I’ve been to a lot of Coastal Commission meetings over the course of my career, and I’m always grateful for the oversight of the Coastal Commission, that extra layer of protection the Commission provides for protecting California’s unique and fragile coastal zone. No Coastal Commission meeting is ever the same, and that applies to last Thursday’s meeting where the Commissioners met in Newport Beach to decide the fate of the proposed wetlands mitigation bank and land swap
As those of you who receive these emails likely already know, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust supports this proposal because it provides a unique opportunity to restore our local wetlands and move them into the public trust. But that proposal comes at a price; and that price is, yes, consolidated oil drilling and more oil drilling adjacent to Los Cerritos Wetlands. We looked hard at the project, asked a lot of questions; but at the end of the day, we thought the benefits the project brought to our cause outweighed the downside. And the Coastal Commission staff thought so too; after they reviewed the project, adding 25 additional conditions, they recommended approval.
Ultimately, after a hearing that lasted over 6 hours, the Coastal Commissioners agreed with their staff recommendations (and us, Audubon, Bolsa Chica Land Trust and the Trust for Public Land) and voted 6 to 3 to approve the project. I have said it before and will say it again: those who opposed the project have legitimate and credible concerns. We understand them, and as part of our due diligence, have done our best to incorporate solutions to those concerns into our support (shorter timeline to get wells off the wetlands, extra soil remediation, and contamination monitoring). We know that didn’t go far enough to satisfy the project opponents, and we respect that.
Now we believe we need to move forward, with all of us who care about Los Cerritos Wetlands working to ensure the ultimate outcome is the best that it can be. None of us is perfect and none of us knows for sure how this will all work out. The one thing I am sure of, however, is that everyone has been working and will continue to work in good faith to protect this fragile ecosystem. And I hope that allies that found themselves on different sides of this issue will come together again in our shared advocacy, because our mutual goals of restoring our local wetlands are greater than our differences about how to get there.
Check out the final document of what was approved by the Coastal Commission, including the 25 additional conditions added by Coastal Commission staff.
Additionally, I urge you to check out coverage by the Press Telegram, LBReport, Grunion Gazette and Long Beach Post of the Coastal Commission meeting, testimony, and vote.