Heal the Bay Blog

So the Obama administration has proposed to open the Atlantic coast from Delaware to northern Florida for offshore oil exploration. That’s up to 167 million acres of ocean floor.  And now that the pesky polar ice cap is melting away, the entire northern slope of Alaska can open for business, up to 130 million acres.

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Good things come to those who wait. Unless you’re a fish.

Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office finally allowed the State Water Board to release a modified once-through-cooling power plant policy. The governor’s office held the policy hostage for months while every major power generator in the state lobbied heavily to weaken the last draft. What a surprise. The power brokers won. They should at least say “Thanks for the fish” like the dolphins in the “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

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I always thought that a species was endangered if the organism’s population plummeted to a fraction of historic levels.  In California, the scourge of DDT and PCBs led to the listing of the California Brown Pelican on the federal endangered species list.  With listing comes additional protection. Recently, the Brown Pelican recovered enough to be taken off the list.

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The California Assembly approved on Monday a sweeping ban on smoking
at state parks and beaches. Sen. Oropeza’s SB4 is part of the Clean Seas
Coalition package of bills to combat the marine debris crisis. Major
props go to the Surfrider Foundation for its successful efforts as the
sponsor of the bill.  Cigarette butts are the No. 1 item found in the
sand on Coastal Cleanup Day and at Heal the Bay’s other beach cleanups. 
Despite the fact that Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Malibu
have banned smoking on the beach, butts remain a big problem.

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With April right around the corner, the official beach monitoring season is upon us. Under AB 411, all heavily visited beaches near a potential pollution source statewide must be monitored once a week from April to the end of October.  The monitoring program provides critical information to better inform the public of the potential health risks of swimming at potentially polluted beaches.

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The so-called apology from the owners of the Hump, posted on their website, speaks for itself:

”The charge against the restaurant is true: The Hump served whale meat to customers looking to eat what in Japan is widely served as a delicacy … We sincerely apologize. We pledge to work hard to re-earn the trust of the public and respect of our customers.”

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About 100 outraged protesters came out to the beleaguered Hump
restaurant during lunchtime today, shouting their displeasure with the
Santa Monica eatery serving endangered whale meat. The Hump didn’t even
bother opening due to the buzz surrounding the protest. 

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At last night’s Santa Monica City Council meeting I spoke during public comment about what should be done about the Hump’s egregious and illegal serving of endangered whale meat.

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By now you’ve probably heard that Santa Monica restaurant the Hump
allegedly served endangered Sei whale meat to the team that put together
the brilliant, Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove.” Endangered whale
served in our own backyard, less than two miles from my house and the
offices of Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper and the NRDC!

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Santa Monica High School competed admirably Saturday at the National
Ocean Science Bowl Regionals at USC. They learned some life lessons
during an exhausting day, and so did I.

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