• Assemblymember Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) defended Assembly Bill 1680—which requires that the public be allowed to access some of the coastline along Hollister Ranch by 2022—in a Jan. 16 news release. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill authored by Limón last October. Limón issued her statement in response to the Hollister Ranch Owners’ Association, which sued multiple state officials over the law that went into effect this month. “I introduced AB 1680 to lay the groundwork for developing meaningful, safe, equitable, and environmentally sustainable public access to the coast at Hollister Ranch. AB 1680 offers stakeholders the opportunity to work together to develop a contemporary access program that will culminate in initial access by April 1, 2022,” she said. “Regrettably, I am not surprised by the lawsuit regarding AB 1680. Access to the public beaches in this area have been litigated for almost four decades, and it was time for someone accountable to the constituents of this area to bring stakeholders to the table to find a solution. I am confident the state will succeed in defending the right of all people to access and enjoy California beaches.”
• California State Attorney General Xavier Becerra recently announced a lawsuit challenging the validity of a study conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking, an oil-drilling technique) on federal lands in the state. The Jan. 17 announcement lines up with similar lawsuits initiated by environmental groups looking to halt what they believe is an environmentally dangerous drilling technique. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Becerra’s legal filing alleges that the BLM’s study on the effects of fracking didn’t properly evaluate what fracking would do to the surrounding communities, including San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. “BLM’s decision to advance this half-baked proposal isn’t just misguided, it’s downright dangerous,” Becerra said. “The risks to both people and the environment associated with fracking are simply too high to ignore. But that’s essentially what BLM is doing. We won’t ignore the facts and science when it comes to protecting our people, economy, and environment—and we’re taking the Trump administration to court to prove it.” Los Padres ForestWatch issued a press release in support of the lawsuit. “We are fortunate to live in a state that is not afraid to stand up to defend our environment, public lands, critical water supplies, and our communities,” said Rebecca August, advocacy director of Los Padres ForestWatch. “This is an issue that impacts all California residents, as well as the broader global community. The state suit augments our case and further legitimizes our concerns.” The BLM’s study looked at the potential of allowing fracking on 725,000 acres across 11 counties on the Central Coast and in the Bay Area. Los Padres ForestWatch joined the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Patagonia, and other environmental and social justice organizations in filing a separate lawsuit against the BLM on Jan. 14. “Trump’s illegal, deeply unjust fracking plan would be a disaster for Central Valley communities, as well as our climate, wildlife, and water,” Clare Lakewood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release. “We need to phase out fracking and oil drilling, not throw open our public lands to polluters. The future of our beautiful state and our children depends on it.”
This article appears in Jan 23-30, 2020.
