The OC Beach Scene

Hey guys! I hope that everyone is able to make it out to vote on this historic election day! As all of you California voters know, we not only have a heated presidential race going on; we also have several very controversial propositions on today’s ballot that will have a profound effect on our state’s direction in coming years. For those environmentally-conscious voters among the electorate, today marks an imporant opportunity to make the right first step towards renewable energy, the acceptance and use of alternative fuels, and ultimately, a greener, more eco-friendy California. Here is my take on some of the initiatives on today’s ballot that could have a substantial environmental impact:

Prop 1A: High Speed Rail Bonds
This initiative would provide $9 billion for the construction of a high-speed railway system in California, the first of its kind in the United States. Not only would electric-powered high-speed trains remove an estimated 12 billion pounds of CO2 and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, they would also substanitially reduce traffic congestion and eliminate the need for the construction of new roads such as the Trestles Toll Road.

Prop 7: Renewable Energy Generation
While I think that most would agree that renewable energy is a good thing and an important step toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil, Prop 7 is so poorly written that it would actually act as a hinderance to our efforts to become energy-independent. Unfairly biased against small wind and solar energy companies and unnecessarily allowing for increases in energy prices, Prop 7 is opposed by many leading environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Prop 10: Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy
This proposition would provide $5 billion in bonds to fund research and production of renewable energy technology and stimulate consumer interest in high fuel economy and alternative fuel cars. Approximately $3 billion of this money would be used to provide rebates for consumers who purchase alternative fuel vehicles. Like Prop 1A, this initiative would not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but would also help to reduce greenhouse gases through the its support of renewable energy research and the alternative fuel vehicle market.

Prop 6: Police and Law Enforcement Funding; Criminal Penalties and Laws
While this initiative has nothing to do with the environment, I still feel the need to say a few words about this misguided, potentially dangerous attempt to curb gang violence. Not only does Prop 6 ignore the myriad problems facing inner-city youth, it also fails to uphold our constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. If we truly want to decrease gang activity in local communites, we should be investing in youth outreach programs and public school facilities, not sentencing nonviolent offenders to life in prison and trying 14 year olds as adults.

Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope to see you guys at the polls! Orange County voters, visit www.ocvote.com for information on where to vote and expected wait times.

This past week, the whole federal bailout business has begun to hit a little too close to home for Orange County surfers and toll road opponents as a new controversy has sprung up out of the Trestles debate. It seems that, along with their money-hungry buddies on Wallstreet, the Transportation Corridor Agencies are requesting to be bailed out by the federal government as well. According to the Orange County Register, the TCA, who owns and operates both the San Joaquin Hills and Foothill/Eastern toll roads, has applied for a $1.1 billion federal loan in order to refinance $4.6 billion in debt.

So my question is, if a corporation is so far in debt that they are relying on federal funds to bail them out, if their existing toll roads are performing so poorly that the TCA can’t finance their projects with their own money, then why are they still pushing for the extension of an underperforming, money-draining highway? It just seems like common sense to me that one would want to clear up their nearly $5 billion debt before starting another multi-billion dollar project. But then again, I’m just an English major who is still baffled by the concept of negative
money.

Read the Register’s full article here: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/road-toll-loan-2198081-transportation-foothill

Calling all surfers! If you regularly surf at California surf spots, or are currently vacationing in California for the purpose of surfing, UCLA researchers want to talk to you! Help them evaluate the worth of your local break by filling out their survey at www.beachology.com/surf. Filled with amusing questions asking you to rate the waves and the attitude of surfers at your local break, this survey may not only help protect California beaches, it is also a lot of fun to fill out! It only takes a few minutes, and its for a good cause, so why not, right? If you have a vested interest in your local beach and would like to see it protected for future generations, there is really no reason not to fill out this brief survey!

P.S. Tell them you surf everyday and spend a ton of money doing so! (Just kidding, tell the truth kids).

After eight years of…well, pretty much nothing…Pratte’s Reef, El Segundo’s much-discussed artificial surf break, was finally dismantled last Thursday. Originally constructed in 2000 as a consolation for Chevron’s destruction of another nearby surf spot, Pratte’s Reef, a v-shaped formation of sandbags set 30 yards offshore, has proved to be nothing but an expensive failure. While the promise of consistent, well-shaped surf never came to fruition at Pratte’s Reef, we can nonetheless walk away from this costly experiment with several important insights:

1. Waves and the underwater landscapes that create them are incredible natural phenomena, and even with all of our technology and computer imaging and scientific equations, we may never be able to engineer surf breaks that can compete with those already in existence.

