Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 20131

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The official newsletter of the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club • San Luis Obispo County, California

SantaLucian

IIIII n s i d en s i d en s i d en s i d en s i d eCandidates wanted 3

Nuclear hide & seek 5

A solar reversal 8

SLO Supes: born to lose 9

Why CEQA “reform” isn’t 10

Classifieds 11

Outings, 2013 calendars 12

Please recycle

This newsletter printed on

100% post-consumer recycled paper with soy-

based inks

Jan./Feb. 2013Volume 50 No. 1/2

Santa LucianSanta Lucia Chapter of the Sierra ClubP. O. Box 15755San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 84

SAN LUIS OBISPOCA 93401

Here’s the Deal Three months ago we broke the badnews: The Santa Lucia Chapter is onthe brink of insolvency. Without asignificant and sustained infusion ofcash, our San Luis Obispo office willclose, staff will be laid off, and theChapter’s ability to respond to criticalenvironmental issues facing ourcommunity will be limited to ananswering machine, a website, andself-organized volunteer efforts. The initial response from ourmembership has been extraordinary,and we have received enough emer-gency donations to keep the lights onlong enough for the Chapter’s Execu-tive Committee to gather input, crunchthe numbers, discuss options and comeup with a plan. So here’s the bottomline: In order to meet our basicobligations, (rent, utilities, payroll,printing, and paying our sole part-timestaffer), we need at least 300 membersto go to the Chapter’s website(www.santalucia.sierraclub.org), orfollow the instructions in the “BillPay” box at right, and sign up tocontribute $20 per month.

If you contribute more than $20 amonth (heartily encouraged), we canexpand our ability to address localenvironmental challenges, frompreserving important wildlife habitat toprotecting public access to promotinggreen jobs and sustainable land usedecisions to advocating clean, renew-able, locally-controlled energysources. But if we don’t get theminimum level of participation, we

will have to closeour office, lay offstaff, and greatlyreduce our pres-ence in thecommunity. For a glimpse ofwhat San LuisObispo Countywould look likenow and in thefuture without theSierra Club’s activeengagement, take alook at “TheCounty Without aSierra Club” on

pages 6 and 7 of this issue. Normallyat this time of year, we recap theChapter’s accomplishments over thepreceding 12 months. This year, in thespirit of It’s a Wonderful Life, we areimagining what our community would

FRACK continued on page 8

The Chapter’s future is in your handsBy Greg McMillan, Chapter Chair

When Fracking AttacksThe hand of corporate trade reaches out to kill a fracking moratorium

The truth is becoming clear:global trade rules are beingused to threaten policies thatprotect wildlife, preservescarce natural resources, andpromote clean energy andgreen jobs. The most recent clashbetween free trade and ourenvironment was in Quebec,where communities arefighting against the harmfuleffects of fracking, thehazardous process used toextract natural gas by blastingsignificant amounts of water,chemicals, and sand into rock

formations deep underground. On November 8th, Lone PineResources, a Delaware-incorporatedoil and gas firm with operations inCanada, filed notice of its intent tosue Canada for $250 million underthe North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA) over Quebec’smoratorium on fracking. Themoratorium is set to stay in place as

DEAL continued on page 5

By Ilana Solomon, Sierra Club Trade Representative, and Deb Nardone,Director of the Beyond Natural Gas Campaign

Automatic Donation via “Bill Pay”

If you don’t have a Paypal accountand monthly donation via ourwebsite is not an option, you can setup your monthly donation with yourbank with a monthly bank check. Theservice, called Bill Pay, is free toanyone with a bank account. All youneed to give the bank besides yourown account info is the date onwhich you want the check draftedand sent every month, and the nameand address of the person or businessyou want it sent to. That would be: Sierra Club P.O. Box 15755 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406You can walk into your bank and setit up, or do it online at your bank’swebsite. (Paypal keeps more thantwo percent of your donation asservice fees; your bank does not.)

look like today if Sierra Club had notbeen here to protect the environmentaland community values we all share.(Hearst Ranch? A golf resort. Cayucos’scenic ridgelines? McMansionssilhouetted against the sky. San LuisObispo’s celebrated Greenbelt?Subdivisions and strip malls.) It’s a sobering read. And while wedon’t claim to be solely responsible forall of our county’s environmentalvictories, the fact is that without theSierra Club’s leadership, publicadvocacy and commitment, this countywould be a very different and dimin-ished place.

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Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 2013

Change of Address? Mail changes to:

Sierra Club National Headquarters

85 Second Street, 2nd Floor

San Francisco, CA 94105-3441

or e-mail:

Visit us onthe Web!

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EDITOR

Greg McMillanLindi DoudLinda SeeleyThomas A. CyrEDITORIAL COMMITTEE

The Santa Lucian is published 10 times ayear. Articles, environmental information andletters to the editor are welcome. Thedeadline for each issue is the 13th of theprior month.

send to:

Editor, Santa Lucianc/o Santa Lucia Chapter, Sierra ClubP.O. Box 15755San Luis Obispo, CA 93406.sierraclub8@gmail.com

Santa Lucia Chapter

2012 Executive Committee Greg McMillan CHAIRPat Veesart VICE CHAIRLinda Seeley SECRETARYPatrick McGibney MEMBERLindi Doud MEMBERJoe Morris MEMBERDouglas Bing MEMBER

Cal French COUNCIL OF CLUB LEADERSLindi Doud, Patrick McGibney TREASURERS

Committee ChairsPolitical Chuck TribbeyConservation Sue HarveyMembership Cal FrenchNuclear Power Task Force Rochelle Becker

Other Leaders

Calendar Sales Bonnie Walters 805-543-7051Outings Joe Morris dpj1942@earthlink.netCanoe/Kayak openWebmaster Monica Tarzier monica@tarzier.orgTrail Guide Gary Felsman

Chapter Director Andrew Christie 805-543-8717 sierraclub8@gmail.com

Andrew Christiesierraclub8@gmail.com

beckers@thegrid.net

Printed by University Graphic Systems

Office hours Monday-Friday,12 p.m.- 6 p.m., 974 Santa RosaStreet, San Luis Obispo

The Executive Committee meetsthe second Monday of every monthat 5:30 p.m., and the ConservationCommittee meets the secondFriday at 1p.m. at the chapter office,located at 974 Santa Rosa St., SanLuis Obispo. All members arewelcome to attend.

Coordinator Kim Ramos, Admin and Development kimlramos@yahoo.com Assistant Coordinator Yvonne Yip - events & social networking

Santa Lucia ChapterP.O. Box 15755San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

Denny MynattPRINT MEDIA COORDINATOR

Sierra Club, PO Box 421041, Palm Coast, FL 32142-1041

Environmentalists Rendezvous

Sierra Club General MeetingWednesday, Jan. 30, 7 p.m.

Steynberg Gallery, 1531 Monterey St., SLO. Info.: Joe Morris, 549-0355

The semi-progressive, occasionallyenvironmental SLO County Board ofSupervisors of 2009-2012 has come toan end. The majority did not use theirmajority vote in the service of bold,visionary measures to protect theenvironment of the central coast, andoften did harm. They did not put poli-cies in place that would have securedsignificant protections for rural land,local agriculture or wildlife habitat.They did not move the county anycloser to the distant dream of afford-able housing, nor institute basicpolitical reforms (see “How AboutNow, Guys?,” Jul./Aug. 2012). InDecember, as their last significant actof land use planning, they crumpledunder political pressure and punted onvital amendments to the Ag ClusterOrdinance, inviting more disastersalong the lines of the Santa MargaritaAg Cluster (see “Their Final Fumble,”page 9). They did a few good things andprevented a few particular harms. It istwo of those good things that tworecent lawsuits seek to undo. Specifically, the County is beingsued for preventing an oil companyfrom drilling for oil in the HuasnaValley outside Arroyo Grande, and forpassing an ordinance halting futuresubdivisions over the rapidly depletingPaso Robles groundwater basin. Both lawsuits are without merit. Butin both cases, merit is not the point. Excelaron LLC is claiming theCounty engaged in an illegal “taking”of property by barring them fromextracting oil from the land in ques-tion. But in order for a “takings” claimto stick, the County would have had todeny all economic use of the proper-ties involved and issued a flat denial ofall oil drilling in the area, not just apermit for a specific project. A permitto drill for oil on agricultural land is a“discretionary” permit, meaning that itmay be denied. When you file for adis-cretionary permit – and expend allthe necessary funds on project reviewand a full analysis of environmentalimpacts – you are rolling the dice. The Paso basin suit, filed by entitiesthat have discreetly chosen not topublicly identify themselves beyondthe title “Concerned Landowners inthe Paso Robles Basin,” uses the samebogus legal argument that didn’t work

