Heal the Bay Blog

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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Overly zealous scientists, politicians and enviros embellish the
truth in order to make a point all too frequently. The controversy over
exaggerated or incorrect facts and dates on the global impacts of
climate change is just the latest example. The truth twisting has to
stop.  It hurts the cause.  It creates distractions and inertia in a
time when degradation is the dominant direction of most ecosystems.

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The International Bird Rescue Center has been overrun by starving
pelicans this winter. Speculation about what’s sickening birds from
Southern California to Oregon has ranged from El Nino conditions to climate change to polluted runoff.

The bottom line is that hundreds of Brown Pelicans have ended up sick
and malnourished. Many birds stayed too long in the frigid coastal
waters off Oregon and Northern California in search of fish prey that
just weren’t present in high densities. By migrating late, many pelicans
were buffeted by major storms and they didn’t build up the fat reserves
to withstand the inclement weather.

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After 20 years, the City of Los Angeles’ stormwater program is at a crossroads.

The program has come a long way since its beginnings in the early
nineties as a result of the Hyperion consent decree and new regulations
under the federal Clean Water Act and the first countywide stormwater
permit. The City has done a superb job on stormwater education for
students, businesses and the public. During the early 1990s, Heal the
Bay worked closely with the City on our Gutter Patrol program where
volunteers helped stencil tens of thousands of catch basins all over the
city. Today, the City runs the program and you can’t find a catch basin
in the city without a “No Dumping” stencil.

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Usually, we hear about the need for Environmental Justice because of
the health tragedies that were allowed to get out of control. Asthma
rates near the ports. Cancer Alley along the lower Mississippi.
Pesticide-induced Cancer clusters near Macfarland and now, the cleft
palate cluster near Kettleman Hills’ Hazardous Waste Facility. Rarely
does the public hear about an Environmental Justice win, without the
associated, demonstrated environmental health tragedy.

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Last Thursday, the Regional Water Board voted to approve a Waste
Discharge Requirement (WDR) for the Los Angeles County Nature Control
District’s “channel maintenance” activity. After all, to the County,
our LA, Santa Clara and San Gabriel Rivers are flood control channels,
not living ecosystems and habitats.

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I just read something more depressing than James Inhofe on climate
change. The city of L.A.’s Chief Administrative Officer’s mid-year
budget update and recommendations is a real tearjerker. It offers a
$200M plus deficit and a plan to eliminate at least 1,000 general fund
employees. And there’s no serious economic help on the way. Not from the
state and not from the feds.

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Today’s guest blogger is Kirsten James, Water Quality Director at Heal the Bay.

Recently seven sperm whales breached off the coast of Italy and died soon thereafter. A report out of Tuscia University found that the guts
were filled with plastic debris and that this was the cause of death.
This is by no means an isolated incident. Our oceans are full of plastic
pollution.

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Apartments and homes in San Pedro flooded with two feet of water.
Cars on Long Beach streets nearly submerged as an urban kayaker paddles
by. Residents in La Crescenta living in perpetual fear of losing
everything due to debris flows as a consequence of the Station Fire. The
end result of this week’s L.A. storms will be millions of dollars in
property losses. 

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