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The Environmental Justice Argument Against Measure A

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The campaign for Measure A was busy this week sending one mailer to Democrats greenwashing their flawed initiative by citing an Astroturf “environmental coalition” that popped up just in time for the election, while in another mailer to Republicans they signaled that conservatives should vote for A because environmentalists and labor oppose it. Welcome to dishonest, doublethink business as usual politics in San Diego brought to you by moneyed interests.

Of course the reality is, as anyone who has paid attention to this column knows, that progressive labor and nearly all of the serious organizations that care about climate and environmental justice oppose Measure A. A few weeks ago, I published a column I co-wrote with Nicole Capretz of the Climate Action Campaign and Nick Segura of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers outlining Measure A’s fatal flaws from a progressive perspective. This was followed in subsequent weeks by columns on Measures A’s deep inadequacies with regard to sustainability and climate by Jana Clark of the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and Save Our Forest and Ranchlands, and David Harris of SD 350 and Ruben Arizmendhi of the Sierra Club San Diego.

This week, I am pleased to share this space with Diane Takvorian, the Executive Director of the Environmental Health Coalition who will make the environmental justice case against Measure A.   [Read more…]

Meanwhile, in REAL News

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More Port District Pollution Threatens Barrio Logan

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Joy Williams / Environmental Health Coalition

While Port District plans a massive expansion of its operations and diesel emissions from the Tenth Avenue Terminal, the neighboring community of Barrio Logan has been ranked even higher in the newest draft of California’s environmental justice screening model, CalEnviroScreen.

The new draft version three of CalEnviroScreen, released September 6, confirms the pollution hazards and social vulnerabilities in the Barrio Logan/Logan Heights area.

Barrio Logan was already at the very top of the state in version two of CalEnviroScreen – the highest five percent of all 8,000-plus census tracts in the state. The newly released draft version shows diesel hazards a full 15 percentile points higher than previously estimated for this area.   [Read more…]

Measure J: The Mission Bay Park Money Shuffle

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Measure J seemed like another non-controversial proposal at first.

It extended the lifetime of an earlier ballot measure dedicating a portion of revenues from leases on properties at Mission Bay Park and shuffled the formula for allocating funds to include other regional parks.

The idea was for these revenues to pay for bonds to be used in capital improvement projects for Mission Bay Park and regional parks, including Balboa Park.

Needless to say, Balboa Park groups existing amidst crumbling buildings and other infrastructure shortcomings were thrilled.   [Read more…]

A Progressive Argument FOR Measure A

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Eds Note: Portions of this article appeared in Voice of San Diego By Michael Beck  It’s high stakes campaign time and you’re inundated with conflicting ballot arguments.  Measure A is no exception.  Following are the progressive, environmental, verifiable facts about Measure A. Climate change: Measure A would fund the most progressive transportation plan in the […]

Why Measure A is Bad on Climate and Bad for the Region

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Last week I ceded my column space to Jana Clark, a board member of both the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and Save Our Forest and Ranchlands who explained why environmentally-minded San Diegans should vote no on Measures A and B for a sustainable future for our region.

This followed a piece I co-authored with Nicole Capretz of the Climate Action Campaign and Nick Segura of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569 explaining why progressives from labor, community, and environmental groups should say No Way to Measure A.

This week, I am pleased to share my usual spot with David Harris from SD 350 and Ruben Arizmendi, Chair of the San Diego Sierra Club, who will explain how Measure A is a manifestation of a “planning as usual” mindset that gave our region a transportation plan that “flagrantly disregards the State’s GHG [greenhouse gas] reduction mandates.”   [Read more…]

Props 65 & 67 – Revenge of the Plastic Bag Industrial Complex

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The bastard sons of the dirty energy industry are trying to pull a fast one on California voters with Props 65 and 67.

In a perfect world, the people who put together Proposition 65, along with forcing us to vote to uphold a legislatively passed ban (Prop 67) on the crappy plastic bags handed out by retail stores, would be tried for crimes against the planet. If found guilty they would be sentenced to picking up cigarette butts on beaches in Libya for a term of no less than two years, wearing tee shirts emblazoned with We Love Imperialism on the back.

What Proposition 65 is all about is revenge. The plastic bag industry and the oil companies who sell them raw materials want to have it both ways. If they’re gonna lose the vote to ban plastic bags, then maybe they can fool voters with a measure promising to do something good for the environment.   [Read more…]

How Much More Extraction of Fossil Fuels Can We Do? Answer: Zero

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Keep It In the Ground

Bill McKibben of 350.org said recently, “If our goal is to keep the Earth’s temperature from rising more than two degrees Celsius—the upper limit identified by the nations of the world—how much more new digging and drilling can we do? Here’s the answer: zero.”

The goal of keeping earth’s temperature rise below 2 degrees C is already in danger even with the coal mines, oil wells and pipelines currently in operation and assuming there will be no new ones. That means that we shouldn’t be doing any more digging or drilling. It all has to stop – now – if the earth is to survive.   [Read more…]

Vote No on Measures A and B for a Sustainable Future for San Diego

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Much of the reporting on the early campaign surrounding Measure A is falling victim to the proponents’ attempts to greenwash their deeply flawed measure by representing a few astroturf “environmental” organizations in league with big money from corporate interests and a handful of unions doing the bidding of downtown insiders as a “split” in progressive circles. This is unfortunate as the fact of the matter is that the opposition to Measure A by the Quality of Life Coalition represents a historically significant new alliance between progressive labor and nearly all of the local environmental organizations doing serious work around climate.

Two weeks ago in this space I was pleased to co-sign a column as Chair of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council Environmental Caucus along with Nicole Capretz, the Executive Director of the Climate Action Campaign, and Nick Segura, Business Manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569, explaining why progressives should say No Way to Measure A. In that same spirit, this week I am happy to cede my usual spot to Jana Clark, a board member of both the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and Save Our Forest and Ranchlands to explain why both Measures A and B are bad for San Diego.   [Read more…]

Vista’s Mixed Use Zone: A Developer’s Dream

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Imagine a city where developers are able to choose from among 57 different business enterprises for a downtown site, either for a single use or any combination thereof.

Welcome to Vista, California, where the purpose of its Mixed Use Zone is “…to allow for a mix of residential and commercial, or just residential, or just commercial (standalone) land uses.”

It’s a developer’s wet dream.
  [Read more…]

ReWild Mission Bay Unveils Options for Wetland Restoration

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8 Restoration Options for Mission Bay Evaluated by More than 100 Community Members

Based on News Release from ReWild via OBRag

On September 27th, ReWild Mission Bay – a project of San Diego Audubon and its partners – unveiled eight possible options to enhance and restore up to 170 acres of wetlands in the North East corner of Mission Bay.

Based on community suggestions from two public workshops earlier this year, the draft plans were presented to more than 135 community members to collect input. To view the potential alternatives, click through to the full article.   [Read more…]

Fossil Fuel Extraction Producing Earthquakes in Oklahoma

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Oklahoma Now Earthquake Capitol of US

The chickens are coming home to roost. A state that has thrived from oil wells is now being destroyed by them. The practice of forcing waste water from oil drilling down other wells has made Oklahoma the earthquake capital of the US.

Between 1978 and 2008 Oklahoma averaged about two magnitude 3 or above earthquakes per year. Then in 2014 the total zoomed up to 585, 3+ magnitude earthquakes, more than the number of 3.0+ magnitude earthquakes from the previous 30 years combined. In 2014, there were over twice as many earthquakes recorded in Oklahoma as in California, making Oklahoma the most seismically active state in the contiguous United States by a substantial margin.   [Read more…]

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