SANTA - Sierra Club

SANTA Santa Lucian ? Jan./Feb. 2020

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LUCIAN

Santa Lucia Chapter

Jan./Feb. 2020 Volume 57 No. 1

T h e o f f i c i a l n e w s l e t t e r o f th e S a n t a L u c i a C h a p t e r o f t h e S i e r ra C l u b ~ S a n L u i s O b i s p o C o u n t y, C a l i f o r n i a

Central Coast Heritage Protection Act Moves Ahead

On November 19, the House Committee on Natural Resources passed the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act (H.R. 2199), heeding the call of Californians to safeguard for future generations the state's unique public lands and rivers within the Carrizo Plain National Monument and Los Padres National Forest. A vote by the full House is expected in February.

Representative Salud Carbajal and Senator Kamala Harris introduced the legislation to help ensure clean water for area communities, conserve valuable wildlife habitat, and stimulate the local economy.

The bill's advancement builds on momentum in Congress to permanently protect cherished landscapes and waters across the nation as designated Wilderness Areas, including enactment earlier this year of the John Dingell Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act. In October, the House passed legislation to protect public

Inside

Diablo Canyon: Not the future 2

Community Choice for some 3

The Cal French Circle: How to 7

Oceano Dunes countdown 8

Outings

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lands in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

"Permanent protection of Carrizo Plain is key to our region's tourism industry, which attracts visitors from around the globe and reinforces our economic future and quality of life," said San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon. "I commend the House Natural Resources Committee for moving the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act forward and urge swift passage through the full House of Representatives."

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A Giant Tunnel Will Not Solve California's Water Challenges

Last November, at the urging of the County's State Water Subcontractors Advisory Committee, the three largest state water subcontractors in the county -- Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, and the Oceano CSD -- voted to "participate in preliminary efforts associated with the Delta Conveyance Project," aka the Delta Tunnel.

Votes of support by local jurisdictions bring the project one step closer to reality -reality being a costly giant tunnel that would divert Sacramento River water bound for the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and transport it directly to Central Valley farms and urban users in the Bay Area and Southern California.

The SLO County Board of Supervisors is the ultimate target of the local charm offensive by project proponents because SLO County will have to agree to support the project in order put local state water users officially on the hook for financial support.

Here's why that shouldn't happen.

This plan would accelerate the decline of the largest estuary on the west coast, which provides essential habitat for native and migratory species. Salmon runs and a billion-dollar commercial salmon industry rely on a healthy Delta.

The giant tunnel would ultimately reduce California's water security by increasing

dependence on unreliable water imports for many farmers and urban dwellers and encourage unsustainable use of water in cities and farms across the state. This project would burden Californians with an enormous financial commitment without guaranteeing any additional water for agriculture or urban areas. If we gamble billions on building a giant tunnel, there will not be enough money to invest in local solutions that would improve water security throughout the state and create local jobs through investment in smaller infrastructure projects.

The Sierra Club supports

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What is Environmental Justice? Santa Lucian ? Jan/Feb. 2020

Club General

The Sierra Club is promoting dialogue, increased understanding, and appropriate action in the cause of integrating social justice and environmental concerns. We seek to provide an effective framework

Meeting for ad-dressing the damage, risk, and discrimination facing many communities today.

Join Jeremias Salazar of Food and

Wed., Jan. 15 Copeland Pavilion, 3rd Floor French Medical Center 1823 Johnson Ave., SLO Doors open: 6:30 p.m. Program: 7-9 p.m.

Water Watch, Cynthia Replogle from

SLO Surfrider and the Oceano CSD, and Carmen Bouquin of the Santa Lucia Chapter's Executive Committee for an exploration of how we can attain the goals of social justice and human rights to secure environmental protections and a sustainable future.

Wanna Buy a Used Nuke?

By Andrew Christie, Chapter Director

Are you old enough to remember that National Lampoon cover photo of a hand holding a gun to the head of a nervous looking dog under the headline "Buy this magazine or we'll shoot this dog?"

If not, you can just check out Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham's plan to change the state constitution and renewable energy policy to bar approval of PG&E's bankruptcy plan unless it includes a plan to keep Diablo Canyon open.

