October
20, 2002
To:
Letter to the Editor ( My Word--Op/Ed)
From:
Oscar Braun , Executive Director
650-726-3307
Re:
The Davis & Sierra Club Coastal Legacies
Sunday’s front page headline read: “Donors to
Davis get coastal permits; State agency smiles on governor’s contributors”. Common Cause executive director said,
“Davis has established a “pay to play” dynamic throughout state
government”. The newspaper
investigative reporter’s research revealed “the records of contested and
controversial seaside developments raised serious questions about whether
Davis, who was elected on a save-the-coast platform, has put the coast itself
in play when it comes to political money.
He has obtained $8.3 million from donors with business before the
California Coastal Commission. That makes Davis the most aggressive political
fund-raiser in the history of California state politics.”
So why is
the Sierra Club aggressively
endorsing Davis for re-election ?
Because the Davis controlled California Coastal Commission allows “ALL” Sierra Club endorsed
projects like their $300 million
Devil’s Slide Hwy 1 Tunnel Alternative boondoggle to drain and fill
coastal wetlands that has destroyed endangered species habitat without benefit
of any CCC or federal permits. Former Sierra Club fund raising director Audrey
Rust, now executive director for Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has ordered
the two historic Johnston Ranch dams on the coastal steelhead Arroyo Leon stream to be permanently opened after over
a century of continued use. The POST Sierra Club inspired action drains wetlands containing one of the
largest populations of listed species on the San Mateo County coast while also
depriving the Giusti farm family
agricultural water rights enjoyed for over a century. Renown environmental attorney Alan Beaven’s last endeavor on behalf of his
co-founded California Watershed Posse before his 9/11 Flight 93 heroism, was
his failed efforts to force POST to clean up their infamous 200 acre illegal
unlicensed Johnston Ranch toxic
landfill that is poisoning coastal surface and ground water and bring POST into
compliance with the Clean Water Act.
POST continues to operate their toxic
landfill without benefit of any state or federal permits. Governor Davis appointed chair to the
Regional Water Quality Control Board, John Muller, has not responded to the
Posse’s request for Clean Water Act compliance enforcement. Two months ago, San Francisco Superior Court
Judge James McBride ruled that water board members “abused their discretion” in
relaxing dioxin rules polluting water of the United States. These John Muirs inspired zealots provide
Davis with their “environmentalist” endorsements and the governor’s regulatory agencies look the other way and the
State Resource agency provide them public bond funding.
So what is the political quid pro quo between Davis and the Club this election? The Sierra Club is aggressively lobbying for the defeat of Proposition-A while calling for the destruction of 2.4 million Bay Area residents regional water system. Davis will not say a single word against these Muir eco-terrorist tactics. If the San Francisco voters foolishly defeat Proposition –A, then the governor will simply use the State’s power of eminent domain to “take” over the SFPUC regional water system and all that positive cash flow that San Francisco has enjoyed for nearly 80 years. It’s always about the fund raising with Davis & the Sierra Club…isn’t it?!
For Senator Feinstein remembers Alan Anthony Beaven visit: www.thepebble.org
For information
about the California Watershed Posse visit: www.cwposse.org or www.saveourbay.org