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The legacy of California's protector of the coast

8/21/11

With 37 million people, it's remarkable that California has one of the most pristine coastlines in the United States. One man and the organization he's built are responsible for protecting it.

Highway 1 hugs the coast from Mexico to Leggett in Northern California, connecting you to the Pacific Ocean in a way no other road in the country does. In some stretches it's breathtaking and hair-raising; in others it's the most tranquil drive you'll ever take.

It goes through quintessential 1950s California beach towns. It has hairpin turns, open farm fields and hundreds of miles of unspoiled farmland. It's the kind of road built to be driven in a Porsche with the top down. The almost 400-mile coast drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco should be on everyone's "do it before you die" list.

Along the 45-mile stretch from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz there are no stoplights and less than 5,000 people.

Yet there's no rational reason most of the 1,100 miles of the California coast should look like this. Thirty-three million Californians live less than an hour from the coast. It's some of the most expensive land in the country.

Here's why most of the coast looks like this: Almost 40 years ago the people of California passed Proposition 20 -- the Coastal Initiative -- and in 1976 the state legislature passed the Coastal Act, which created the California Coastal Commission. The Commission acts as California's planning commission for all 1,100 miles of the coast. Its staff of 120 recommend actions to the 12 commissioners all political appointees who make the final decisions.

Among the Commission's charges are: 1 maximize public access to the coast and maximize public recreational opportunities in the coastal zone consistent with sound resources conservation principles and constitutionally protected rights of private property owners. 2 assure priority for coastal-dependent and coastal-related development over other development on the coast.

Last week, the single individual responsible for running the Commission staff, Executive Director Peter Douglas, announced his retirement after 26 years on the job.

Unlike Robert Moses who built modern New York City or Baron Haussmann who built 19th-century Paris in concrete and steel, the legacy of Peter Douglas is in what you don't see along California's coast: wetlands that haven't been filled, public access that hasn't been lost, scenic areas that haven't been destroyed.

An old political science rule of thumb says regulatory agencies become captured by the industries that they regulate within seven years. Yet Peter has managed to keep the Commission independent despite enormous pressure.

The Commission has been able to stave off the tragedy of the commons for the California coast. Upholding the Coastal Act had it taking unpopular positions, upsetting developers of seaside projects, homeowners who feel that private property rights unconditionally trump public access, and local governments that believe they should have the final say in what's right for their community.

Peter opened the Commission to public participation and promoted citizen activism. He built a world-class staff that understands what public service truly means.

The coast is never saved; it is always being saved. The work is never finished. The pressure to develop it is relentless, and it can be paved over with a thousand small decisions. I hope our children don't look back at pictures of the California coast and wistfully say, "look what our parents lost."

We commissioners must choose Peter's replacement. Hopefully we'll have the wisdom in finding a worthy successor. The people of California and their children deserve as much.

Steve Blank is a member of the California Coastal Commission.

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Open Water Swimming

8/18/11

Plunging into the bay and beyond

Why would anyone choose to swim in an indoor pool with nothing to look at but painted stripes and concrete ceilings? Especially when right outside are the big, wide, inviting waters of Humboldt Bay and Stone Lagoon.

Mention “bay swimming” at a party, though, and you’ll hear, “Yuk,” “It’s way too cold,” “Are you kidding? It’s toxic!,” or “You’ll get hit by a boat.” This is a marketing problem! San Francisco Bay, with busier sea traffic and more turbulent currents, boasts a large and enthusiastic community of open-water swimmers. Yet almost no one swims in Humboldt Bay, and only a small cadre swims regularly in Stone Lagoon.

What could be more “locavore” than using the water that exists right here for exercise and pleasure? It’s not as straightforward as pool swimming, but with some strategizing beforehand, anyone can take advantage of our clean, legal, local, no-cost resource.

Of course, any natural body of water has potential risks. “In any ocean or bay, viral contamination is possible from bacteria associated with water runoff and sewage discharge,” says Susan Buckley, Humboldt County’s Public Health Branch director. Her advice to swimmers is to use common sense. “Don’t swim if you have cuts or open sores. Don’t swim after a heavy storm, or near runoff. Avoid swallowing water, and after swimming, dry your ears and shower.” For extra caution, she suggests keeping your head above water.

Bay sanitation also depends on the season. “It’s not safe after the first flush,” says Dr. Frank Shaughnessy, professor of botany at Humboldt State University. Fertilizer-laden runoff, which can lead to nausea and diarrhea, comes on the heels of the first major rains, typically in October, he said.