Here I'd like to pause to point out to all our conservative free-market friends that nuclear power has been the ultimate trust fund brat. And even though it was born and raised with every conceivable advantage ? six times the amount of federal subsidies that have historically gone to renewable energy, the lion's share of federal energy r&d money, production tax credits, huge loan guarantees and a hard cap on liability ? it can't compete. In 2010, the first Community Choice Energy program in California went on line in Marin County. That was the moment when a monopoly nuclear utility

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Andrew Christie EDITOR

Lindi Doud EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Denny Mynatt PRINT MEDIA COORDINATOR

The Santa Lucian is published six times a year. Articles, environmental information and letters to the editor are welcome. The deadline for each issue is the 13th of the prior month.

send to: Editor, Santa Lucian, Sierra Club, P.O. Box 15755, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406. sierraclub8@

Santa Lucia Chapter

2020 Executive Committee

Jennifer Bauer (12/21) CHAIR Heather Howell (12/20) SECRETARY Violet Sage Walker (12/20) MEMBER Stephanie Carlotti (12/20) MEMBER Carmen Bouquin (12/21) MEMBER Janine Rands (12/22) MEMBER Mila Vujovich-LaBarre (12/23) VICE CHAIR

The Executive Committee meets the third Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the chapter office, located at 1411 Marsh St., Suite 204, San Luis Obispo. All members are welcome to attend.

Kevin O'Gorman TREASURER

Committees Political

Violet Sage Walker Jennifer Bauer Membership/Development Heather Howell, Dani Nicholson Conservation Sue Harvey Nuclear Power Task Force Rochelle Becker Linda Seeley

Zero Waste Task Force Janine Rands CA Conservation Committee delegates Stephanie Carlotti, Janine Rands Council of Club Leaders delegates Jennifer Bauer, Chuck Tribbey

Facebook Administrator Kim Ramos

Bookkeeper Sandra Cirilo

Outings Chuck Tribbey

Webmasters Monica Tarzier, Stephanie Carlotti

Trail Guide Gary Felsman

Chapter Director Andrew Christie sierraclub8@

Santa Lucia Chapter P.O. Box 15755 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 805-543-8717 Office hours Monday-Friday, 1:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. 974 Santa Rosa Street San Luis Obispo

Printed by University Graphic Systems Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Mailing preparation services courtesy of the Silver Streaks

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Dear SLO County:

We Have Good News

and Bad News

No amount of spin can change what three county supervisors have cost us

"Not enough information" Monterey Bay Community Power is one of 19 Community Choice Energy agencies serving more than 10 million customers across California. CCEs have become the primary way Californians support cleaner energy, with local control, cost savings, renewable energy options and delivery of impactive energy programs to local communities.

On January 1, Community Choice Energy became a reality in the cities of San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay.

It did not become a reality in the unincorporated areas of SLO County because Supervisors Debbie Arnold, John Peschong and Lynn Compton have consistently refused to join a Community Choice Energy program.

So what did Morro Bay and SLO just get?

They have joined more than ten million Californians who are now getting their electricity from programs that are community-run, missiondriven, and accountable to the people and businesses they serve.

They have a voice on Monterey Bay Community Power's Policy Board and Operations Board, and their citizens can serve on the MBCP Community Advisory Council. No closed-door meetings. No shareholders raking off profits.

They now have the power of competition and choice in a local electricity market, providing ratepayers with options about their power supplier and the level of clean energy they wish to support.

They now have a way to support their local economies through job creation and the growth of local power, and access to $25 million in lowinterest loans supporting backup power generation for

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facilities providing critical public services -- funding that makes a strategic contribution toward greater local energy development, resiliency and economic development.

They're going to see a significant increase in renewable energy generation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

This year, all MBCP customers will see an estimated 7%

savings on their bills vs. what they used to pay PG&E, equating to $19 million.

Meanwhile, back at the County, ignorance is being pleaded. The County's latest Community Choice Aggregation study will be ready in about a year. Due to the year-long timeframe for

CCA continued on next page

Tunnel

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robust alternatives to the tunnel that would provide better long-term water security for all Californians and would have fewer negative environmental impacts. Those solutions include encouraging waterefficient technologies in urban use, requiring statewide water meters on an accelerated timeline, and recycling municipal wastewater.

Encouraging the urban uptake of water-efficient technologies would mean replacing thirsty lawns with drought tolerant landscaping, installing smart irrigation technology, using rainwater and graywater, and promoting aggressive rebate programs for efficient appliances, all of which could reduce urban water use by 30%. Landscaping accounts for roughly half of all residential water use.

Accelerating the timeline for every home and business to have a dedicated water meter would be a good idea. Cities currently have until 2025 to install meters. Requiring water meters and detailed usage reports for consumers on an accelerated timeline would likely achieve the kind of results seen in an East Bay pilot study, in which home usage reports led to a 6.6% reduction in water use.

Recycling municipal wastewater could save up to 2.3 million acre-feet annually, according to the Department of Water Resources. A successful water recycling program already exists in Orange County.

Mandating weather-based irrigation controllers, drip irrigation and climateappropriate crop selection could yield over 3.4 million acre-feet in water savings.

Maintaining existing infrastructure would save the approximately 10% of urban water that is lost through leaks in aging distribution infrastructure, wasting water and energy.