They’re Steamrollers, BabyTwo lawsuits will tell us all we need to know about ournew board of supervisors

when the plastic industry tried toblock the county’s plastic bag ban,and when the Coalition for Labor,Agriculture and Business (COLAB)filed suit to stop the implementationof smart growth policies. The argu-ment in a nutshell: the responsibleagency failed to evaluate the potentialenvironmental impacts of the project,notwithstanding the fact that theproject would result in less impact onthe environment than the impactscurrently caused by the practice thatthe project would curtail. As environmental law requires theassessment of a project’s potential tocause environmental impacts, not itspotential to reduce or eliminateexisting impacts, a bright ten-year-oldcan see that this argument won’t fly.To the disappointment of COLABand the plastic lobby, the court agreedwith bright ten-year-olds everywhereand threw out their lawsuits. But, again, the legal merits of thearguments are beside the point.Neither of these actions appears tohave been designed with an eyetoward prevailing in a courtroom.Rather, they are gift lists designed toelicit late Christmas presents from anot-so-secret Santa: the new majorityon the County Board of Supervisors,comprised of Frank Mecham, PaulTeixeira and Debbie Arnold. The complainants want the 2013board to roll back the votes of the2012 board. (Think Ronald Reaganremoving Jimmy Carter’s solarpanels from the White House.) TheTribune noted that Excelaron’slawsuit “asks a judge to set aside thecounty’s denial of its project andeither approve the application for 12wells, or send it back to the Board ofSupervisors.” Both suits are a ruse to get the newboard to work out a deal in a closedsession, take the issue back forreconsideration, and make sure thesecond time’s the charm. (It’s equallylikely that Excelaron hopes tointimidate the County into approvingits next project permit.) Supervisors Mecham, Teixeira andArnold should feel insulted by theobvious calculation of the complain-ants, and should instruct Countycounsel to vigorously defend the vote

STEAMROLLERS continued on page 4

It’s the 4th annual Environmen-talists’ Rendezvous! Hear whatmajor environmental groups inSLO county are doing and theirplans for 2013. This is a uniqueopportunity to hear from repre-sentatives of seven key organi-zations in one place. The forumwill include short presentationsfrom the Alliance for NuclearResponsibility, Audubon Soci-ety, CoastKeeper, SLO GreenBuild, SLO Land Conservancy,Surfrider, and, of course, the

Santa Lucia chapter of theSierra Club. Each will presenttheir projects and leave time foryour questions and comments.

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 20133

SOLAR continued on page 8 HEAR continued on page 5

California LegislatorsImprove EnvironmentalVoting Recordby Kathryn Phillips, Director, Sierra Club California

Sierra Club California is the Sacramento-based legislative and regulatoryadvocacy arm of the 13 California chapters of the Sierra Club. Every year, afterthe legislature goes home for the season, Sierra Club California staff analyze thevotes and figure out who has been good and who’s been not so good. You can find out how your legislator and the governor performed by readingSierra Club California’s California Legislative 2012 Report Card. Scores looked better in 2012 than they did in 2011. While in 2011 only onelegislator earned a 100 percent score, last year seven legislators earned a perfectscore. Additionally, many legislators raised their scores. The governor also improved his score based on bills he signed and vetoed. In

from the Sierra Club Yodeler,November 2012

On November 10, duringSierra Club California’s annualconvention at Rancho ElChorro in SLO, volunteer KurtNewick received the JohnZierold Award, recognizing anindividual who has served theSierra Club in the area oflegislative advocacy. Theaward specifically honorsKurt’s efforts–and tremendoussuccesses–in cutting the permitfees charged for installing newsolar panels. One of the satisfactions ofbeing a Sierra Club volunteeris knowing that you havehelped with some environmen-tal victory. But few volunteerscan boast of the achievementof Kurt Newick:two bills were signed into lawthat would not have happened without him. They were the outcome of his hardwork over seven years, and he helped draft them. Lots of other volunteers wereinvolved, of course, but it was Kurt’s initiative, hard work, and expertise thatmade the laws possible. Kurt notes with appreciation, “There was alwayssomeone willing to work with me.” The story goes back to 2005. Kurt, who works for a solar contractor, saw aproblem that was discouraging people from installing photovoltaic solar panels.Every city and county charges a permit fee for a new solar system, but in manycases the fees were much greater than the costs involved in issuing the permit–and large enough to be a significant discouragement tohomeowners and businesses considering an installation. Kurt didn’t just grumble–he organized. He worked with the Global Warmingand Energy Committee of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter to conduct asurvey of the permit fees for residential solar installations in his chapter, and thecommittee then publicized the results and encouraged jurisdictions to cut highfees. The results were astounding–lots of cities started lowering their fees.Kurt and the committee didn’t rest on their laurels. They extended the survey toinclude the Bay Chapter and several others (for a total of 25 counties), and toinclude commercial installations. In 2011, state Senator Mark Leno and Assemblymember Nora Camposcontacted Kurt for advice about statewide policies on the permit fees. Theyneeded to be fair to enable cost-recovery for the cities, yet not so high as todiscourage new installations. Kurt worked with legislative staff to craft bills. Along with Sierra Club California senior advocate Jim Metropulos, Kurtprovided advice and presented amendments that the lawmakers included in thefinal bills. “We were pleased to work with the Sierra Club and Kurt Newick on SB 1222,which helps streamline government bureaucracy to make solar more accessibleto consumers,” said Leno. “Kurt’s extensive studies on solar fees statewide werethe supporting basis for the bill. Our teamwork led to bipartisan support and willhelp ensure that the solar industry continues to generate investment and jobs inCalifornia.” Kurt was invited to Sacramento to testify before legislative committees. Kurtcomments: “I was impressed with the legislative process. It was important to thelawmakers to make the legislation simple, and fair to all parties.” The two new laws are: 1) SB 1222 (Leno), which caps PV permit fees for rooftop systems by restrict-ing a city or county from charging more for a solar permit than the estimatedreasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, andproviding specific limits on the dollar amount local governments may charge for

Sierra Club Honors Volunteer forNew Laws on Rooftop Solar

2011, his score was just 55 percent. Last year, he raised that to 73 percent. You helped make these scores better by sending many, many emails, letters andphone messages to elected officials, telling them how you wanted them to voteon key legislation. Also, thanks to you, many Club-endorsed candidates succeeded in their effortsto get elected to the legislature in November. You can see a full list of ourendorsees’ status and the outcome of the propositions on which we took a po-sition by going to the elections page on sierraclubcalifornia.org. The scorecardand the election prove once more how valuable and important grassrootsactivism is for California’s environment.

Can SLO Hear You?Residents have overwhelmingly told theCity of SLO what they want. Getting it isanother matter.

Call for CandidatesIn February, Chapter members willvote for the candidates who will leadthe Santa Lucia chapter on its Execu-tive Committee in 2010. We encourage our members to runfor the ExCom and become a part ofthe dynamic action of Sierra Clubleadership on energy, air, water andland use issues. The ExCom meets in February toappoint the chair, vice-chair, secretaryand treasurer for 2013, as well as

program, conservation and outingschairs. We also appoint a delegate to theCouncil of Club Leaders, liaison to thenational Sierra Club. Candidates are elected for a term ofthree years. Deadline for nominationsis February 1. For more informationor to throw your hat in the ring,contact Cal French atcal.french@gmail.com or call theSierra Club Office at (805) 543-8717.

Last spring, the city of San LuisObispo sent a survey to residents to gettheir input on the City’s update of theLand Use and Circulation Element(LUCE) in the General Plan. The section of the survey thatobtained the most interesting resultsreads as follows:

On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 beingless and 5 being more, do you think thecity should provide less, about thesame, or more of each of the followingservices? If you think the city shouldprovide more or less of a certainservice, indicate whether you wouldbe willing to pay more for it orwhether you would divert funds fromthat use to other services.

