Thursday, June 26, 2014

California's drought getting even worse, experts say

California's drought getting even worse, experts say
By CAITLIN OWENS JUNE 19, 2014, 5:30 PM
California's drought conditions have worsened over the past week with the percentage of the state suffering from the highest category increasing, the National Weather Service said Thursday.
"Exceptional" drought conditions have spread in Central California since a week ago, weather officials said. Areas in Northern California have also moved into this category since last week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Almost 33% of the state faces exceptional conditions. About 25% of the state faced those conditions last week.
Every part of California remains in what is considered severe drought.

A year ago, no part of the state was in exceptional drought conditions, the weather service said.

The drought has prompted water conservation efforts as well as rationing in some parts of the state. L.A. saw record dry conditions this winter, and snowfall in the Sierras has also been significantly down.
But the political impact of the drought has been a subject of debate.
A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in June found most Californians surveyed say the statewide drought has had little or no impact on their daily lives, and a majority oppose the suspension of environmental protections or large-scale public spending to boost water supplies.
Although 89% characterize the drought as a major problem or crisis, only 16% say it has personally affected them to a major degree.
Despite widespread news coverage of the drought the state's major population centers have largely escaped severe mandatory rationing.
Even agriculture, which as California's thirstiest sector is inevitably hit the hardest by drought, has partially compensated for reduced water delivery by pumping more groundwater.
For breaking news in Los Angeles and the Southland, follow @Caitlin__Owens, or email her at caitlin.owens@latimes.com.
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

Coastal Commission Can Now Issue Fines - Malibu Times: News

Coastal Commission Can Now Issue Fines

By Emily Sawicki / emily@malibutimes.com | Posted: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:00 am

Point Dume access point

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) has had lots of bark and very little bite for the past 38 years, but as of Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown gave CCC code enforcement a new set of teeth.

In a controversial trailer bill to this year’s state budget, the Coastal Commission was granted the ability to levy fines of up to $12,000 a day against property owners who attempt to block public access to beaches through tools such as fake “no parking” signs, an issue that may hit close to home for Malibu landowners.

The Coastal Commission is a governing body established in 1976 to help plan and regulate use of land and water in the “coastal zone,” the area right along the California coast. Much of Malibu falls within this zone and is thereby under the jurisdiction of the CCC.

“The commission could [now] say, ‘We think there is access, we’re going to order you to allow the public to obtain that access,’ and then the onus would be upon the property owner to bring an action in court to reverse the decision,” said Damien Schiff, a principal attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation, a group known to represent homeowners against the CCC.

The Coastal Commission’s new powers will come into effect with the new state budget, beginning July 1.

Perhaps the most common of these violations here in Malibu is the act of homeowners putting “no parking” signs up outside of their property, in an attempt to keep tourists and out-of-towners away from their homes and beach area. Other examples could be a fence or gate put up to block access where the CCC has decided a public access point should be.

In the past, the Coastal Commission would have to take these disputes to court. With the new bill, fines will start 30 days after a public access request is made and continue every day of a violation until it is resolved or taken to court.

According to Schiff, this could prevent justice in some cases, with costs skyrocketing for defendants.

“Let’s say the commission issues a penalty for $25,000. The cost of bringing an action — hiring your own counsel and bringing an action and successfully arguing that in a trial court — could reach six figures. Even if they thought they were absolutely right, the cost of making that point would just be absolutely prohibitive,” said Schiff.

Others, including Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian, are less sympathetic and hailed the bill as a way to crack down on NIMBYism.

“Owners of beachside homes in California have gotten so out of control — posting fake ‘no parking’ signs, along with fake ‘no trespassing’ signs and fake ‘private property’ signs — that the California Legislature was forced to take action against them last week,” wrote Abcarian in a column published Monday.

In the story, Abcarian quotes CCC enforcement chief Lisa Haage, who told her, “There is a certain kind of person who does not respond well to us asking them to do the right thing. This is designed for that population.”

