by The Editors on April 20, 2008
Thanks to a crew of volunteers Carlsbad’s Hosp Grove now has 200 more trees as part of its Centennial Celebration, according to a Leigh Ann Dewey story in the North County Times.
The celebration offered the community a chance to observe the birthday of the grove, planted 100 years ago by F.P. Hosp & Partners, which hoped to sell the wood to the Santa Fe Railroad for railroad ties. The wood proved too brittle, so the trees remained. Through a vote of residents in 1987, 53 acres of the grove were acquired by the city of Carlsbad and the entire 74 acres — bordered by Hosp Way, Marron Road, and Jefferson and Monroe streets, became parkland and open space.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on April 16, 2008
The California State Parks (the arm of government that would like to charge $8 for parking at Tamarack) is hosting a local “beach clean-up” day on April 19, 2008 at Tamarack State Beach from 10 AM to 2 PM.
According to their flyers:
Events of this caliber are essential in educating the public with hopes of raising awareness and generating support for coastal preservation and stewardship.
While we’re not exactly sure what “caliber” this event is going to be, we are happy that we can all get out and celebrate Earth Day by cleaning up our front yard. Just please, don’t make us pull weeds. We’re not down with that at all.
by The Editors on April 16, 2008
In the April 16, 2008 edition of the Los Angeles Times, Peter MacLaggan, Senior Vice President of Poseidon Resources Corp., (the company that hopes to put in “the largest and most technologically advanced [desalination plant] in the Western Hemisphere”) in our lagoon has written an Op-ed piece titled From Sea To Tap, as a response to Mindy McIntyre’s Op-Ed of April 10, 2008 titled The SUV of Water.
California’s water supply system is based largely on pumping water from environmentally sensitive watersheds in Northern California and the Colorado River over hundreds of miles to Southern California through an elaborate and costly network of dams, canals and reservoirs. But proven desalination technology now allows us to produce higher-quality water along the coast, where the majority of the state’s population resides, at a comparable cost and without damaging the environmentally sensitive upstream habitats.
No matter what you think about the Carlsbad desalination factory, both of these opinions are good reading.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on April 10, 2008
According to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board has “approved an environmental protection plan for the desalination plant,” by a vote of 5-2.
The board voted 5-2 yesterday to approve Poseidon’s first draft of its proposed plan but required it to return in six months with more detail on the number of fish killed, its method to minimize those deaths and how it plans to make up for them.
It appears that the California Coastal Commission is not exactly happy with this vote.
The coastal commission’s executive director, Peter Douglas, had asked the regional water board to delay a decision, saying Poseidon’s plan “would create a real or perceived conflict between the Board’s action and the requirements imposed by the Commission.”
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on April 9, 2008
Being beach dwellers we’ve come to appreciate the fact that the California Coastal Commission has control over anything that happens on the coast. The fact that they make it difficult for developers (and Cities) to make changes near the beach is often a godsend.
Recently, California Senator Denise Ducheny of San Diego pushed forward Senate Bill 1295 with the intension of making it “more difficult for the state Coastal Commission to intervene after cities and counties approve shoreline development, from hotels to homes,” according to the San Diego Union Tribune.
Sadly, Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis was a major proponent of the bill.
It is troubling that just two commissioners can ignore years of local planning, community development and permitting process and can file an appeal, acting as investigator, judge and jury,” Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis argued in a letter to lawmakers.
Luckily, the Mayor’s side lost and the bill has been rejected:
. . .the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee rejected Senate Bill 1295, siding with environmental groups that argued it provides one additional layer of protection for a treasured coast.
Thank you to everyone who helped shut this down.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on April 9, 2008
The Voice of San Diego’s Rob Davis weighs in with a story on the Poseidon desalination plant and brings up some good points, namely that the plant will not be carbon neutral nor will it reduce San Diego’s dependency on Northern California water.
Poseidon has not agreed to make the plant carbon neutral, a step that would require the company to zero out the emissions generated by its energy use. Peter MacLaggan, a Poseidon senior vice president, said doing so would render the $300 million project financially infeasible. Instead, Poseidon says the plant will be “net carbon neutral.”
And:
“Poseidon’s proposed project does not ensure a decrease in imported water supplies to the San Diego Region,” a commission staff report states. “Poseidon acknowledges that the State Water Project would continue to pump available water to Southern California users, but then argues that it should still be credited for what would then be a non-existent reduction in emissions.”
Just a couple more things that make us wonder why any of this is worth further damage to the lagoon and of shore sea life?
[Link: Voice of San Diego]
by The Editors on April 7, 2008
That stand of Eucalyptus trees near the mall is turning 100 year old and to celebrate fans are cleaning up around the park from 8:30 to 11 AM on April 19.
Volunteers are needed to prune trees and brush, and pick up litter (wear closed-toe shoes, gloves and a hat, and bring a shovel). First 200 volunteers will receive a free commemorative “Beautify the Grove” T-shirt. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration begins at 8 a.m. at the grove, south of Marron Road at Monroe Street in Carlsbad. Call (760) 434-2929.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on March 31, 2008
Special Carlsbadistan thanks going out to who ever dumped their prized used oil collection into a storm drain this afternoon.
A city employee working on a sewer project in the area of Chinquapin Avenue and Long Place first reported a pollutant running from a storm drain at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, Carlsbad Public Works Department Supervisor Don Wasko said. . . . A few gallons of what looks like used motor oil have so far drained into the lagoon, Wasko said, with much of it being absorbed by special filters that clean-up crews have put in place.
Luckily, if the person was dumb enough to get caught, they’ll be paying for the Agua Hedionda Lagoon clean up. It’s possible.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on March 15, 2008
Ten years ago more than $57 million was spent restoring Batiquitos Lagoon, but now some are saying that “the natural beauty is hiding an ecological time bomb” according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“If you drive I-5 and look out over the east basin, you’ll see mud flats that historically haven’t been mud flats,” said Keith Merkel, principal ecologist for Merkel & Associates. . . . “That will have to be dredged and removed,” said Merkel, who monitors the lagoon for the California Department of Fish and Game, which manages Batiquitos.
When reading stories like this we’re always reminded of what one of writer Edward Abbey’s characters might have said: There’s nothing you can do to that lagoon that’s going to mitigate the freeway that runs right through the middle of it.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on March 3, 2008
More pleasant hurdles for Poseidon Resources and the proposed desalination plant from the North County Times:
In a recent letter, the control board said it wanted more information about how the plant would minimize harm to fish and the environment —- 21 months after the board awarded the plant a discharge permit.
In November, the California Coastal Commission awarded the plant a permit, on the condition that its backers, Poseidon Resources Inc., answer more questions about the same subjects.
Environmental groups last week immediately said the control board’s action proved environmental worries were valid, and that agencies were moving too quickly to conditionally approve the plant.
“It’s absurd to us that any agency could pre-approve a project of this magnitude without having this information already tied down,” said Marco Gonzalez, an environmental lawyer active in the Surfrider Foundation, which has sued to overturn the commission’s permit approval.
Seems like none of the agencies wanted to be the one to put their foot down. They all offered conditional approvals, and now it’s looking like Poseidon is having a rough time meeting the conditions.
[Link: North County Times]
Thanks to a crew of volunteers Carlsbad’s Hosp Grove now has 200 more trees as part of its Centennial Celebration, according to a Leigh Ann Dewey story in the North County Times.
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