Environmental Concerns Raised

Gov. Pete Wilson doesn’t have to take the unpopular stance of repealing environmental laws (laws so despised by Republicans) when he can gain the same effect by appointing people to commissions and boards who totally ignore our environmental laws in making their decisions. The recent Coastal Commission failure to protect the Bolsa Chica wetlands is a case in point. It shows how Wilson’s appointees have “neutralized� the Coastal Commission.

Now Wilson hopes to do the same thing to the Air Resources Board by appointing people to this board like antienvironmentalist Jim Silva. Stand by for the coming weakening of our clean air laws.

JAMES R. GALLAGHER

Huntington Beach

It is shameful that Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva should be appointed to any board which oversees the environment. His idea that improvements to the environment must be market-driven is preposterous. Cleaner burning gasoline and smoke-free restaurants are two examples which are not market-driven and would have no place on a board dominated by Jim Silvas.

It is equally absurd to view Silva as an environmentalist. Since when did a single vote against a beach-front project that consumed a decade of city planning and approvals constitute a “fight� against it. His vote against the Pierside Village lease came only after 73% of the city’s voters enacted Measure C to block such development. Silva’s defense of the environment is reminiscent of Jerry Brown’s support of Proposition 13: politically opportune and ethically disingenuousness. Check his record (including his campaign contribution disclosures) and you will find the truth.

DEBBIE COOK

Save Our Parks

Huntington Beach

Re The Times’ Feb. 4 editorial, “Bolsa Chica Study Is Well Worth the Wait.�

Orange County is bankrupt, services have been cut, jobs lost, but $200,000 of our tax money is to be spent on assessing the damage Signal and Chevron have done while pumping out untold millions of dollars in oil. Why are the owners, now Koll, not responsible for these costs? They made the mess and now the taxpayer is the goat. Business as usual.

MARGE ALLEN

Huntington Beach

In your Feb. 2 story on the legal challenges to the Bolsa Chica development project, Lucy Dunn of the Koll company again tries to spin this massive development project of over 3,000 units as a “restoration� project.

It is important to point out that this project in no way guarantees any restoration at Bolsa Chica. The Koll company can build 2,500 units on the mesa and do absolutely no restoration. If they receive permits from the Army Corps of Engineers to build their 900 units on the wetlands, no one will be able to predict when or if restoration of the wetlands would be completed. This is because instead of linking restoration to the building of the houses, which is the usual case, this plan allows the Koll company to wait until the oil is depleted before the majority of the restoration is done. The Coastal Commission staff reported one estimate given in the past that the oil at Bolsa Chica would be depleted in 1993. Now the estimated time for oil depletion is in 20 to 30 years. The restoration plan itself has been severely criticized by a variety of state and federal agencies.

If this project is approved by the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency, there could be 900 units on the wetlands, 2,500 units on the mesa and no completed restoration at Bolsa Chica. The Land Trust is working to prevent this from happening. We believe we have a very strong case against the action of the Coastal Commission, and we will be able to prevent the destruction of Bolsa Chica by this project.

CONNIE BOARDMAN

President, Bolsa Chica Land Trust

As one of the founding members of the Bolsa Chica Planning Coalition, I appreciated The Times’ endorsement of our 1989 Coalition Plan. In 1991, The Times chose to support the further refined plan, known as the Koll Plan. However, five years later, things seem to have changed at The Times, and the current opinion is, “More Work Needed on Bolsa Chica Plan� (Editorial, Jan. 21). After over 30 years of detailed planning, analysis and public scrutiny, it’s time to move forward on one of the most environmentally balanced projects to ever be proposed in Orange County before the wetlands further deteriorate.

In an editorial four years ago, The Times indicated that as long as Koll adheres to the agreement as forged by the Planning Coalition, it should be allowed to move forward. Since that time, after a thorough review of the Koll plan by the Orange County Environmental Management Agency, the county plan was created and was unanimously approved by the County Board of Supervisors and recently approved by a significant majority by the California Coastal Commission. The Koll Real Estate Group is now required to accept many additional requirements and exactions beyond those ever contemplated by the Coalition Plan.

We should not lose sight of the two most noteworthy requirements of the county plan relative to the Coalition Plan: The county plan reduces the maximum number of units by over 40% and requires the Koll Real Estate Group to have financial responsibility for restoring the entire wetlands at an estimated cost of $48 million.

As a founding member of the Bolsa Chica Planning Coalition and the individual who committed the landowner to the Bolsa Chica Planning Coalition Plan, I can sincerely say that the plan approved by the California Coastal Commission has succeeded in blending the needs and desires of the many groups that have expressed concern for the well-being of the Bolsa Chica.

PETER DENNISTON

Irvine