2. Since we cannot accurately replicate and reproduce the surf spots that we so fondly cherish, it is important that we protect them while they can still be saved.

3. El Segundo is a scummy area and should probably be nuked off the face of the planet anyway. If El Porto and/or the Lakers’ practice facility can be saved in this process, that would be preferable.

To learn more about Pratte’s Reef and the process of building artificial surf breaks, check out this report from the Surfrider Foundation: Pratte’s Reef Positioning Paper

Located just around the bend from Salt Creek in Dana Point, Strands Beach is a completely different world. With its quirky waves and rundown, forgotten shoreline, Strands is like the red-headed stepchild of South Orange County beaches–an outcast surf break for outcast surfers. Attracting an eclectic combination of reclusive kneeboarders, scooter-riding burnouts, and other nefarious individuals from the fringes of the surf community, the lineup at Strands is often almost as varied–and as challenging–as the waves themselves. From heaving shorebreak to dumpy closeouts to perfect A-frames, you never know quite what to expect at Strands, and that is part of its enigmatic appeal.

Unfortunately, the Strands of days gone by may be gone forever. The Strands of the weird; the Strands where the parking is free and the lineup is uncrowded. This Strands–old, familiar, strange–is quickly being replaced by the Strands of the wealthy–the Strands of the haves and the you-can-have-not. Once a last bastion of wild Orange County, a place where trees and vines and brush rose up to swallow and ensnare the few signs of human life dotted along its shore, Strands has finally been conquered–its defiant bluffs molded into graded hillsides, its unruly vegetation replaced with concrete and rebar and other ominous signs of encroaching civilization.

While it may be too late to stop the construction at Strands–the Surfider Foundation effectively put an end to their hard-fought Save Strands campaign in 2005 after exhausting all options–we still have time to prevent this tragedy from repeating itself elsewhere along our coast. Please visit surfrider.org to learn about other endangered coastal habitats and ways that you can help in the effort to save them.

Hi there! Thanks to everybody who came out for yesterday’s hearing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds! The event was a success by all accounts, with savetrestles.org reporting that nearly 3,000 surfers, nature lovers, and members of the Acjachemen Native American tribe showed up to voice their opposition to the TCA and their ill-designed toll road plans. (For more information on the plight of Acjachemen, who regard San Onofre State Park as sacred ground, check out this website).

For those of you who couldn’t make it out, don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time to make your voice heard! The Secretary of Commerce is slated to make his final decision sometime between Oct. 24, 2009 and January 7, 2009, and we still have until Oct. 2 to overwhelm him with emails and letters showing our support for Trestles and San Onofre State Park! Not sure what to say? The people at the Surfrider Foundation have made it easy for you! Go here and all you have to do is fill out some basic info and write your name under this pre-composed letter. Even if you were at yesterday’s hearing, you should still do this!

Anyways, thanks again to everyone for your continued support in the effort to save our local coastal environment! I’ll be sure to keep you updated with more info when I get it! Until then, check savetrestles.org for all the latest news on the toll road debate.

Hey guys! I’m just about to head out the door, but I wanted to remind everyone one last time that the Trestles toll road hearing is going on today from 10:30am to 8:30pm at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego, CA. It’s super important that we leave a lasting impression on the Dept. of Commerce at today’s hearing, as a strong show of support may very well put an end to the Trestles debate for good! Head on over to savetrestles.org for a full list of today’s events.

Directions to the Del Mar Fairgrounds: Take the 5 South towards San Diego. Get off at Via de la Valle and make your first right. Turn left onto Jimmy Durante Blvd., the fairgrounds are at 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd. Del Mar, CA 92014.

Hope to see you guys there!
Rick Kane

Get out your calendars everyone! This coming Monday, September 22, the Commerce Department is holding a public hearing on the proposed extension of the 241 toll road at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. This is an important opportunity for local surfers and beach lovers to come out and show their opposition to this needless stretch of road and the environmentally insensitive people at the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) who insist on building it. Click here for the official press release from the Surfrider Foundation.

For those of you unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding the 241 extension, the TCA has been trying for several years now to build a six lane toll highway through San Onofre State Beach and the San Mateo State Preserve. This toll road figures as a huge environmental threat to one of Orange County’s last remaining untouched natural habitats and would also prove to be a huge source of water pollution for the nearby Trestles Beach–a world-renowned surf break and also the site of the only WCT surf contest on the U.S. mainland. A strong outpouring of support at Monday’s hearing is absolutely necessary to the preservation of this important cultural and environmental landmark for future generations!

For more information on the hearing and ways that you can help out, please visit these great websites:

www.surfrider.org
www.savetrestles.org
www.savetrestles.com