However, Abcarian does concede that the fines, which, according to calculations by Damien Schiff could add up to almost $12,000 per day, are steep for the average Malibu resident.

“That may not be a heck of a lot for a billionaire, but Malibu and other desirable coastal strips are home to many middle-class folks who bought beachfront properties at relative bargains decades ago,” said Abcarian.

This move resembles bill AB 976, an attempt to give broad powers to the CCC, which died in the State Senate last year. But it’s a slimmed down version.

“The Commission would have had the ability to penalize an individual for any violation of the coastal act,” said Schiff, but the new legislation is “much more limited in scope in that it only applies to public access violations.” This trailer bill was authored by State Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), whose AB 976 failed last year.

Officials Begin Vetting Trancas Lagoon Project - Malibu Times: News

Monday, June 23, 2014

Civic Center Wastewater Plant Workshop Scheduled - Malibu Times: News

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Steelhead Return to Malibu Lagoon

Full article: http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/aquatic/steelhead-return-to-malibu-lagoon.html

by Chris Clarke on May 28, 2014 3:31 PM

Malibu Lagoon before the restoration project | Photo: faria!/Flickr/Creative Commons License

A year after the completion of a controversial restoration project that divided Los Angeles environmentalists, California State Parks says a species missing for decades has been spotted in the Malibu Lagoon.

On May 15, fish monitors assessing the effects of the restoration project saw a 20-inch adult steelhead swimming in the lagoon, according to State Parks. Though the ocean-going trout species does visit Malibu Creek, it hasn't been seen in the lagoon itself for many years.

According to State Parks, the steelhead is the third endangered species to revisit the lagoon since the restoration project was completed last year -- and its announcement is pretty clearly written with environmentalist critics of the project in mind.

California State Parks manages the lagoon as part of Malibu Lagoon State Beach.

Controversy erupted over the restoration project in the run-up to its July 2011 launch date. Much of the dispute had to do with the validity of using heavy equipment to dredge almost 90,000 cubic yards of soil from the lagoon area. Project opponents charged that the bulldozers would harm many of the birds, mammals, and other animals that had recolonized the lagoon after a partial restoration in 1983.

Backers, which included the State Coastal Conservancy, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, The Bay Foundation, and the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, charged that the post-1983 lagoon didn't have sufficient connection to either the Bay or Malibu Creek to keep its water oxygenated, and said that dredging was necessary to keep the lagoon from becoming stagnant. Opponents disputed the idea that the health of the lagoon's aquatic ecosystem was in decline, and suggested a number of lower-impact approaches to maintaining the ecosystem's health.

Battle lines were drawn in 2010. Mainstream green groups such as Heal the Bay, the Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society, and Surfrider Foundation backed the plan to dredge the lagoon and its fringing marshes. Across the aisle, the Wetlands Defense Fund, Access For All, and the Coastal Law Enforcement Action Network filed suit in 2010 to block the project, charging that the California Coastal Commission had approved it improperly.

Though the lawsuit did delay the project, it was ultimately tossed out of court and dredging began in 2012.

A year after completion, California State Parks says the restored lagoon and marshes have played host to nesting California least terns, which had not nested in the lagoon for 70 years, and to an increased population of tidewater gobies, one of the species project opponents charged would be harmed by the dredging. The goby, the least tern, and the local population of steelhead are all listed as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Regardless of your position on the merits of the project, that seems like good news. Which might be why State Parks' announcement of the steelhead sighting took pains to reiterate its justification for the project, an argument it seems to have already won by default.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Malibu Beaches Avoid Bummer List - Malibu Times: News

Hundreds of Hermosans and friends join hands in oil protest - The Beach Reporter: Hermosa Beach

Hundreds of Hermosans and friends join hands in oil protest - The Beach Reporter: Hermosa Beach: On a hot, sunny afternoon last Saturday, hundreds of friends, families and strangers reached out across the Hermosa Beach sand, holding hands …