Plastic pollution Update // In the news
California's legislature recently voted on several plastic pollution bills - reported on in the Mercury News: “While this is a good start, much more needs to be done to protect our ocean, waves and beaches,” said Trent Hodges, plastic pollution manager for the Surfrider Foundation. “The California legislature needs to step up its leadership in tackling plastic pollution at the source.”
No Border Sewage // New blog
Beachgoers, visitors, and residents of San Diego County have suffered the devastating effects of raw sewage spills for decades—yet little has been done to remedy the origins. Now these same effects are being felt by US Border Patrol Agents. (via Surfrider Foundation San Diego). Read the full coastal blog.
Public Access // Hollister Ranch
A recent settlement between the Coastal Commission and Hollister Ranch HOA has some significant shortcomings for restoring access to the beach in Santa Barbara County. The LA Times covered the story. We are looking into options for moving forward and addressing this issue.
Desalination Update // Huntington Beach
A great new video was just released by Orange County Coastkeeper on Huntington Beach desalination. Poseidon Water’s highly-paid lobbyists and consultants are hoping you don’t see this video about their proposed desalination plant in Orange County! It’ll raise the price of water and contaminate our shared water supply. Learn more and take action!
Additionally, we recently gave a presentation to the Coastal Commission to highlight Poseidon's has a long history of dodging state desalination regulations. In this video, we highlight their numerous and ongoing noncompliance problems and lack of reliability at their Carlsbad plant. Check it out.
Sea level rise // In the news
Hey, San Diegans – worried? We are. Check out this recent interview with Scripps scientist in the San Diego - Union Tribune: "The next few years will be a pivotal period for decision making with regard to Antarctica. Depending on what is decided, we could be looking at significant and irreversible changes over the next 50 years."
Martin's Beach Update // Legal team files response
"Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla knew California’s laws when he bought property on the San Mateo County coastline 10 years ago, and he shouldn’t be allowed to block public access to the beach now, after families have visited it for nearly 100 years." - Mercury News