of the Conservation Grants Handbook

(3/23/03) Approval of a short term grant for the Julia Butterfly Hill Earth Day event.

(3/23/03) Endorsement of city status for Hacienda Heights

(2/23/03) Conservation Grants for First Cycle 2003

The Conservation Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club approves the allocation of conservation grants for the first cycle of 2003, including the grant allocation recommended by the Conservation Management Committee and for the Santa Clarita Urban Water Management Plan Lawsuit.

(2/23/03) Allocation to San Diego Chapter

(2/23/03) Allocation to UC Merced Lawsuit

(2/23/03)  CEQA Lawsuit: Saddleback Canyons Task Force

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club initiates a CEQA suit for the Saddle Creek & Saddle Crest projects in the Trabuco Canyon area of Orange County. The Chapter assigned a cap to this suit..

(1/26/03) Letter in Support of Vedanta Society Lawsuit

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club authorizes the allocation funds for attorneys at Shute, Mahaley and Weinberg to prepare a detailed friend of the court letter opposing the Appeals Court decision to deny cost recovery in the Vedanta Society CEQA lawsuit.

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club authorizes participation by the Angeles Chapter in a lawsuit challenging Ventura County’s approval of the development of Ahmanson Ranch and that a cap be placed on the Angeles Chapter’s financial obligation in the suit.

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club seeks the approval of the National Sierra Club Legal Committee to participate in the filing of an amicus brief with local environmental organizations. The amicus brief will support the Department of Parks and Recreation’s (DPR)’s plans to close El Morro Mobile Home Park in Crystal Cove State Park and to convert the area to public uses against a suit brought by the residents of the mobile home park challenging the adequacy of DPR’s Environmental Impact Report for the closure and conversion. Only incidental costs of preparing and filing the brief will be incurred. The Chapter’s share of these costs will be born by the Crystal Cove Task Force out of its current budget.

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club authorizes Chapter sponsorship of a study of open space enhancement, including trail and wildlife connectivity, in the Azusa area. The study will be performed by Studio 606, of California Polytechnic University, Pomona. The Chapter pledges up to support this study with Chapter funds, with an objective, as was done in the San Gabriel Confluence Park Study, to raise these funds through external pledges and grants.

(1/5/03) Restoration of Conservation Funds to Three Chapter Campaigns

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club authorizes restoration from the Chapter Conservation Budget of funds for the Friends of the Foothills Task Force, the Forest Task Force, and the San Gabriel Valley Task Force.

(1/5/03) Sponsorship of Legislation on High-Speed Roads Through State Parks

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club authorizes the Angeles Chapter to take an active role in generating grassroots support for State legislation to prohibit construction of high-speed roads through State Parks, and further authorizes, subject to approval of an appropriate campaign plan, the Chapter use of 501(c)(4) funds to promote the grassroots support of this legislation.

The Executive Committee approved applications for EPEC grants from the San Gabriel River Campaign and the Santa Clarita River Campaign,

Be it resolved that the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter recommend that all Chapter, Group, Section and Conservation chairs conduct a sustainability survey of Club practices. This should include the following: Are meeting places easy for public transportation? Walking? Cycling? Can business be transacted without driving? Conference calls, Internet? When not, is carpooling routinely strongly encouraged? Are Sierra Club offices too warm in the winter or too cold in the summer? Do they use compact fluorescent bulbs? Are office appliances shut off when not in use? Are they energy efficient?

Clean Water/Land Use:

1. Do Sierra Club functions offer food that is organic and low on the food chain?

Forests/Land Use:

1. Is more paper being used than is absolutely necessary?
2. Is paper reused?
3. Are Chapter and Group newsletters printed on recycled paper?
4. Are Xeroxed copies on 100% recycled paper? Are both sides used?
5. Do Sierra Club events and offices use coffee mugs, cloth towels and reusable plates

This survey will be carried out by the Sustainable Population/Consumption Committe.

(11/24/02) Membership Rules for Chapter Entities Conservation Management Committee

To qualify as a Sierra Club entity, a body must be authorized by an appropriate Sierra Club entity, all its officers must be current members of the Sierra Club, and only Sierra Club members may vote on resolutions that affect Sierra Club actions or policy. The entity must have a definite rule stating who is a member of the entity.

