As you are likely aware, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust supports the mitigation bank and land swap proposed by Beach Oil Mineral Partners (BOM).
We support this project because it includes comprehensive wetlands and habitat restoration, provides unique public access opportunities, consolidates oil operations offsite, and will transfer ownership of a substantial portion of Los Cerritos Wetlands into the public domain.
We now have an additional reason to support the project and that is the substantially shorter timeline, just agreed to, in which the wetlands will move into the public trust.
Beach Oil Mineral (BOM) the project proponents, have agreed to the Coastal Commission’s vision of accelerating the “project phasing timeline”. That means that instead of removing 50% of their wetlands oil infrastructure in 20 years and the remaining 50% in 40 years; BOM will remove 50% in 10 years and the remaining 50% in 20 years. That is a much shorter timeline in which BOM will reduce their footprint of oil operations to approximately 10 acres from their current 187 acres. We cheer the accelerated transformation of this highly degraded landscape into a restored functioning wetlands and uplands.
The Coastal Commission staff report and the conditions they are recommending to the Coastal Commissioners for their approval of the project are numerous and have been accepted and agreed upon by BOM.
We urge you to send a letter of support to the Coastal Commission for the project. If you write a support letter, I encourage you to add a couple of additional points like those we made in our letter of support to the Coastal Commission. Deadline to submit a letter to the Coastal Commission is this Friday, December 7th, by 5:00PM.
For those of you that can, I also urge you to attend the Coastal Commission hearing on December 13th in Newport Beach. It will be an important hearing, one that will shape the future of Los Cerritos Wetlands for decades to come. So please make time to join me at that meeting. It will be an interesting day; your attendance will make a big difference; and the project proponents will spring for your lunch. For more information about the meeting and the transportation arrangements, email heather@altmanenvironmental.com.
We know there are differences of opinion about this matter, and perhaps there always will be. However, it is my sincere hope that we will all operate from a place of respect for each other’s views. After all, our goals are shared.
We have a deep appreciation for all who have taken time out of their lives to advocate with us for the protection and restoration of Los Cerritos Wetlands. We have made great strides, and with your partnership and the support of the community, we will continue to do so.