When staff collated the more than2,000 responses received, they foundthat just four areas were supported bya majority of respondents who ap-proved of seeking additional facilitiesand services: 58% support acquiringand maintaining open space for peaksand hillsides, 54% support acquiringand maintaining more open space landfor the city’s greenbelt, 53% supportmore open space land for creeks andmarshes, and 50% would like morebike lanes. Further: “Despite support for someservices, only a slight majority ofrespondents said they would supportpaying more for just two; 54% foropen space for peaks and hillsides, and52% for open space for the City’sGreenbelt.” To a survey question seeking inputon the most and least important aspectsof “quality of life,” respondents

overwhelmingly rated the naturalenvironment (airquality, openspace) as havingthe highest impact on quality of life(71.1%). This was true for all catego-ries of respondents, including theemployed (74.7%), retired (69.2%), students (69%), and owners ofbusinesses in the city (73.4%). The“runner up” was “crime levels” at asignificantly lower 62.9%. Even “jobopportunities” rated way down at38.2%, and “housing opportunities” at35.3%. At the bottom of the list were“Shopping opportunities,” rated amere 15.7 %; and “entertainmentopportunities, at 16.9%. That’s what you call a mandate.Natural open space is clearly the toppriority of city residents. Will that factbe reflected in the LUCE update, andwill the City make this its top budgetpriority? If history is any guide, no. At the time of the last LUCE updatein 1994, after the City circulatedsubstantially the same survey and gotsubstantially the same results, acitizens’ Open Space Task Forceensured that the adopted Open SpaceElement defined and protected naturalopen space as a refuge for wildlife anda respite for people from the builtenvironment. But a few years later,when the city council directed staff toupdate the Conservation and OpenSpace Element and “consolidate” itwith the 1994 document to create moredetailed natural resource protection

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Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 2013

The Nuclear Regulatory Commissionconducts periodic meetings in SLO aslocal outreach exercises meant to shoreup public confidence in its oversight ofthe Diablo Canyon Nuclear PowerPlant. The NRC chose the occasion ofits November 28 SLO “open house”and poster session, meant to demon-strate how forthcoming the agency iswith information, to clamp down onthe flow of information and lean onresidents who seemed intent on gettingtoo much of it. Two incidents occurred at theratepayer-funded public meeting at theEmbassy Suites Hotel in SLO at whichthe NRC presented its evaluation ofthe hazard of the Shoreline Fault, justoffshore of Diablo Canyon. Oneresident was expelled from the openhouse for taking pictures. Later,Alliance for Nuclear Responsibilityoutreach coordinator David Weisman,operating a video camera during aconversation between Allianceattorney John Geesman and an NRCseismologist, was accosted by theNRC’s Public Affairs officer, whoattempted to halt the filming. A brief First Amendment discussionensued. The conversation with theseismologist was allowed to proceedfor a few more minutes, but asGeesman’s relentless questioningdrilled into the inadequacies andomissions of the NRC’s report on theShoreline Fault, the anxious public

No Cameras!The Nuclear Regulatory Commission didn’t say you could do that

affairs officer stepped back in and shutdown the filming and the conversation.The entire incident can be viewed atwww.A4NR.org. The incidents occurred three daysafter the Supreme Court affirmed theunconstitutionality of a law forbiddingthe filming of Chicago police officersby citizens. After the open house adjourned to anevening Q & A session, there were nofurther complaints about the use ofcameras or attempts to eject membersof the public for doing so. In the report and their presentation,NRC staff confidently assured resi-dents that we have nothing to fearfrom the Shoreline Fault -- in marked

contrast to the discussion held amongtwo dozen geologists and seismolo-gists of the Senior Seismic HazardAnalysis Committee, which convenedfor a three-day meeting at the samelocation two weeks earlier and wasunable to confidently assert themagnitude of the hazard from theShoreline Fault due to the high level ofuncertainty. It became clear that the NRC wasintent on dismissing the largestpotential threat to the plant, whichhangs on Diablo’s most ominousseismic question: whether the Shore-line and Hosgri faults intersect, with a“dip” toward the power plant and thecapability for joint rupture. This intention became most evidentwhen the NRC geologist on handattempted to dismiss an analysis byU.S. Geological Survey geologistJeanne Hardebeck of the potential forthe catastrophic dual rupture of thetwo faults, calling it simply “heropinion,” and unworthy of furtherdiscussion. “There’s no shortage of whitewashhere and the brushes to apply it,”observed Weisman in his testimony.Alliance for Nuclear Responsibilityexecutive director Rochelle Beckerblasted the meeting as “a waste oftime,” noting that there was no agendaand the subject specialists werescattered around the room for most ofthe day for one-on-one conversationsonly, with no chance for a paneldiscussion “where we can listen andrespond to what you’re saying.” Shortly thereafter, NRC called it anight. As the staffers made their way totheir cars in the Embassy Suitesparking lot, they were surely relievedto note that none of them werehounded by paparazzi.Different brush, same bucket David Weisman compliments the NRC on their whitewash.

of the board and the General Plan.That’s what they should do. If theydecide not to do that, we’ll all find outafter that decision is made in closedsession and there is an announcementof settlement agreements that requiresone or both votes to go back to theboard for a re-hearing. If you see suchan announcement in the near future,the translation is “we rolled over.” It’s not hard to guess the identities ofthe anonymous “Concerned Landown-ers in the Paso Robles Basin,” as BigAg and Big Grape, aka the FarmBureau and the Paso Wine CountryAlliance, were the most passionatefoes of the subdivision moratoriumand were vocal in their distress at themeeting where it passed. (See “WhatShark?,” Nov./Dec. 2012). It’s also nothard to guess that other concerned

landowners in the Paso Robles basin,who were also vocal at that meeting,might not be thrilled with theirneighbors filing a lawsuit seeking tooverturn the one modest measure theCounty has thus far enacted that mightkeep their wells from running dry. Norwould they be thrilled with super-visors who overturn that measure. Norwould the residents of the HuasnaValley and Arroyo Grande be thrilledto see Exelaron back in town. So it will be interesting to see, nowthat they are in the driver’s seat, justwhat kind of conservatives Mecham,Teixiera and Arnold wish to be. Thevote against the Excelaron project was5-0. If the County now rolls over, willMecham and Teixeira reverse them-selves? The vote to impose thesubdivision ban over the Paso basinwas 3-2. In filing the lawsuit, they-who-must-not-be-named are obviouslylooking to Ms. Arnold to tip the

balance of that vote in the other direc-tion. Arnold, Mecham and Teixeira canhide behind the fig leaf of “estateplanning” that the Farm Bureau andthe big vineyards will offer them inorder to proclaim themselves on theside of the people and “propertyrights” as they shove the straws backinto the rapidly depleting basin. Their other option, of course, is toactually be on the side of the people —the ones watching their wells run dryover the Paso basin, and the people ofthe Huasna Valley who didn’t want oilrigs in their backyard, got organized,fought back, and won. Will the Mecham/Teixeira/Arnoldboard decide that their role as conser-vatives is to honor the will of thepeople or serve as a front group thatdoes the bidding of economic specialinterests? Time, and the outcomes of two law-suits, will tell.

Steamrollerscontinued from page 2

The Sierra Club is focused onchanging our energy sources to gobeyond coal, natural gas and oil.Phasing out nuclear power plants is thenext phase in this campaign. Nuclear power is not clean power.We propose that nuclear power plantscan be replaced by energy efficiencyand renewables within our lifetimes,and that the U.S. should follow thelead of Germany, Italy and Switzerlandby phasing out our nuclear reactors. The Sierra Club Nuclear FreeCampaign and No Nukes ActivistTeam are working in the U.S. andCanada to make a difference on theseissues. You can participate via confer-ence calls on specific issues, nationalaction alerts, our activist list serve, andregional and national meetings. Signup at http://sc.org/no_nukes. The Sierra Club opposes consolidat-ing waste at any central “interim”storage site due to concerns abouttransport, cost, and the temptation itposes to promoters of dangerouslypolluting reprocessing, and advocatesinstead that waste be kept at thereactor sites in Hardened On SiteStorage (HOSS), a more robust, secureand lasting form of dry cask storage.But continued operation means thecosts continue to mount, along withquestions about the ethics of leavingdeadly waste for generations millionsof years from now. To get informed or donate to thecampaign, go to sierraclub.org/nuclear.

Join Our NuclearFree Campaign

The Paso Robles Basin Blue RibbonCommittee meets monthly to discusspossible solutions to the overdraftingof the Paso basin. The basin encom-passes 790 square miles from GardenFarms to San Ardo and from theSalinas River to Shandon. Years ofstudies have yielded mountingevidence that the annual safe yield of97,000 acre feet a year (AFY) is beingexceeded -- more is being withdrawnannually than is being replacedthrough rainfall and recharge. In 2011, the Board of Supervisorsdeclared that the basin had declined toa Level of Severity III. At a conten-tious hearing this year, the Boardmoved to approve amendments to theLand Use Element that take smallsteps to conserve water and prohibitthe further subdivision of land withinthe area declared in LOS III (see“What Shark?,” Nov./Dec. 2012).The LOS III designation does notapply to the Atascadero area sub-basin. Representatives of agricultural org-anizations, including the Paso WineCountry Alliance and the Farm

WATER continued on page 8

by Sue Harvey, PresidentNorth County Watch

Dropping WaterBlue ribbon committee fiddles asPaso goes down the drain

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 20135

California StudentsInvited to EnterCoastal Art & PoetryContest Let our coast and ocean inspire you!Win great prizes! Have your workfeatured online and exhibited through-out California! The California Coastal Commissioninvites California students in kinder-garten through 12th grade to submitartwork or poetry with a Californiacoastal or marine theme to the annualCoastal Art & Poetry Contest. Up toten winners will be selected to win$100 gift certificates to an art supplyor book store, and each winner’ssponsoring teacher will receive a $50gift certificate for educational supplies,courtesy of Acorn Naturalists. Allwinners and honorable mentions willreceive tickets for their families to visitthe Aquarium of the Pacific, courtesyof the Aquarium. Students may havetheir work featured on Commissionweb pages and materials, and winningentries will be exhibited throughoutthe state. Entries must be postmarked byJanuary 31 to be eligible for theupcoming contest. For rules and entryform (and helpful links for teachersand students), visit coastforyou.org,email coast4u@ coastal.ca.gov or call(800) Coast-4U. You can also down-load a contest flyer. Picture yourself “Kelp Forest,” by Alexa Sharpe, 12th grade, Torrance, 2012 contest.