Agriculture uses 75 to 80 percent of California's water. Improving agricultural water efficiency with conservation strategies--including weather-based irrigation controllers, drip irrigation and climate-appropriate crop selection--could yield over 3.4 million acre-feet in water savings.

Current laws requiring water-neutral development should be strengthened to more effectively prevent unsustainable growth. These

and other measures could reduce statewide water demand by 9.7 million acre feet/year. That's more water than is exported from the Delta even in rainy years.

Until 2014, California was one of the few states in the nation that did not regulate groundwater, which has led to unsustainable levels of overdraft, damage to aquifer storage capacity, and dramatic land subsidence. The passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act that year gave California, for the first time in its history, a framework for sustainable groundwater management. The amount of groundwater that could be conserved under SGMA is huge, but the timelines are ridiculous: Under SGMA, the most overdrafted basins must reach sustainability within 20 years of implementing sustainability plans. For critically overdrafted

The Center for Business and Policy Research conducted a benefitcost analysis that concluded the project's costs "are four times higher than its benefits, and thus the project is not economically justified."

basins, that will be 2040. For remaining high and medium priority basins, the deadline is 2042.

That's not the way to respond to a crisis. We must accelerate the implementation of SGMA and aim for an increase in the current levels of groundwater, not just the avoidance of undesirable results compared against a degraded baseline. Groundwater basins must be managed so that no single individual or corporation is able to exploit them.

The Sierra Club supports common-sense alternatives to the costly giant tunnel gamble. So can you. Download The Smart Alternative to Tunnel(s): A Sensible Water Management Portfolio at california/ water. Then watch the schedule of the meetings of the Board of Supervisors for this item, likely sometime in January. Let the Supervisors know everything wrong with the idea of the County and local state water contractors throwing money at this project, and what we should be doing instead.

Go to: slonotunnel

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administrative procedures after a municipality formally submits a request to join a Community Choice Energy program, that means there's a good chance the supervisors could blow the deadline for 2022, losing another year via more of the same foot-dragging the troika deployed when it missed the windows for 2020 and 2021.

Learn more (than three county supervisors) at .

Wilderness

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Kirsten Blackburn, Advocacy Manager for The Conservation Alliance, which engages businesses to help protect wild places for their habitat and recreation values, said, "Adding lasting protections and special recreation designations to California's Los Padres National Forests helps sustain the health of our environment and our outdoor recreation economy. We are grateful for Congressman Carbajal's continued efforts to protect worthy landscapes such as the Condor National Recreation Trail and Wild & Scenic Rivers like Piru Creek and look forward to H.R. 2199 crossing the finish line in this Congress."

The Central Coast Heritage Protection Act is the product of years of discussion and negotiation involving business leaders, conserva-

tionists, elected officials, ranchers, mountain bikers, and other stakeholders interested in the use and wellbeing of these iconic lands. It would protect forests, grasslands, and wild rivers across the region by safeguarding approximately 245,000 acres of wilderness, creating two scenic areas encompassing roughly 35,000 acres, and designating 159 miles of wild and scenic rivers in the Los Padres National Forest and the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Protected public lands enhance the quality of life for residents and attract visitors to the area. The Central Coast is a top tourist destination, home to world class restaurants and wineries, and iconic scenery, all of which yield clear benefits for the region's economy. According to the

Welcome to our new regular donors, Pete & Terresa Novak, owners of Atascadero Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, 2100 El Camino Real. Pete and Terresa are all about "Supporting the Future of our Community," and are now supplying the Sierra Club with refreshments gift cards for our bimonthly General Meetings!

Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor recreation generates $92 billion in consumer spending and 691,000 direct jobs in California.

The rugged coastal mountains and ecologically rich grasslands of California's Central Coast sustain a wide range of recreational opportunities. Visitors to the Los Padres National Forest and the adjoining Carrizo Plain National Monument enjoy backpacking, camping, bird watching, horseback riding, kayaking, and mountain biking. The legislation would designate the approximately 400-mile long Condor Trail

as a National Scenic Trail, connecting the northern and southern portions of the Los Padres National Forest by a single hiking route.

The widely supported legislation is co-sponsored by 30 members of California's congressional delegation.

The Central Coast Wild Heritage campaign includes California Wilderness Coalition, Friends of the River, Keep the Sespe Wild, Los Padres ForestWatch, Sierra Club, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Wilderness Society.

Learn more at .

Long range plan In May 2013, Santa Lucia Chapter leaders Cal French, Sue Harvey and Greg McMillan met with Laurel Williams (right), Deputy Conservation Director of the Southern California Wilderness Coalition, to review the best potential areas in the county for wilderness designation.

TAKETAACKTEIOANC:TION

Thank Congressman Carbajal for his commitment to expanding and safeguarding the irreplaceable wilderness areas of the Central Coast. Let him know that you support preserving California's Central Coast through the designation of wilderness and wild rivers. Go to:



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