Metropolitan Water District Approves Delta Tunnels Funding 
Delta Tunnels opponents said they were disappointed with the vote, although not surprised. They vowed to keep fighting the project, one that they say will create no new water while raising water rates and causing great harm to imperiled Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Delta smelt and other fish species.
Photo: Jim Cox of the California Striped Bass Association, West Delta Chapter; Barbara Daly of North Delta Cares; Juliette Beck of the Sierra Club Yolano Group; and Adam Scow, California...
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 11:26AM
WSPA tops lobbyist spending with $16.6 million this session 
In a shocking example of deep regulatory capture that state officials and some environmental NGOs don’t want to discuss, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the WSPA President, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create questionable "marine protected areas" in Southern California from 2009 to 2012 as the oil industry was fracking coastal waters. She also served on the task forces to create "marine protected areas" on the Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast from 2004 ...
Posted: Fri Nov 4, 2016 8:40AM
Commission to Vote on Postponing Marine Protected Area Reviews 
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) plan proposes to postpone regional scientific reviews of the effectiveness of “marine protected areas” from once every five years, as originally promised, to once every 10 years....
Posted: Tue Apr 5, 2016 4:34PM
California State University Faculty Conclude Strike Authorization Vote Yesterday, members of the California Faculty Association (CFA) at the 23 campuses of the California State University system concluded a statewide vote on whether or not to authorize union leadership to call a strike if contract negotiations with management fail to result in a fair deal....
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:45PM
Cal State U. faculty to mark start of a Strike Vote with Picketlines, Theater, Rallies 
A Strike Authorization Vote by the faculty who teach in the 23-campus California State University system begins online and in person at 9 am on Monday, October 19. The vote continues through 5 pm October 28....
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:03PM
Santa Barbara oil spill highlights dangers of offshore fracking and drilling 
"The oil spill near Refugio State Beach is a stark reminder of the dangerous risks expanded oil drilling poses to Santa Barbara County’s environment and its residents’ quality of life," said Becca Claassen, Santa Barbara County Organizer of Food & Water Watch.
Photo of offshore oil rig courtesy of theecoreport.com....
Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 9:03PM
A whale of a conflict of interest: Big oil lobbyist's oversight of marine protected areas 
The Western State Petroleum Association President's role as Chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast is undoubtedly one of the most overt conflicts of interest in recent years, but it's just one example of the conflicts of interests that infest environmental politics in California....
Posted: Thu Apr 9, 2015 5:00PM
Oil lobbyist/former MLPA chair praises release of fracking EIR 
“While we are pleased with the state's process on implementing Senate Bill 4, it is important to note the draft EIR contemplates hypothetical development scenarios and provides a high level review. To date, well stimulation in California has never been associated with any known adverse environmental impacts,” claimed Reheis-Boyd.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife map of South Coast marine protected areas created under the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. Wh...
Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:33PM
30,000 people demand that Big Oil Brown halt offshore fracking 
This rampant fracking has only become possible because of the cozy relationship between federal and state regulators and the oil industry, the largest and most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento. The American Lung Association's Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing has just released a new report revealing that the oil industry spent $70 million on lobbyists in California since 2009.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife map of so-called "marine protected areas" created on the ...
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 7:19PM
Restore the Delta blasts MWD's secret campaign to keep its water monopoly 
“Metropolitan Water District's (MWD) participation in a secret underground media campaign to influence the thinking of Southern California water rate payers reveals that they will stop at nothing to protect their position as the largest wholesaler of water exported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. "MWD has proven that they do not have the moral authority to speak to a genuine water policy solution that restore...
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:27PM
Former marine protected area chair urges 'caution' in adoption of safety guidelines 
“Everyone in the petroleum refining industry is focused on safety," Reheis-Boyd said. "That’s not the issue. The issue is identifying the best possible programs to ensure safe operations and putting those programs into practice in ways that make safety second nature. We must be very careful in how we introduce change, especially into programs that have a long record of acceptance and success.”
Photo of offshore oil drilling platform courtesy of: http://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/o...
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:00PM
New EPA permit will allow frackers to continue dumping toxins into ocean 
Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said, "Requiring oil companies to report the toxic fracking chemicals they’re dumping into California’s fragile ocean ecosystem is a good step, but the federal government must go further and halt this incredibly dangerous practice. Banning fracking in California’s coastal waters is the best way to protect the whales and other wildlife, as well as surfers and coastal communities. It’s outrageous that the EPA plans to con...
Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:46AM
SB 48 Referendum: THE Epic Struggle for Queer Rights in California 
Roland Palencia, executive director of the Queer lobbying group Equality California (EQCA), calls the radical Right's attempt to get rid of the FAIR Education Act, also known as SB 48, "the greatest threat in years to LGBT [Queer] Californians." The Act adds Queer people, people with disabilities and Pacific Islanders to the list of communities whose "role and contributions" to American and Californian history and society must be acknowledged in lessons and textbooks used by the California pu...
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:59PM
Activists Discuss Debt Debate, Wonder How We Let Right Control It 
Congressmember Bob Filner, San Diego labor leader Lorena Gonzalez and three other speakers appeared as part of a panel convened by Activist San Diego for their regular meeting August 15. The ostensible purpose was to discuss the recent debate in Washington over raising the nation's debt ceiling, but it soon turned into a discussion of how the Right managed to take over the debate, frame it the way they wanted and get virtually everything they wanted -- including promises of large cuts in gove...
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:24PM
Toyota Of Poway Injured Employees Call Bullshit On Dealership & Attorney For Corvel 
One can only wonder how many other Doctors Attorney Brand has assisited....
Posted: Sun Aug 7, 2011 8:19AM
RFA Calls for a National Boycott of Safeway Supermarket Chain "It's not just about fishing, but many human activities have been banned under the MLPA Initiative in California, like kayaking, sailing and other non-fishing activities," Martin said. "As fishermen we're angry about being labeled the problem when big corporations like Safeway and Hewlett-Packard refuse to join us in calling for less water diversions to agribusiness and less heavy metals from the semiconductor industry in San Francisco Bay," Martin added, calling recreational fishermen "the o...
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:04PM
Communities step up to support protection of treasured ocean areas 
This article by the Ocean Conservancy's Kaitilin Gaffney highlights several volunteer science and education programs formed to ensure the effectiveness of marine protected areas in California and Hawaii. Coastal communities depend on the ocean for jobs, food, recreation, beauty, and environmental health, and are stepping up to help the state steward ocean parks in their backyards. This kind of collaborative public private partnership is integral to the success of California's Marine Life Pro...
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:18AM
Resistance to fake marine 'protection' builds from Diego Garcia to Baja California 
"The Cucapa are doing the same thing they have been doing for 9,000 years," said Subcomandante Marcos. "The Cucapa and other Indian people called for this camp in defense of nature so they can fish without detentions or being put in jail."
Subcomandante Marcos and Aura Bogado at an Otra Campana meeting in October 2006. On the following day, the Cucapa Tribe and Zapatistas jointly announced plans to set up a Zapatista Peace Camp in the Colorado River Delta to protest an unjust "marine prote...
Posted: Mon Mar 7, 2011 3:18PM
San Diego Union Troublemakers Go to School 
The all-day Troublemakers School, under the banner “putting the movement back in the labor movement,” was a beginning for San Diego; now, let’s all roll up our sleeves and get out and cause some real trouble about low wages and high prices in the corporate state....
Posted: Mon Mar 7, 2011 1:30PM