Although the bay looks murky, it’s clean enough that about 70 percent of the state’s oysters are grown here. “‘Turbid’ does not mean polluted,” says Susan Schlosser, marine advisor at the California Sea Grant, a federally funded agency that sponsors marine research and education along the state coast. “The only reason the bay isn’t crystal-clear is that the bottom is mostly soft sediment that gets stirred up by currents.”

Where to swim: Humboldt is the largest bay between San Francisco and Coos Bay, Ore., offering plenty of options for getting into the water. Before diving in, it’s best to plan backwards and think about the easiest places to get out. Hoisting up from the water onto Eureka’s C and F Street docks requires considerable upper-body strength. Easier options include the Samoa Bridge and Eureka Marina boat ramps, where a swimmer can walk right up the ramp, or the spongy floating docks north of the Adorni Center, which are only a few inches above the water. Swimmers can also use one of the four ladders spaced periodically along the wall of the Fisherman’s Terminal, currently under construction at the south end of the Eureka boardwalk.

Once in the water, swimmers have the option of hugging the shore or swimming out. Since Humboldt Bay is replete with fishing boats, crab boats, oyster boats, yachts, the Madaket, kayaks, rowboats and sailboats, the safest option for avoiding water traffic is to stay close to shore. Those who choose to swim out into the bay can’t assume boaters will see them, and ideally should be accompanied by a kayaker or rower.

For open-water orientation, landmarks that can double as swimming objectives abound: the channel marker halfway to Indian Island, the orange buoy just beyond, the fisherman‘s memorial, and the docks of moored sailboats at Woodley Island.

'Frack' oil wells draw California into debate

8/15/11

Steve Craig is used to oil companies operating near his ranch in the smooth, rounded hills of southern Monterey County.

But Craig draws the line at "fracking."

A company called Venoco Inc. wants to try hydraulic fracturing in the Hames Valley near Bradley, using a high-pressure blend of water, sand and chemicals to crack rocks deep underground and release oil locked in the stone.

The same technique has revolutionized America's natural gas business in the past five years, boosting production and driving down prices. It has also been blamed for tainting groundwater near fracked wells, a charge that drilling companies deny.

Anyone living near the Hames Valley has long experience with the oil industry. The San Ardo oil field - a thicket of pipes, power lines and pump jacks - sits about 5 miles up Highway 101, a source of petroleum and jobs since 1947.

But the possibility of polluted water alarms Craig and others, who have appealed to the county government to block Venoco. The fact that California, so far, does not regulate fracking bothers Craig just as much.

"The agencies have not asked, 'Who's drilling? Which compounds are being used?' " said Craig, who directs a land-preservation group in Monterey County. " 'Where does it go? Does it move up through a fault in the next big earthquake?' No one's asking these questions."

The fight over fracking has finally come to California.

Debates over banning or restricting the practice have raged in New York, Pennsylvania and other states. The U.S. government is studying its safety, while the oil and gas industry maintains that fracking poses no threat to the environment or public health.

Until recently, California remained out of the fray because environmentalists and politicians believed fracking wasn't happening here.

But it is.

Venoco fracked two wells in Santa Barbara County earlier this year, much to the surprise of local officials. The company received permits from Monterey County to drill up to nine wells in the Hames Valley, but Craig and other activists appealed the permits. Farther north, the company plans to frack 20 wells in the Sacramento Basin this year, according to one of its financial reports.

Fracking not tracked in state

Occidental Petroleum Corp., located in Los Angeles, fracked wells in Kern and Ventura counties this spring. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to sell oil-development leases next month in Monterey County, atop a geologic formation that may require fracking to produce much oil or gas.

The small number of individual projects that have come to light in California suggests that the practice is nowhere near as widespread here as it is in states such as Pennsylvania and Texas, where fracking has been used on hundreds of new wells. But no one knows for certain because no one has kept track.

The California agency that regulates the oil and gas industry does not record the number and location of fracked wells, a fact that has astonished and angered some politicians and environmentalists. Nor does the agency - the Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources - require companies to disclose the chemicals they use in the process.

That may change. In June, the Assembly passed legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, that would force companies to report the location of each new fracked well as well as the chemicals used. The state, he said, must do a better job monitoring a practice that may become common here.