The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club opposes the 887 acre Canyon Hills Development proposed by Whitebird, Inc. in the Verdugo Mountains of Los Angeles County. The Chapter authorizes the preparation of a Sierra Club brochure.

(11/24/02) Legislation to Prohibit Toll Roads and Bullet Trains Through State Parks

The Angeles Chapter requests that Andrew Lichtman continue to represent the Sierra Club in drafting state legislation to discourage the routing of transportation corridors of any kind (wherever located, whenever planned and whether or not just for automobiles) through state parks.

(11/24/02) Hobo Aliso Ridge CEQA Suit Analysis<

The Executive Committee lifts the restriction on the grant allocated for the Laguna Beach Hobo Aliso Ridge potential lawsuit. The Chapter approves the evaluation. Formation of an En of a possibe CEQA suit.

Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club authorizes the creation of a Chapter-wide standing committee on Environmental Justice.

The Environmental Justice Committee is charged with working on environmental issues in the under-represented communities in the Chapter territory, and in communication with the Chapter’s Conservation and Political Committees in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, as well as the Southern California Field Office and its staff.

The Environmental Justice Committee is charged with encouraging activists from the Central Group and the Airport-Marina Group and other members who participated in the Belmont appeal to continue working in the Temple-Beaudry neighborhood, as well as building chapter-wide awareness of environmental justice issues.

(5/19/02) The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club restates its support for the reconfigured San Gabriel Valley Recycled Water Demonstration Project.

(4/28/02) LA Long Beach Harbors

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club adopts the following vision for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach:

A Vision for a Good Harbor

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach should move towards the elimination of diesel in ships, vehicles and equipment. It should switch to renewable electric. In the transition, it should switch to the best available technology such as biodiesel and scrub pollution with filters.

• Port energy should be produced on site with solar, wind and wave systems.
• The Ports should retain its present footprint on the land and the sea.
• The Ports should support and enhance a healthy coastal estuary.
• Port lights should be focused downward and turned off when not in use. Port noise should be controlled.
• Berths should be held in common. Any empty berth should service a ship that is available.
• Warehouse and storage should be removed from the coastal area. The Ports should be for loading and unloading only.
• Dredging should be done with curtains that contain the water column so that the sediments can be filtered.
• The management of the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles should be combined and run be a legal entity other than the municipalities of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
• There should be zero discharge of untreated ballast water. Known ballast water polluters should pay for the damage they have done.
• The Ports should be beautified with walls, landscaping and architecture.
• Exemptions from environmental laws should be eliminated. The Ports should not certify their own Environmental Impact Reports and Master Plans.
• All explosive materials should be loaded and unloaded on Pier 400, far from shore.
• Traffic from the ports should be rail or with clean vehicles.
• The Port area should be redefined to include the maritime area, the surface transportation area (710 Freeway), all warehouse areas and the entire AQMD area that is out of compliance because of Port related clean air problems.
• Local Neighborhoods should benefit from Port profits.

(4/28/02) Budget Grants Process Revision

Merge the conservation grants and conservation management committees into one committee with grants and management responsibility. Provide much of funding on an annual basis, at the beginning of the year with the remainder (at least 40%) left for later grant cycles, and short-term, emergency, new and seed projects. Adopt a specific set of criteria and forms (scoresheet) to be used during the evaluation of grant applications, with the intention of making the process more clear to those who are applying, and making the evaluation of the grant proposals more objective, and less subjective.

For purposes of communicating to our members and the general public a consistent message about what we do, that in communications we group our conservation activities into the same three broad groupings: Wild Places and Open Spaces, Livable Cities and Environmental Quality, Sustainable Planet. The Conservation Committee and ExComm may also decide to add in additional themes and priorities when appropriate. For instance, it may decide to highlight the work we are doing on preserving rivers and riparian habitat in three specific projects as a major theme of our conservation communication in addition to these three ongoing areas of focus.

Note: The Conservation Committee, at its April 17 meeting, also passed a lengthy motion proposed by Kevin Finney on the implementation of the above resolution. A copy of the text of this motion has been appended to the minutes of that meeting and is available from the Secretary.