So it’s up to you. Who can say whatthe next year or the next decade willbring? With a new, strongly pro-development majority on the Board ofSupervisors, an active Sierra Clubchapter in our county is especiallyrelevant. There is just no way to pre-dict what may be around the corner.But it’s safe to say that we need theSierra Club now more than ever.Whether coalition-building with otherorganizations, advocating for environ-mentally superior development altern-atives, or litigating to undo damage,the Sierra Club is your county-wide,quality-of-life insurance policy. We know times are tough. Believeme, we know. For many people,twenty dollars a month can be thedifference between paying the rent orsleeping in their car. But for others, itis the equivalent of one large coffeedrink per week. A restaurant dinner forone. A mid-priced bottle of wine. Halfa tank of gas. What would you bewilling to contribute to ensure that theSierra Club’s smart, principledadvocacy on your behalf and on theside of clean water, clean air, openspace and public access can continuein the place where it makes the biggestdifference—locally? When you sign up for a $20 monthlycontribution at www.santalucia.sierraclub.org you can be assured thatevery dime is going directly into thelocal Chapter’s activities. This is not

Dealcontinued from page 1

your membership dues, the lion’s shareof which go to the national organiza-tion to help out with national stuff, likegetting bills passed or defeated inCongress and holding BP accountablefor the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.This fundraising drive is 100%dedicated to supporting the SantaLucia Chapter’s work right here in SanLuis Obispo County. We are confident that our membersvalue their Chapter’s active engage-ment and want it to continue. Yourvolunteer service is deepened andamplified when you can depend on thesupport of our dedicated, award-winning staff. The effectiveness ofyour advocacy is extended when youcan rely on the accurate informationand shrewd analysis in this newsletter.And your political engagement istranslated into a force to be reckonedwith when the Chapter endorses andsupports visionary leaders like BillMonning and Lois Capps comeelection time. So. Today is the day. Now is thetime. We have a month or two to see ifyou want the Chapter to continue as itis, or basically close its doors. If youwant to be part of the solution, pleasego to www.santalucia. sierraclub.orgnow and sign up to contribute. Thenget another friend or family member todo the same. With your help, and yourinvestment in the future of yourcommunity, we can do this.

Hearcontinued from page 3

Prove it SLO City staff have shown they don’t share cityresidents’ love for open space. Will the city council implementthe will of the people in the update of the General Plan?

policies, staff insteaddeleted almost 100pages from the original120-page document,along with critical openspace protections.Amid the ensuingpublic outcry -- thechair of the planningcommission slammedthe “bureaucraticsleight of hand” -- thecity council told staff totry again. Staff’s second attempt was worse,deleting the entire Resource Protectionchapter from the Land Use Elementand shifting the goal from protectingnatural open space to designating it asappropriate for ball fields, tenniscourts, etc. In the hard-fought public battle thatensued, the public got most of thebasic protections of the 1994 OpenSpace Element reinstated. Then there was Measure Y. InNovember 2005, seeking support forthe sales tax increase, city staff foundthat “protecting open space” rankednumber four in the top eight fundingpriorities as selected by responses to amailed survey and community feed-back forms. The City promptly sentout a mailer emblazoned “We HearYou!” thanking residents for theirinterest in protecting critical cityservices, and listing “The Com-munity’s Top Five Concerns.” Alas,“protecting open space” had somehowdropped off the list, mysteriouslyreplaced by “Improving public safety”in the number 4 position, with “Pro-tecting senior services and programs”summarily promoted from the number7 spot to number 5. In every subsequent documentproduced by the city listing resident-selected funding priorities for MeasureY, “protecting open space” wasinvariably listed dead last, when it

appeared it all. Now, true to form, city staff hasproduced a Guiding Principlesdocument for evaluating alternatives tobe developed for the LUCE updatethat lists twelve proposed guidingprinciples for land use. “Acquire andmaintain open space to protect theCity’s greenbelt, peaks, hillsides,creeks and marshes” appears last on alist of twelve. Remember, this is thetop priority as identified in the City’slargest survey of residents, the onlylisted priority to be selected by amajority of respondents, and the onlypriority for which a majority said theywould support paying more than theCity does now. But City staff preferredto place this priority far below “Main-tain the vitality of downtown,” “Im-prove the jobs-housing balance,” and“Increase the retail mix in downtown”– never mind the actual preferences ofcity residents, which pretty muchreverses that order. City staff are, by and large, intelli-gent, caring, and hard working. Buttheir efforts at broad engagement arecoming to resemble an attempt atdilution, straying from the directivethey have received from the citycouncil that the LUCE update processis to be “resident centered.” Staff hasinstead decreed city residents to be justone of three groups, and thereby

accorded less weight than should beassigned to the emphatically statedpriority of the group whose prioritiesare supposed to matter most. The city council is to be commendedfor giving clear direction to staff inthis process. The mayor and thecouncil summarized that directive atthe time they created the LUCEUpdate Task Force: “Council has

repeatedly stated that the process is tobe resident-centered. Making it so,starting tonight, will allow the LUCEUpdate to be truly owned and affirmedby residents.” Will the city council follow throughand ensure that the process and thepolicies that result are truly “resident-centered,” especially those pertainingto open space?

6

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 2013

The County WithoutThe County WithoutThe County WithoutThe County WithoutThe County WithoutMay 3, 2014

The PGA has announced that nextyear’s tour will be coming to theHearst Ranch Golf Resort and it’scelebrated 18th hole, San SimeonPoint. The golfers will be put up by theHearst Corporation at its Stewards o’the Land Luxury Lodge. For theduration of the competition, the countywill double the number of water trucksthat serve the resort beyond the usualfleet that brings in water every week toreplace what once came from the SanCarpoforo dry creek. Longtime resident Britt Micklin said“I can remember when I was a kid andwe went hiking out there on the Point.There were a lot of trees, little trailsand everything,” she said. “There werefish in the cove, too, before the golfcourse and the herbicide runoff. It wasa wonderful piece of nature; the kindof thing the Sierra Club might’vesaved, maybe stopped this resort frombeing built, if we’d had an activeSierra Club here. Oh well. This is theprice of progress, I guess.” Micklin said she may watch parts ofthe tournament through binocularsfrom the 100-yard perimeter the publicis required to maintain from theelectrified fence and guard kiosks onSan Simeon Point that keep non-resortguests from trespassing onto the green.

June 27, 2016

No more room in “McMansion Country”

With this week’s completion ofconstruction of a 50,000-square-footspec vacation cottage overlooking thelandscape of green hills and valleysbetween Highway 41 and Highway 46,every buildable lot on the ridgelines ofthe Cayucos Viewshed has now beenoccupied by mansions that offercurrent or prospective owners sweep-ing views of each other. “Everybody wants a great view, andfor as long as there were views here,they paid top dollar for it,” said asatisfied Zip Zifflin of the HomeBuilders Association. “It was a greatrun. Without our friends on the CountyBoard of Supervisors who passed theviewshed ordinance that was written

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PGA TPGA TPGA TPGA TPGA Tour to Lour to Lour to Lour to Lour to Land on San Simeon Pand on San Simeon Pand on San Simeon Pand on San Simeon Pand on San Simeon Pointointointointoint

February 14, 2015

Last Swallow Leaves AvilaWest Nile outbreak spikes

A check of all standing structures inAvila Beach this week has confirmedthat for the first year in memory, thedistinctive mud-daub nests of cliffswallows are nowhere to be found inthe Central Coast beach community,once a haven for the iconic birds. With the departure of the lastswallow, the outbreak of local WestNile virus that has tracked the plum-meting swallow population haszoomed from 27 cases reported thistime last year to 130 cases. The mos-quitoes carrying the virus were thefavorite food of the cliff swallows,whose large flocks once kept themosquito population in check. “I guess this is what happens whenyou keep knocking their nests downand breaking their eggs every year,”said Avila CSD member Bic Kicklin.“They finally got the message that theyweren’t wanted. I wish someone had

told us that knocking downnests is illegal, and howimportant the swallow was toour community and the localecosystem and stuff like that. Ibet that’s the kind of thing theSierra Club would have done,if we had one here. Too latenow, I guess.” He sighed, lowered themosquito netting from the rimof his pith helmet, attached itto his collar, and walked backto his empty hotel to sit at thefront desk.

for them by the lot owners back in2007 to re-jigger county planningstandards, we never could have pulledit off.” Miff Wifflin of the Cayucos CitizensAdvisory Council ruefully agreed.“We had sort of hoped that somedaysome subsequent board would rollback that god-awful ordinance,” hesaid, “but that never happened.Nobody wanted to get anybody riledup, I guess. If we had the Sierra Clubhere, I bet they would’ve sued to getthat thing repealed. But we don’t haveone, so that didn’t happen, either. Hey,you want to see some pictures of whatthis place used to look like? It wasreally pretty.”