"This is a baby step," Wieckowski said. "Most of the time we're reactive in government. We wait until the hurricane hits, and then we say, 'Maybe we shouldn't have built homes there.' "

Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping underground large quantities of pressurized water and sand, along with a mixture of chemicals. (The chemicals, which can include household substances such as citric acid and carcinogens such as benzene, typically make up 1 percent of all the material pumped into the well.) The intense pressure breaks the rock, creating a lattice of tiny cracks that the sand props open. Natural gas or oil trapped in the stone flow through the fissures toward the well.

Raising Awareness of Plastic Waste

8/14/11

Most people are familiar with the concept of a carbon footprint. Many may also know there is such a thing as a water footprint. But whoever heard of a plastic footprint? Well, soon, more and more people will have.

Starting in early October, hundreds of companies and institutions around the world will receive a questionnaire asking them to assess and report their use of plastic: how much they use, what processes they have for recycling and what — if any — policies they have to reduce their plastic consumption or to increase the proportion of recycled or biodegradable plastic within their organizations.

Fairly simple questions, but ones that could help to thrust the issue of plastic waste and pollution onto the radars of corporations, investors and the public in a much bigger way.

“What we’re trying to do is to have companies manage and use plastic much more wisely, and to receive recognition for doing so from both customers and investors,” said Doug Woodring, an environmental entrepreneur in Hong Kong who has a background in asset management and is the driving force behind the initiative.

“Plastic pollution is a major global phenomenon that has crept up on us over the decades, and it really requires a global and comprehensive solution that includes systemic rethinks about usage and production.”

Announced last year, and due to be introduced formally in September, the Plastic Disclosure Project is trying to provide the solution that Mr. Woodring describes, by pushing the thinking about plastic pollution far beyond beach cleanups with an attempt to change the awareness and behavior of big users of plastic, which include not only companies but also universities, hospitals and sports groups.

The concept behind the project is not new. The initiative models itself on the Carbon Disclosure Project , which has been prodding companies into monitoring and improving their carbon emissions for about a decade.

About 3,000 organizations in about 60 countries measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies through the carbon disclosure project. Last year, the project also began asking companies about their water use, with the same aim of prompting more conservative use of that resource.

Like the carbon project, the plastic disclosure initiative is backed by investors: asset managers who value information about any potential wastage or liabilities related to the use of energy, water or plastic, or, conversely, any improvements that will bolster a company’s bottom line or its image with consumers.

“Increased transparency by companies should improve the ability of sustainable investors to assess the investment risks and opportunities of companies in the global plastic value chain,” said Jeremy Higgs, managing director of Environmental Investment Services Asia , an investment management company in Hong Kong that last month became a founding sponsor of the Plastic Disclosure Project, with a $50,000 grant.

While carbon emissions and water use are pretty firmly embedded in the consciousness of most organizations, the use of plastic generally is not.

But campaigners and scientists are increasingly sounding the alarm over the amount of plastic that is used wastefully (think of single-use drink bottles and packaging), or that ends up as trash in rivers and oceans. Many say that plastic pollution has swelled into a major threat for the world’s oceans and for the global environment as a whole.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for one, has said that marine debris “has become one of the most pervasive pollution problems facing the world’s oceans and waterways .”

And in Europe, the E.U. commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, Maria Damanaki, has said that pollution in the Mediterranean Sea has reached “alarming proportions.”

Here is why: About 300 million tons of plastic is produced globally each year. Only about 10 percent of that is recycled. Of the plastic that is simply trashed, an estimated seven million tons ends up in the sea each year.

There, it breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments over the years.

The tinier the pieces, the more easily they are swallowed by marine life. (One study found that fish in the North Pacific ingest as much as 24,000 tons of plastic debris a year).

Because much of the disintegrating mass is no longer in the form of solid chunks, it is hard to scoop it out once it gets into the ocean. And because no single nation or authority bears responsibility for the oceans, cleanup and prevention are largely left to nongovernmental organizations.

Ocean Night, Sept. 1: Focus on Whales

Whales take center stage at the next Ocean Night at the Arcata Theatre Lounge, a monthly, all-ages event hosted by Humboldt Baykeeper, Humboldt Surfrider and Ocean Conservancy. The feature film is Life Among Whales, an exploration into the life and work of whale biologist and activist Roger Payne. (Note: Ocean Night is an all-ages event, but "A Life Among Whales" contains images which may disturb some people.)

The evening will also feature footage of the mother gray whale and calf that spent several weeks in the Klamath River this summer, as well as a discussion led by the biologists who spent so many days observing their unusual behavior, plus surf movies before and after.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie begins at 7 p.m. at the Arcata Theatre Lounge. Hope to see you there!