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After the Coastal Commission rejected Consistency Certification of the 241 South Toll Road Project, TCA filed an appeal of the decision to the federal Dept. of Commerce. All comments should be directed in writing to the NOAA Office of General Counsel for Ocean Services, 1305 East-West Highway, Room 6111, Silver Spring, MD 20910 or via e-mail to gcos.comments@noaa.gov.
Feb 6, 2008: Coastal Commission rejects TCA's Federal Consistency Application: After 11 1/2 hours of testimony and public comment on February 6 in Del Mar, the CCC voted to deny Consistency Certification.
The Davis Amendment becomes law: The Davis Amendment was created to eliminate the toll road project's exemption from certain state laws. It is attached to the H.R. 4986, the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008: Title 28, Subtitle C, SEC. 2841. MODIFICATION OF CONVEYANCE AUTHORITY, MARINE CORPS BASE, CAMP PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA. This bill was signed into law by Presient Bush on January 28, 2008. What is Coastkeeper's role? Our primary focus is water quality. We have had dialogue with TCA and reviewed their SEIR (Subsequent Environmental Impact Report). To date, TCA has not collected any baseline water quality data at Cristianos Creek and San Mateo Creek, two creeks that could be impacted by the proposed toll road. OCCK has taken the initiative to independently monitor water quality at Cristianos Creek and San Mateo Creek. Our sampling program began during Summer 2007, and will extend for at least a year and a half. At the completion of the project , results and analysis will be made available to the public and posted on our website.
So what are we testing for? Water pollutants contributed by roads and highways include oil, metals, trash and sediment. In the relatively pristine ecosystems of San Mateo Creek and Cristianos Creek, these pollutants should not be present. During our monthly sampling, we test for: bacteria, nutrients, metals, turbidity (clarity of the water), and TRPH (Total Recoverable Petroleum Hydrocarbons). To learn more about how these water quality parameters can affect ecosystems, visit the Coastkeeper's Water Monitoring page.
And our official position? On principle, Orange County Coastkeeper opposes any development project proposed in lands set aside for parks, conservation or public use. At this time, the water quality plan for this project is inadequate, as it has not been fully developed by the TCA. We also believe that TCA did not sincerely explore and consider alternatives to their preferred route.
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