Cayucos Ridgelines FCayucos Ridgelines FCayucos Ridgelines FCayucos Ridgelines FCayucos Ridgelines Fullullullullull

Los Osos Goes DrLos Osos Goes DrLos Osos Goes DrLos Osos Goes DrLos Osos Goes Dryyyyy With last week’s announcement thatthe Los Osos aquifer has fallen to alevel too low to support the populationof the town, a wave of foreclosuresand home abandonments has left thecommunity a virtual ghost town. The vegetation in the area’s lastenvironmentally sensitive habitat areadied off several months ago when thecreeks went dry. “With the benefit of hindsight, wewent the wrong way on the sewerproject,” said Whit Whipplin of the

August 7, 2015

County Public Works Department.“We should have paid more attentionto things like water conservation andreclamation, but we just wanted tofocus on getting the sewer built andthe water treated and disposed of. It’sall we know.” Whipplin believes it would havebeen a good idea if the County hadexpanded its thinking when the projectwas in the design phase and shiftedfrom a philosophy of waste waterdisposal to ramp up conservation andinclude water recycling as part of theproject. “And we really shouldn’t havegone with sprayfields — spraying

continued on next page

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Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 20137

a Sierra Cluba Sierra Cluba Sierra Cluba Sierra Cluba Sierra ClubHere are some local newsstories you won’t be seeing inthe future because we werethere in the past.

We hope we can continue tobe here in the future for SanLuis Obispo’s citizens, natu-ral resources and wildlife.

The real estate firm Trampell &Clutterup has announced plans todevelop eight parcels on the hillsidesabove Johnson Avenue in San LuisObispo, to be subdivided into 22residential lots, plus a recreationcenter, amphitheater, and hotel. Theproject will complete the full build-outof the hillsides surrounding the city. Johnson Avenue residents haveexpressed dismay, and are pressing theCity to purchase the parcels from thepresent owners and preserve them as

You’re welcome The Santa Lucia chapter had to wage a two-year legal batt le with the County to repeal the Cayucos Viewshed Ordinance and save these hillsides.

Don’t want to see future news stories like these? Go towww.santalucia.sierraclub.org, click “Donate,” and sign up foran automatic monthly contribution of $20, or whatever youcan afford. If you don’t have Paypal, you can request amonthly bill pay service from your bank, free to anyone withan account. Provide the bank your account number, the dateon which you want the check sent every month, and the nameand address of the recipient:

Sierra Club P.O. Box 15755

San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

treated, reusable effluent into the air,outside the water basin, and letting itevaporate as the groundwater levelsdropped. I mean, wow, what were wethinking? But you live and learn. Weprobably could’ve avoided thosemistakes if an organization like theSierra Club had pressed us hard, madeus go for recycling, pointed out howdumb an idea the sprayfields were.They would have had to be willing torisk, you know, being unpopular.” “But there was no Sierra Club, sohere we are,” he said.

January 1, 2020

County FCounty FCounty FCounty FCounty Fails to Meet State GHG Cutsails to Meet State GHG Cutsails to Meet State GHG Cutsails to Meet State GHG Cutsails to Meet State GHG Cuts The County Planning Department announced today that it will miss thelongstanding target mandated by the state of California for all municipalities toreduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by this year. The state will beginassessing penalties for non-compliance. “We gave it the old college try,” said county planner Flip Bicklin. “We puttogether a Climate Action Plan back in 2011 with an assortment of measures thatwe thought might do the trick. In retrospect, it’s obvious that Community ChoiceAggregation, or CCA, should have been one of those measures. CCA has justexploded in cities and counties across the country over the last ten years, andnothing else has been a bigger driver of the clean energy economy and green-house gasreduction. SoI guess now’sthe time forus to startlooking intothat, butwe’re waybehind theeight ball.” Bicklin said that early evaluation of CCA might have been part of the County’sclimate action plan if the County had been encouraged to include it when theplan was being drafted. “The Sierra Club has been a big advocate of CCA foryears,” he said. “If they’d pressed us to put it in there, we probably would have.But there was no Sierra Club here.”

SLO Welcomes Newest Hillside DevelopmentOctober 18, 2019

natural open space. “It’s a nice idea,” said SLO Eco-nomic Development Manager VivGrifflin, “but that would requiresomething like a greenbelt program toacquire open space, and a naturalresources manager to run it.” Grifflin says that those things in turnwould require the right policies in thecity’s Land Use Element. “And gettingpolices like that would probably re-quire something like the establishmentof an environmental quality taskforce,” he said. “I’m told there was some discussionof doing something like that about 25years ago when we did the GeneralPlan update,” said Gifflin, “but therewas no Sierra Club and no Sierra Clubactivists to get behind that idea andpush.” “Which is okay by me,” she added,“I think we’re doing just fine. Espe-cially the real estate sector.”

Want to help us build support? Plan to attend the first meeting of theChapter Development Committee on January 12. For time and place,email Doug Bing at dougbing@sbcglobal.net .

8

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 2013

a PV permit (residentialsystems: $500, plus $15 forevery kilowatt over 15 kW;commercial systems: $1,000for systems up to 50 kW, plus$7 for every kW between 51kW and 250 kW, plus $5 forevery kW over 250 kW.) 2) AB 1801 (Campos),

Solarcontinued from page 3

Wish We’d Said That...Oh Wait, We Did

Quebec studies the environmentalrisks associated with fracking. Quebecalso passed legislation in June banningdrilling below the St. Lawrence River. Placing a moratorium on fracking inorder to study environmental risk issound public policy. Who can arguewith that? Answer: Lone Pine Resources. Thecompany claims that the moratoriumviolates their rights as an investor

than see it through. But what must the people ofCanada forfeit in order to settle thiscase? Clean air? Clean water?Quebec must be able to keep itsfracking moratorium, and this caseshould be dismissed if it goes toarbitration. Rules to protect thepublic and the environment must notbe up for negotiation. And govern-ments should not be afraid to protecttheir people. Amazingly, instead of looking forways to scale back and eliminate therules in our trade agreements that

Frackcontinued from page 1

requiring solar permit fees to becomputed based on actual jurisdic-tional costs and prohibiting fees frombeing computed based on PV-systemvaluations. For more information on the SierraClub’s solar-permit-fee campaign inCalifornia, see www.SolarPermitFees.org.

under NAFTA and constitutes an ex-propriation of their drilling permit.They’re taking advantage of NAFTA’scontroversial chapter on investmentthat gives corporations the right to suea government over nearly any law orpolicy that the government argues ishurting its ability to profit. It’s almostimpossible to believe, but it’s true. By the end of 2011, corporationssuch as Chevron, Exxon Mobil, DowChemical, and Cargill had launched450 investor-state cases against 89governments, including the UnitedStates. Over $700 million has beenpaid to corporations under U.S. freetrade agreements and bilateral invest-ment treaties, about 70 percent ofwhich are from challenges to naturalresource and environment policies. Corporations have launched attacks ona range of public interest and environ-mental regulations, including bans orphase-outs of toxic chemicals, timberregulations, permitting rules for mines,green jobs and renewable energyprograms, and more. This case,however, is the first to directly threatenthe obligation of governments toprotect their citizens from the destruc-tive effects of fracking. Lone Pine Resources’ claim mightnot make it to arbitration; the companysays it wants to settle the case rather

“We will not survive as anEarth, as a democracy, asa republic, if we don’tfigure out how to makecorporations work for thepeople and be able todemocratically, small ‘d’,decide on the powers,rights, duties and privi-leges that these massiveglobal empires, which iswhat they are now, have inour democracy.”

