By John Hankins
Welcome fall and winter after a hot summer. Politics are still hot, but we’ve also had some very cool news in our fight to Explore, Enjoy and Protect the planet (Sierra Club’s motto).
Please join our activities and activism, get involved, and enjoy free hikes. We encourage all to get outside on your own or with our leaders.
Donations help a lot, and the money stays here at home doing good stuff. Donate now: https://www.sierraclub.org/donate/1000
Sept 27: “Today, Justice Prevailed” declared Jon Ullman to the news that a district court rejected Exxon’s plan to truck oil on Highways 101, 166 and others leading to Maricopa. Jon is our chapter’s Executive Director.
Sept 23: Public Lands Day is the largest single-day volunteer event for public land with the theme “30 Years of Care and Community.” Locally, volunteers helped clean-up and or plant in the Ojai and Mount Pinos ranger districts.
Sept 22: Electric Bus celebration for the city of Guadalupe along with Central Coast Community Energy.
Sept 20: Rally at the Rock, to celebrate the opening of a public comment period for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, which the Sierra club enthusiastically supports. Held at Morro Rock Jetty Beach. To learn more go to: https://chumashsanctuary.org
Sept 19: Oil Odor: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” according to Shakespeare, but a contentious oil pipeline name/ owner change would still stink, according to the Sierra Club and other eco-opponents. But SB Supervisors decided 4-0 that the name change was okay and has no environmental impact. So, the Las Flores Pipeline system will now be called Pacific Pipeline, a subsidiary of Exxon.
Sept 16: Third Large-Scale trail restoration has involved hundreds of volunteers, on this day for the Hot Springs, Tunnel and San Ysidro trails. Sponsored by SB Parks and Recreation Department, the first two held in April and June, restored about seven miles after heavy winter storms caused severe damage, dangerous conditions and extra plant growth.
Sept 17: Large protest (17K) against fossil fuels occurred in New York as a prelude to the United Nations summit on Sept. 20. When asked, “Why attend?” an 8-year-old girl said, “I really want the Earth to feel better.”
Sept 16: Grab a shovel and help plant 100 trees at Goleta’s Stow Grove Park. About 90 people heeded the call. Over 15 years of drought, the coast redwoods have declined and planting 75 coastal redwoods and 25 cedar saplings will help bring the grove back, originally planted by Edgar Stow in the 1930s.
Sept 12: Petroleum Protest at the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. Our Ventura Sierra Club was there in force railing against the pro-oil members allowing the oil industry to get away with sloughing off modern and reasonable environmental regulations.
Sept. 12: Wildlife setbacks were approved by the Ventura Board of Supervisors. While there are still 27 exemptions, the new ordinance protects 14 wildlife crossings in the northern part of Ventura near Hwy. 33 and Lockwood Valley Road.
Sept 11: 30 X 30 goal (SB 337) passed the CA Assembly by a huge margin (51-4), ensuring that this goal will exist beyond the Newsom Administration. The Power in Nature Coalition thanks the author State Sen. Dave Min. Gov. Newsom is expected to sign it.
Sept 10: Monthly kids bike fix & clean days are the perfect way to fight climate change one bike at a time. Ventura Bike HUB, 490 N. Ventura Ave. Join the MeetUp for future events: https://www.meetup.com/sierraclubventura/
Aug 27: Shark washes up at Hendry’s Beach, blood on its belly. According to a surfer commenting on Edhat, it appears to be this: https://marinespecies.wildlife.ca.gov/broadnose-sevengill-shark/false/
Aug 26: Health Alert due to the Excessive Heat Warning posted by the National Weather Service for parts of Santa Barbara County for Aug. 28-29.
Aug 22: “Good news! We won the Exxon hearing today,” reports our Chair Katie Davis. Deadlocked 2-2 with one abstention (Joan Hartmann abstained because the pipeline runs adjacent to her property). Since the Board of Supervisors took no action, it leaves the Planning Commission’s DENIAL in place. The issue was related to refitting Plains Pipeline which might lead to restarting offshore platforms. Note: Two of our Sierra Club leaders, Davis and Julie Henszey, were quoted in the SB Independent.
