Wednesday, May 30, 2012
May Policy Updates:
The month of May was very busy for the Surfrider Foundation. Several dedicated Surfrider volunteers and Staff members spent numerous hours at City Hall and working the halls of our State Capital. All of our hard work paid off—in just one month we scored victories for California’s coast and ocean! Well done!
Don’t Mess with the Coastal Act
(really, we mean it).
In February, Surfrider learned about
a piece of legislation that was written to gut the Coastal Act. The poorly
written legislation (AB 2211, Jones) would have fundamentally altered the law so that new coastal development would be
approved that would otherwise not be allowed under the Coastal Act’s existing
provisions. For us
“coast-huggers” the Coastal Act is like our bible—the law of the land. No other state in the Nation has such a
protective law on the books that ensures responsible development, protects scenic
landscapes, secures recreational opportunities, and preserves critical habitats
and species. When Surfrider learned
about the bill, we hit the ground running and partnered with diverse
organizations to stop the bill. We
created resources explaining the impacts of the bill and began reaching out to
Committee members in Sacramento that would ultimately determine the fate of the
bill. Read our Committee letter
here and our
Factsheet here. After weeks of lobbying and hard work, on
May 7, Surfrider testified at a Committee hearing in Sacramento where we successfully
garnered all the votes needed to kill the bill (final vote was: 6 to 3). This was a huge victory for Surfrider! Thanks to all of our partners who
worked tirelessly with us.
Tijuana Trash and Sewage
At the end of May, a group of
Surfrider activists and Staff members piled into a bus and crossed the Mexico
border—not to surf waves, but to better understand the pollution problems
surrounding the Tijuana River Valley.
Quite frankly, it was a jaw-dropping experience. The amount of trash and pollution
entering the Tijuana River Valley (and eventually heading back to the United
States via ocean currents) is utterly depressing. The problems originate in small villages surrounding Tijuana. Unfortunately there is a rampant
problem of dumping trash in canyons where these small villages are located (the
waste often comes from outside companies, industry and unfortunately local hospitals). To make matters worse, these
villages have little, to no, sewage infrastructure to capture their waste and transport
it to local treatment plants. While
visiting a local village we met up with Alter Terra and 4 Walls
International, two organizations working to reuse trash for construction in the
community. Next, we headed to Herrera
Wastewater Treatment Plant to see how captured sewage is treated and learn
about more efforts to improve wastewater management. Finally we headed to the
border to see where the Tijuana River meets the Pacific Ocean. Check out pictures from our trip at the
San Diego Chapter’s Facebook page for the local campaign working on pollution
problems along the border.
Building a Bigger Beach.
One, Two Punch!