- Jeffrey ClementsFreeSpeechForPeople.org

28th Amendment Conference, UCLA School of Law, November 17, 2012

TAKE ACTION

On November 27, the Sierra Club’s Kern-Kaweah chapter celebrated a legalvictory forcing the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) to

revoke the permit for Tamarack Oil & Gas to frack in Kern County. Jointhe Sierra Club’s Hydrofracking Team at sierraclub.org/activistnetworkand help us: prepare model municipal and county codes in California from existingcodes in Texas, Ohio, and the Northeast use L.A. County, Culver City, Santa Barbara, and San Benito Codes asproposed leveraging points elsewhere assist others to get ordinances implemented and amendments tocurrent codes use the L.A. County model to upgrade the City of Carson’s EIR for200 wells and improve its Mitigation, Monitoring and Reporting Code use the City of Carson’s EIR to push SCAQMD’s new Oil Field Regsand upgrades for Culver City/LA/Beverly Hills codes review and comment on DOGGR regulations.

threaten public interest policies infavor of corporate profits, elevencountries, including the United Statesand Canada, are currently in themiddle of negotiations to expand theNAFTA investment rules in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Underthe Trans-Pacific Partnership, our airand our water could be threatened bymore cases like this one. Governmentsmust stop writing and signing tradepacts that put the interests and profitsof corporations above the well-beingand rights of communities.

- Sierra Club Compass

On November 21, KCET’s web publication ReWire,providing news and analysis about renewable energyin California, published an article entitled “The End ofLarge-Scale Solar Projects in the U.S.?,” whichfeatured excerpts from an interview with Jack Curtis,the Asia-Pacific Vice-President of Business Develop-ment and Sales for First Solar, “the Arizona-based thinfilm photovoltaic company best known for buildinglarge utility scale power plants in the California desertand the Carrizo Plain.” Curtis said the company -- and, he believes, the solarindustry as a whole -- will be scaling back on theconstruction of massive solar power plants in NorthAmerica:

I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of these goingforward — largely because it is difficult to find thatoptimum balance between land availability andtransmission availability — but more importantlyyou’re really not leveraging the modularity of photo-voltaic (PV) solar as much as you could. Solar PVessentially realizes all economic economies of scale atabout 20 megawatts (mW), so if it doesn’t cost you anymore on a unit basis to build 20 mW as opposed to 500mW, then what you should be doing is leveraging morestrategic places on the grid where you don’t have thosegrid constraints, where it’s easy to find a site, where it’scloser to distribution load, or it’s not as much of a painto connect, or it doesn’t have the same line loss impact.

The article concludes:“projects of that size arefar more likely to fit intourban and other devel-oped settings, making iteasier to move awayfrom the long-distancetransmission model ofpower generation.” Throughout 2009-2011, at meetings of theSLO county planning commission and the board of supervisorsand in written comments on the Environmental Impact Reportsfor the 550 mW and 250 mW First Solar and Sunpower solarpower plant projects, the Santa Lucia Chapter of the SierraClub made these same points -- including line loss impacts andthe benefits of multiple, modular solar installations of about 20mW, built close to end users of the energy, instead of a single,large power plant at a remote location in the Carrizo Plain,habitat for the highest concentration of threatened and endan-gered species in the United States. Those arguments were ignored. Instead, Herculean, fingers-crossed efforts to salvage impacted species like the pronghornantelope, San Joaquin kit fox and giant kangaroo rat are nowunderway at the plants’ construction sites. Those efforts mightor might not work. As the scale of the projects and the magni-tude of the impacts they will have on these species in this corehabitat area are unprecedented, no one knows. But now we all know what should have been done instead.

Bureau, objected to the ban on futuresubdivisions over the basin, a measurere-quired in the County’s General Planto protect a basin in LOS III. Many ofthose same representatives sit on thePaso Basin Blue Ribbon Committee. During the hearings, North CountyWatch publicly challenged the Agcommunity “to bring forward propos-als for water conservation measuresfor all agricultural operations. Theconservation measures must bemandatory, enforceable, and havemechanisms for oversight.” At its December 6 meeting, the BlueRibbon Committee attempted toanswer that challenge. But withthousands more acres of vineyards setto be planted, the ag representatives onthe basin committee insist that thesolution is the importation of newwater. Setting aside the question ofwhere that “new water” might comefrom, water importation schemes takefrom 15 to 20 years from inception toturning on the tap. At that meeting, the committee heardthe report from the County’s PublicWorks Department on the County’swell monitoring program in four areassuffering from declining well levels --Creston, Estrella, Shandon, and SouthGabilan. As expected, all four areasshowed significant declines in wellwater levels, with Estrella and SouthGabilan nearly off the chart. The datashow a trend of decline from 1981forward, but steep declines areapparent from 1999 to the present. The overdraft problems with thePaso Basin can only be reversed in thenear term by limitations on ag pump-ing, as they are the major users and noamount of conservation by residentialusers can fix the problem. The vocal ag participants on thecommittee insist that ag is doingeverything it can, but won’t discusslimitations on pumping or vineyardexpansion and didn’t offer specifics oranything quantifiable that the commu-nity at large might find comforting asthey watch their well levels declineand their property value evaporate.

Watercontinued from page 4

In San Luis Obispo, Transition Towns’ Self-Governance group is developing alocal Right to Clean Water ordinance that would protect our local water re-sources and ban hydraulic fracking. Volunteers are needed to help begin theprocess of developing a local ordinance and launch a public education programbased on what the Group learned at Democracy School. Check their website slocleanwateraction.org and drop a note to JeanneBlackwell at jeannewater@gmail.com to offer to help out or stay in the loop.

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 20139

You Can Pay the Rent!

Their Final Fumble Going out with a whimper, theallegedly progressive majority of theCounty Board of Supervisors madeits last major planning decision onDecember 4: they decided that afterfour years of trying, they were unableto fix the faulty Ag Cluster Ordi-nance, a fundamentally flawed landuse policy intended to protectagricultural land from sprawlingresidential subdivisions, and drop-kicked it into the waiting arms of thenew, profoundly anti-environmentboard. It is likely to be a chilly embrace,from which no meaningful reform ofthis failed ordinance will emerge.Essentially, the public process — fouryears of work by the planningdepartment, planning commission andcitizens advisory committees — wasdropped down a hole. The amend-ments will now be re-written bydevelopment interests who havevolunteered to assist the County inthat task. From its inception, the Ag ClusterOrdinance has brought about resultscontrary to the intent of the ordinance.It was intended to be both a disincen-tive to subdivision of ag lands and anincentive for preserving large swathsof productive land by allowing farmersand ranchers to pursue some modestdevelopment of clustered home siteson small portions of their land. That was the intention; the reality isthat the ordinance has been a failure indoing what it was intended to do, asvividly illustrated by the projectsapproved for Santa Margarita Ranchand proposed for Laetitia Vineyards.The reality has been developerspurchasing large agricultural parcels todevelop projects featuring gatedcommunities and expensive home sitesthat depend on the property’s ground-water, which is supposedly protectedfor agricultural uses. New, intensified,irrigated crops have been planted as away to qualify for even more homesites by manipulating the formula thatdetermines the number of lots. Morethan a hundred homesites have beenapproved on large, non-contiguous lotswith inadequate buffers, increasing thelikelihood of conflicts between agri-culture and residential uses. The proposed amendments weredrafted to remedy these problems. TheTribune noted that the exertions ofthose who opposed them looked a lotlike a filibuster, intended to prevent theBoard from voting and therebyhanding off the decision to the

Supervisors drop the ball on ag clusters & hit the showers

developer-friendly 2013 board. Four years ago, the same economicinterests made sure that the previousboard voted on the Santa Margarita agcluster. In December 2008, it was amatter of hurry up and vote on aninsufficiently studied, inadequatelymitigated project that never shouldhave made it out of County Planning –a display of raw politics that exposedall the flaws of the Ag Cluster Ordi-nance and the ease with which theycan be exploited. In December 2012, itwas a matter of stretching out and de-laying the fix for those flaws andclaiming that the proposed amend-ments had been suddenly thrust on anunsuspecting public, despite the factthat this issue has been the subject ofpublic surveys and multiple publichearings before the board and theplanning commission for the last fouryears. At the very start of the December 4hearing, Supervisor Adam Hill sig-naled his willingness to “continue theitem” — i.e. fold under pressure fromeconomic interests eager to throw awrench in the process, gut the amend-ments and keep exploiting the weak-nesses in the current ordinance. At that point, it was clear that therewere not enough votes to get theamendments passed, and publiccomment became moot. Nevertheless, there was plenty ofcomment from the public, who, drunk

on COLAB kool-aid, variouslyasserted that the ordinance if amendedas proposed — which would not pre-vent anyone from building a home —amounted to the seizure of privateproperty, a conspiracy by the County’ssocialist planning staff comparable tothe Nazis rounding up Jews, a betrayalof our troops who stormed the beach atNormandy, and an extension of theU.N.’s plans for world domination.(One such commenter stated proudly“I don’t read the newspaper.”) The Farm Bureau, attempting toconjure support for the original flawedordinance, said that “Sierra Clubadmitted in their November 8th letterthat ‘a cluster would maximizeprotection of ag land.’” What we really said was that thisoutcome was possible if ag clusters areno longer done in the way the currentordinance allows, but instead in themanner prescribed by the amendmentsthat were before the Board. Delaying the vote on the reform ofthe ag cluster ordinance, after therushed vote on the Santa MargaritaRanch cluster, was a compoundtravesty of responsible land useplanning, firmly branding the 2009-2012 SLO County Board of Supervi-sors with the badge of politicalcowardice. The board had a chance to keep whathappened last time from happeningagain. They let it happen again.