Aug 22: Noise Pollution: In response to growing complaints, SB Airport has embarked on a comprehensive noise study and will form a working group in collaboration with the cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara. Study may take a year or more.
Aug 21: Grand Granada Garage will soon be the home to a 426-kW solar and battery storage system coming on-line next year that is part of SB City’s Strategic Energy Plan that includes micro-grids that provide energy during outages. It follows the city’s first micro-grid at Fire Station #1 on W. Carrillo St., which would serve the station and Office of Emergency Services.
Aug 20: ‘Hurri-quake’, rainbows and rain came to our area but left no serious damage. The quake (5.1 magnitude) was centered about four miles east of Ojai and felt in Ventura and beyond. “We seem to have disasters coming in waves these days,” noted Sean Anderson, professor of environmental science at CA State U-Channel Islands.
Aug 15: Vote for Pollution redux: State Water Resources Control Board went along with the CA Energy Commission to allow three gas power plants to operate past their closure deadline of 2023 (see item Aug 9). GenOn Energy Inc., which owns the Ormond Beach plant in Oxnard, said it intends only to fire it up during “extreme emergency conditions.”
Aug 13: Bike fix-it day is back after a summer hiatus at the Bike Hub, 490 N Ventura Ave. This monthly event helps spiff up kids bikes that are earmarked to give away to needy local families. For the monthly events, sign on to the Sierra Club’s MeetUp: https://www.meetup.com/SierraClubVentura/
Aug 9: Superior Court of SB County stopped a proposal to subdivide the 4,000-acre historic Rancho La Laguna into 13 parcels, which could allow for building of high-end residential estates in that area of Santa Ynez Valley. “This was an important win in the effort to preserve the agricultural economy and spirit of the Santa Ynez Valley,” said Attorney Alicia Roessler of the SB Environmental Defense Center.
Aug 9: Vote for Pollution, which is exactly what the California Energy Commission did when it allowed three more years to keep three gas power plants along the state’s southern coast through 2026; includes Ormond Beach Generating Station. A shutoff deadline for all three was set for the end of 2023. Rationale was the fear of blackouts and extreme weather. “We need to move faster in incorporating renewable energy...battery storage...chargers,” commissioner Patricia Monahan said. “We’re working with all the energy institutions to do that, but we are not there yet.”
Aug 9: Stow Grove Park Master Plan environmental review was up for public comment until Aug. 31. It describes the City of Goleta’s plans to improve the park with renovations and additions over 15 years.
Aug 8: Wine ‘aged’ in the Santa Barbara Channel—often sold for hundreds of dollars per bottle—was pulled up from the ocean floor and poured into the city of SB’s wastewater treatment plant. The 2,000+ bottles were recycled. The firm using our ocean as a wine cellar, Ocean Fathoms, was never able to get a permit, so the illegal wine became wastewater under an agreement with the District Attorney.
Aug 8: New Monument to preserve over 1,500 square miles around Grand Canyon National Park and limit it from mining was announced by the White House. Local tribes want it called Baaj Nwaavjo (“where the tribes roam”).
Aug 7: Chumash Tribal Chair of the Northern Council, Violet Sage Walker, was appointed to the federal Ocean Research Advisory Panel where she will be a major proponent for the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
Aug 3: Over 40 eco-groups locally (including us) and statewide are asking the state to reject allowing the Ormond Beach, AES Alamitos, and Huntington Beach gas plants to use fossil fuels for another three years. Requested by CA Dept. of Water Resources, a portion of the letter reads: “We do not support using $1.2 billion of the Strategic Reliability Reserve to upgrade the three OTC gas plants. Our climate and communities cannot wait any longer. Reject the plan.”