PCL Insider: News from the Capitol

A STATE OF CHANGE: PCL’S ENVIRONMENTAL SYMPOSIUM INJECTS MOMENTUM INTO THE MOVEMENT 

Last Saturday, the Sacramento Convention Center was filled with a sold-out crowd for the Planning and Conservation League’s annual Environmental Legislative Symposium.

Our “state of change” theme resonated throughout the day with hopeful messages about California’s ability to re-invent itself and re-shape the world. Attendees were treated to several thought-provoking keynote speakers, including Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, California Attorney General Jerry Brown (whose talk ranged from cavemen analogies to a treatise on “enoughness”), Geof Syphers of Sonoma Mountain Village, and State Senator Darrell Steinberg. Workshops and panels throughout the day provided concrete strategies about how both activists and environmental professionals can improve the state’s approach to the environment. (We’ll post the presentation materials at www.pcl.org soon).

This year we also more than doubled attendance at our evening awards ceremony and banquet, at which we honored the Winnemem Wintu tribe, Assembly Member Lois Wolk, Bill Center, PG&E, and the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition.

Thanks to everyone who participated for making our 2008 PCL Symposium a resounding success! 

STATE PARKS ROAD BILL HITS DEAD END IN ASSEMBLY PARKS COMMITTEE

Already under the ax in Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget, California’s popular State Parks faced another jarring blow this week. On Tuesday morning, AB 1457 (Huffman), which would have given the State Park Commission a seat at the table in planning how roads affect our state parks, fell one vote short of passage in the Assembly Water, Parks, & Wildlife Committee. Opposition to the bill stemmed largely from proponents of a plan to extend State Route 241 by constructing a six lane toll road right through San Onofre State Beach.

Because AB 1457 was not passed out of this policy committee it failed to meet a legislative deadline for bills introduced in 2007.  As for the next steps for San Onofre State Beach, The California Coastal Commission will discuss the Route 241 toll road in early February. For more information and to take action visit Save San Onofre.

Stay tuned for more news about the future of all of California’s state parks!

PCL CALLS FOR FULL DISCLOSURE ON WATER DEAL

On Monday, the Planning and Conservation League urged the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to reconsider a report that, if adopted, would strip the state of oversight of significant aspects of the State Water Project and potentially worsen conditions in the Delta. Responding to DWR’s recently released Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) analyzing several significant amendments to the State Water Project contracts, which dictate how and when water is pumped from the Delta, PCL pointed out that the interim implementation of these changes has led to the ecological crisis in the Delta and a growing uncertainty regarding the decreasing reliability of water that faces us today.  

In 1994, DWR brokered a secret deal between a few urban and agricultural water interests to alter the allocation of California water by amending these contracts. As part of that deal, which led to the so-called “Monterey Amendments,” the State attempted to eliminate drought assurances for urban areas and to give away State owned water storage facilities to one agricultural water contractor. The State also relaxed rules on the use and transfer of water supplies in a way that has further exacerbated the state’s unsustainable reliance on the over-allocated Delta. 

This DEIR, released in October, resulted from a successful lawsuit filed by PCL and two other plaintiffs.  In a lengthy public comment letter, PCL called for the full disclose the environmental and social impacts that the proposed amendments would have on the state if permanently adopted and urged the state to increase certainty for urban water supplies and improve the health of the Delta.

Stay tuned to the Insider, there will definitely be more later!

KUDOS TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE CHAMPIONS

Know any 16-18 year old Climate Champions? The California Air Resources board is sponsoring a competition to “engage young people as communicators who will help to influence and educate their peers, as well as the general public, on the urgency of climate change. Their entries will explain their interest in addressing climate change and detail how they might make a difference in their schools, neighborhoods, communities or other organizations to which they might belong.”

Three of the champions will be selected to represent the United States at a climate event in London and participate in a “youth summit” in Kobe, Japan.

Find out how your precocious youngsters can be California Climate Champions today!

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