Deja vu all over again Back in 2009, we expressed hope for the repair of the Ag ClusterOrdinance. Any hope placed in that process died in December 2012.

A Vote for UrbanAgricultureBy the Central Coast Ag Network

On November 20, the San LuisObispo City Council unanimouslyvoted to lease 18 acres of the CalleJoaquin Agricultural Reserve to theCentral Coast Ag Network. CCAN, established in 2003, champi-ons sustainable local and regional foodsystem to ensure a diverse and abun-dant supply of food that is resilient andsecure. Purchasing food that is grownlocally results in increased spendingpower for farmers and the potential tocreate more local jobs. The land, commonly referred to asSLO City Farm, will be under agricul-tural production as a fully operatingdemonstration farm. The agricultural history of the sitewill be maintained while providingeducational opportunities for thechildren, the general public, andcurrent and future farmers. Educational programs will includeprogramming geared toward teachingchildren about fruits and vegetables,and educate the public on local foodand farming in order to keep morefood dollars in our county and supportongoing farming in this area. SLO City Farm will serve as a modelfor future farm sites and will serve asthe main facility for farm incubationprograms. The average age of farmers in SLOCounty is 59. The loss of experiencedfarmers coupled with rising land costsare challenges to new and first-generation farmers. City Farm offersan opportunity for farmers, new andexperienced, to participate in thestrengthening of our community andlocal food system. “I am so proud that we have reachedthis milestone,” said Eric Veium,Board President of the Central CoastAg Network. “It has taken a small,committed group of us over four yearsto cultivate this opportunity and I amso excited for what is possible movingforward.” The land is available for leasethrough a proposal process. Visitwww.centralcoastgrown.org for moreinformation.

Last m onth, our m em bers m et a generous donor ’s m atch-ing grant challenge for our $700 m onthly office rent , andour donor m atched it !

He’s offer ing the sam e challenge for the February rent . So here’s anopportunity for m ore of you to collect ively kick in to keep the doorsopen. Any am ount you cont r ibute will be autom at ically doubled! Makeyour check payable to Sierra Club and send to:

Sierra ClubP.O. Box 15755San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

(Write “Feb. rent m atch” in the m em o sect ion of your check.)

Let it Rain

Harvesting the Rain: Storage and Useis the latest how-to guide from theAppropriate Technology Campaign --SLO Greenbuild, Sierra Club andSurfrider. Hot off the press, and aworthy companion to our GraywaterGuide and Rainwater Management forLow Impact Development. $10 postagepaid, while supplies last. Mail yourcheck to Sierra Club, P.O. Box 15755,San Luis Obispo, CA 93406.

1 0

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 2013

Taking Issueproblematic environmental coverage & commentary in our local media

Upshot: “CEQA is an essential check on government decision-making on awide range of development decisions, from oil drilling along our coast toindustrial development to allocation of natural resources like clean water,clean air and open space. Californians should remain wary of giving up theirsay in decisions about how and where property is developed. With the electionbehind us, it is time for the legislature to turn its attention to the issues thatreally matter. Promote good, clean jobs. Find a sustainable path forward withthe state budget. Revive our struggling schools and universities. And set acourse for a California that is both green and golden. Gutting environmentalsafeguards won’t get us there.”

-- “Gutting CEQA would be wrong for California,” Kathryn Phillips,Director of Sierra Club California, and Joel Reynolds, Western Director of the

Natural Resources Defense Council, San Jose Mercury News, Dec. 7, 2012.

“CEQA should be at top of reform list for Legislature,” Contra Costa Times, reprinted in The Tribune, Nov. 26, 2012.

Note the lack ofsupporting dataand the choice ofrhetoric. CEQAlawsuits are“few” but they“often” deter jobcreation?Changing“what businessesdo and wherethey try to build”is precisely theintent of CEQA.Developers doing legitimate infill projects on sites that have few(or adequately mitigated) environmental impacts have little to fearfrom CEQA. And a supermajority in not needed to amend CEQA;it can be accomplished with a simple majority vote. That is how itgot amended to exempt a sports stadium in 2011. That’s how it’sbeen amended numerous times over the last 20 years. A super-majority is only necessary to raise taxes or place constitutionalamendments on the ballot.

Summary: If the public retains their right to know about risks to their health and the environment, this will somehowprevent California from having a strong economy. So let’s “reform” the California Environmental Quality Act to relax oreliminate environmental review.

Many lawsand agencyregulationsare outdatedand don’treflect currentscience and

our knowledge of environmentalimpacts. They are not a substitute for thecom-prehensive environmental disclo-sure and project review that CEQArequires.

Can anybody recall a timewhen Republicans didn’t takefull advantage of an electoralmandate to go full steamahead with their agenda? IfCalifornia Democrats don’tsee their first supermajority since 1883 as a mandate, they don’tdeserve the support they got from voters in November and they won’tbe able to hold onto that advantage beyond the next two years.

As Democrats contemplate what to dowith their new supermajority power inthe Legislature, they should avoidRepublicans’ worst fears: tax in-creases to restore depleted services.

Nearly 2 million Californians remainunemployed. Economic growth mustbe a top priority. And one of the bestways to accomplish it is to reform theCalifornia Environmental Quality Act.

“Reforming” CEQAwon’t reduce unem-ployment, andcynically pitting theeconomy against theenvironment won’tspur economic growth. Creating green jobs, investing in education,and supporting environmental restoration are the kinds of initiativesneeded to stimulate the economy and put people back to work.

[CEQA is] one reason the state hasbeen able to preserve its naturalbeauty — a central component of itsattraction for residents and businesses— and it has given residents a strongvoice in community development. But itis too often abused by a whole range ofinterests: NIMBYs to protect theirpersonal interests, labor unions as aweapon to demand contracts andbusinesses to stop competition, toname just a few.

See the Equal ProtectionClause of the U.S.Constitution. Laws arenot selectively availableto favored classes ofcitizens. The demon-ization of “NIMBY” hasalways been a perverselyOrwellian attempt toattack citizens defendingtheir interests. Whyshouldn’t folks useCEQA to halt or improvebad projects in their communities? That’s why we have CEQA. That’swhat it’s for. And that’s why the author has to admit that CEQA haspreserved California’s natural beauty and given voice to its communi-ties -- both of which the suggested “reforms” would bring to a halt.

These challenges often prevent development that couldcreate jobs or help businesses survive without harming theenvironment, and they contribute to California’s reputationas unfriendly to business. Four decades after RonaldReagan signed CEQA into law, it’s time for an update.

CEQAhas beenamendedmultipletimessince itwas signed into law, to respond to abuses, weaknesses andoversights. When critics talk about “update” these days,what they mean is gutting the law to make it less effective.

The billsintended togut CEQAwere unveiledin the finalhours of the2012 legisla-tive session,bypassingall policycommitteesand eliminat-ing all publicprocess. This11th-hourprocedural

end-run is known as a “gut and amend” andis the hallmark of the most onerous bills thatcould never survive the scrutiny of normal,democratic transparency. It is the sort ofthing that causes voters to lose faith ingovernment and is the subject of ongoinggood government reform initiatives.

* Coordinating CEQA reviewswith environmental regulations.For example, if a project complieswith water quality laws, a judgeshouldn’t be able to stop it onwater-quality grounds as part of aCEQA challenge.

Limiting the public’s ability to bringCEQA lawsuits completely eliminates theeffectiveness of the law. If a law can’t beenforced, it becomes superfluous.

With the help of SiliconValley Leadership GroupPresident Carl Guardino,a statewide coalition hasbeen working with CEQAexperts to developreforms that preventabuses while maintainingthe law’s intent. Theproposals were dis-cussed briefly in Sacra-mento as the legislativesession ended, but theywere too complex to bepassed quickly.