(4/28/02) Conservation Committee Voting Criteria for Chapter Entities

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club establishes the following criteria regarding the status of various Chapter entities to be able to vote at meetings of the Chapter Conservation Committee:

1. Groups and sections which have a Conservation Chair will be considered to be adequately informed on conservation issues to be allowed to vote at any meeting
2. Issue Committees and Task Forces, to be considered active, must have more than four members and must meet at least one time per calendar quarter. In addition, they must have a mission statement that clearly states their purpose, and must publish an annual report describing their meetings, activities, and accomplishments.
3. To be able to vote at Conservation Committee meetings, active committees and task forces must have had a member in attendance at Conservation Committee meetings either in Los Angeles of Orange County at least once in the previous four months. Attendance will be tracked by the Secretary of the Conservation Committee.

(4/28/02) AB 1969 Support

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter asks the California Legislative Committee to take a position in support of AB 1969, as amended April 15, 2002, which would prohibit the Orange County Sanitation District From seeking a 301(h) waiver.

(4/28/02) AB 1998 Opposed

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club opposes AB 1998, which would establish a 25 member task force for exploring and advocating the construction of a transportation corridor between Riverside and Orange Counties through the Cleveland National Forest.

(4/28/02) Trabuco Protection Area

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter resolves that the Trabuco Roadless Area of the Trabuco District of the Cleveland National Forest (CNF) be approved for support of designation as a Protected Area as part of an overall campaign to prevent a road from being built in the Trabuco Area. Any proposed Protected Area legislation and its associated legislative category will be developed in conjunction with the CNRCC Wilderness Committee, which has offered its help to make sure that the proposed legislation is compatible with Sierra Club statewide

(3/10/02) Wilderness and Scenic River Designations in the Angeles National Forest

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club recommends that the following areas of the Angeles National Forest, as identified and mapped by the California Wild Heritage Campaign, be supported for congressional wilderness designation or wild and scenic river status, as indicated: Proposed Wilderness: Sheep Mountain Addition S.W., West Fork, Silver Mountain, Pleasant View Ridge, Magic Mountain, Castaic Mountains (Salt Creek, Fish Canyon, Tule Canyon, Red Mountain), Rim of the Valley, Condor Peak and Strawberry Peak.

Proposed Wild and Scenic Rivers: the San Gabriel River East and West Forks.

The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club approves the transfer of Sierra Club representation for that portion of the San Mateo creek watershed lying in San Diego County from the San Diego Chapter to the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club.

(1/27/02) Emergency Funding to Save Belvedere Park

The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club allocates short-term conservation funds to the Central Group to oppose the taking of the 31 acre Belvedere Park in east Los Angeles for a high school. The money is to be used to hire an EIR attorney and for preparation of a fact sheet.

(12/16/01) Whittier Narrows Planning Project

The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club will sponsor and solicit funding for a California Polytechnic University, Pomona Studio 606, project to develop a park development master plan for the Whittier Narrows area of the San Gabriel River.

(12/16/01) Hobo/Aliso Ridge Lawsuit

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club authorizes a lawsuit to challenge a proposed development in the coastal hills of Laguna Beach in the event that this development is approved by the Laguna Beach City Council.

(12/16/01) Campaign to Defeat the Rancho Potrero Leadership Academy Proposal

The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club allocates funds to the Santa Ana Mountains Task Force for an educational program to defeat the Rancho Potrero Leadership Academy project near Trabuco Canyon. Any fundraising projects for this campaign must be coordinated with the Angeles Chapter Development Manager.

(12/16/01) Coastal Wetland Definition Lawsuit

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club recommends that the Sierra Club be the lead petitioner for litigation challenging three permits approved by the California Coastal Commission for the Playa Vista road expansion. Rex Frankel will be the liaison. The Chapter will make a contribution towards this litigation.

(12/16/01) Wetland Dredging Lawsuit

The Executive Committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club recommends that the Sierra Club be the lead petitioner for litigation challenging a permit approved by the California Coastal Commission, as requested by the City of Los Angeles, for dredging the Grand Canal (lagoon), a part of the Ballona Wetland. The Chapter will contribute an amount not to exceed $4,000 toward this litigation.. Rex Frankel will be the liaison.

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