* Improving record-keeping to speed up the court process.

The court process is slow because courts andlocal governments are not adequately fundedto meet their public obligations. The answeris to adequately fund the courts, not mandatestricter record-keeping.

Reform opponents say CEQA lawsuits arefew, and they’re right. But the threat of alawsuit changes what businesses do andwhere they try to build. Sometimes that’s forthe best, but often it’s a needless deterrent tojob creation. Reforms could actually enhancesome environmental protections. Infill, whichis building in already developed areas — farpreferable to sprawl into open land — is oftenchallenged by NIMBY neighbors.... Gov. JerryBrown, Senate President Darrell Steinbergand Assembly Speaker John Perez all havepromised reform. It’s a perfect opportunity toshow Californians they’re serious about usingtheir supermajority power responsibly.

* Limiting when a CEQA lawsuit can be filed.

We hope to see them revived and fully debated next year:

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 20131 1

ClassifiedsNext issue deadline is January 12. Toget a rate sheet or submit your ad andpayment, contact:Sierra Club - Santa Lucia ChapterP.O. Box 15755San Luis Obispo, CA 93406sierraclub8@gmail.com

CYNTHIA HAWLEYATTORNEY

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONLAND USE

CIVIL LITIGATION

P.O. Box 29 Cambria California 93428Phone 805-927-5102 Fax 805-927-5220

A portion of any commissiondonated to the Sierra Club

Pismo toSan Simeon

GREEN HOMES

Les KangasSolar Energy ConsultantREC Solar, Inc.775 Fiero Lane, Suite 200San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Office: (805) 528-9705Cell: (805) 305-7164Toll Free: (888) OK-SOLAR (657-6527)Fax: (805) 528-9701

Hold Your Water“Slow it, sink it, spread it” is the mantraof enlightened water managers whoknow that water works best when itstays on the land where it falls. Now that mantra can be yours, too,along with healthier soils, happierwildlife, and reductions in your waterbill, thanks to the tips and techniques inRainwater Management for LowImpact Development, a publication ofthe Appropriate Technology Coalition --SLO Green Build, the Santa Lucia

Chapter of theSierra Club andthe SurfriderFoundation,available for $10postage paid,while supplieslast. Mail yourcheck to SierraClub, P.O. Box15755, SLO93406.

2012 Crop Grass Fed BeefEstate Grown Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Available Now-Delivery AvailablePlease Get in Touch For More Information

Greg and Linda McMillan

805-238-4820 greg@flyingment.com

1 2

Santa Lucian • Jan./Feb. 2013

Outings and Activities CalendarSeller of travel registration information: CST 2087766-40. Registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the State of California.

This is a partial listing of Outingsoffered by our chapter.

Please check the web pagewww.santalucia.sierraclub.org for

the most up-to-date listing ofactivities.

All our hikes and activities are open to all Club members and the general public. Please bring drinking water toall outings and optionally a lunch. Sturdy footwear is recommended. All phone numbers listed are within areacode 805 unless otherwise noted. Pets are generally not allowed. A parent or responsible adult must accompanychildren under the age of 18. If you have any suggestions for hikes or outdoor activities, questions about theChapter’s outing policies, or would like to be an outings leader, call Outings Chair Joe Morris, 549-0355. Forinformation on a specific outing, please call the listed outing leader.

Joe Morris, Outings ChairSierra Club, Santa Lucia Chapter(805) 549-0355dpj1942@earthlink.net

April 7-9; May 5-7; June 2-4; July21-23; Aug. 25-27; Sept. 15-17

Join us for a 3-day, 3-island, live-aboard cruise to Channel Islands Na-tional Park. Hike wild, windswepttrails bordered with blazing wildflow-ers. Kayak rugged coastlines. Marvelat pristine waters teeming with frolick-ing seals and sea lions. Train yourbinoculars on unusual sea and landbirds. Watch for the endangered islandfox. Look for reminders of the Chu-mash people who were here forthousands of years. Or just relax at sea.All cruises depart from Santa Barbara

aboard the 68' twin diesel Truth. The cost, $590, includes anassigned bunk, all meals, snacksand beverages plus the servicesof a ranger/naturalist who willtravel with us to help lead hikes,point out items of interest, and

present evening programs. To make areservation send a $100 check, writtento Sierra Club, to leader Joan JonesHoltz, 11826 The Wye St., El Monte,CA 91732. For more information callor e-mail 626-443-0706 orjholtzhln@aol.com.

Have a beautiful new year!

2013Sierra ClubCalendar

Accept no substitutes. Yourdesk will thank you. Your wallwill thank you. And yourfriends and family will thankyou. And when you buy directfrom the Chapter, you supportthe Sierra Club’s conservationwork in San Luis ObispoCounty. We thank you.

wall calendar: $12.50desk calendar: $13.50To order, call: 805-543-7051

By Andrew Christie, Chapter Director

There are no words to express our sense of sorrow and loss in the face of the tragedy that overtookthe lives of George and Gewynn Taylor last December. The Los Osos couple were 30-year members ofthe Sierra Club and active supporters of the Santa Lucia Chapter. The feeling was mutual. For me,personally, they offered an object lesson in what it means to be a community activist. We met duringthe long fight over the Los Osos sewer, and worked on Judy Vick’s campaign for 2nd District Supervi-sor. I won’t forget the hours spent in their rec room working through the process of drafting a permitappeal to the Coastal Commission for a house they felt was way out of scale for the neighborhood. Iwon’t forget their friendship. The Sierra Club won’t forget their support. No one should ever forgettheir example of engaged citizenship, which basically always comes down to this: when you love aplace, you fight for it. Thank you, George and Gewynn.

Thank You, George and Gewynn

Island Hopping in Channel Islands National Park

Sun., Jan 13, 10 a.m. SycamoreSprings Trekking Pole Hike “Pole-cats” is dedicated to leading SierraClub day hikes and modeling thebenefits of using trekking poles. Theeasy hike to Sycamore Springs is 2miles round-trip, 700-ft elevationchange. Meet near the entrance toSycamore Springs Resort, 1215 AvilaBeach Drive. Need to confirm before-hand with leader, David Georgi at 458-5575 or polecatleader@ gmail.com.

Fri.-Sun., Jan. 18-20. Death ValleyWilderness Restoration Work withDeath Valley NP Wilderness Coordina-tor Charlie Callagan, picking up debrisin Panamint Valley. Hike in of 1 1/2miles, carry out what we pick up.Camp at either Panamint Springs orWild Rose campground. Arrive Fridayafternoon and start work on project,continuing on Saturday with a potluckin the evening. Sunday may be a workday or recreational. Leader: KateAllen, kj.allen96@ gmail.com or 661-944-4056. CNRCC Desert Committee.

Sat., Jan. 19, 8:30 a.m. Rinconadato Big Falls Hike One of our area’smore impressive waterfalls. Moder-ately strenuous, hike, 12 miles, 1400ft. elevation gain. Bring lunch, water,and hiking shoes. Two minor creekcrossings. Poison oak. Meet in front ofthe Pacific Beverage Company, SantaMargarita. Info.: Carlos, 546-0317.

Sun., Jan 27, 2 p.m. City Walk ofSan Luis Obispo: Jazz Age to theFifties. Where is the hotel where

Hearst entertained his guests, thespeakeasies of the 20s, the originalFrench Hospital? Find out and muchmore on a guided stroll past historicstores, theaters, and hotels. Learnabout SLO city life from the Model Tto Prohibition and World War II. Meetat building designed by Frank LloydWright, corner of Santa Rosa andPacific. Info.: Joe Morris, 549-0355.

General Meeting: 4th AnnualEnvironmentalists’ RendezvousCome and hear what major envi-ronmental groups in SLO county aredoing and their plans for 2013. Aunique chance to hear from representa-tives of key organizations in one place.The forum will include short presenta-tions from Alliance for Nuclear

Responsibility, Audubon Society,Coast Keeper, SLO Green Build, SLOLand Conservancy, Surfrider, and ofcourse our own chapter. Each willpresent their projects and leave timefor questions and comments.Steynberg Gallery, 1531 Monterey St.,SLO. Info.: Joe Morris, 549-0355

Sun., Feb. 24, 2 p.m. Musical Walkof Old San Luis Obispo. Join us on aguided tuneful stroll past ten land-marks in the historic core of SLO.Hear the stories behind an ancientadobe, the stagecoach stop, homes ofSLO’s first doctor and first millionaire,the Creamery, a forgotten WPAproject, and more—accompanied byrecordings of period songs fromMission days to World War II. Dura-

tion about 1 1/2 hours. Meet at NWcorner of Nipomo and Dana Sts. Info.:Joe Morris, 549-0355.