2 New Lawsuits Call Ballona Wetlands Restoration A Climate Threat

PLAYA DEL REY, CA — Two new lawsuits filed Thursday are challenging the legality of the State of California Department of Fish & Wildlife's approval of a major project that could harm the Ballona Wetlands and the abundance of diversity of species there. Additionally, climate impacts and flood risk are significant issues not adequately addressed by this proposed huge industrial alteration.

Community environmentalists from Defend Ballona Wetlands, including Los Angeles City Council candidate Molly Basler and naturalist, biologist Robert van de Hook, allege that the project proposed in Playa del Rey was not adequately described, a complaint raised by federal agencies including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

“In addition to the project description being inaccurate, there are errors with the environmental baseline, and significant new information was disclosed late or not at all, requiring recirculation of the Environmental Impact Report,” public interest lawyer Jamie T. Hall said in a statement.

“Standing out like a sore thumb is the revelation that the engineers who designed this project used the incorrect flood risk standards," Hall said. "For people living, working or driving near the wetlands, the flood risk standards are very important to get right, especially given concerns about sea-level rise on the coast. The US Army Corps of Engineers decided not to release a final Environmental Impact Statement due to this concern."

Activists in the community have pushed back against the project, saying it could bulldoze areas of the wetlands and put wildlife that lives there at risk.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife decided on Dec. 30 about the Ballona Wetlands restoration project, approving one option to restore the wetlands but opting not to put a parking garage or visitor center at some of the last remaining marshes along the Los Angeles coast.

The state agency selected Alternative 1 for the full-scale restoration of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. Environmentalists are against this decision, saying it is not a restoration, and that it will damage the sacred land and hurt the species of animals living there.

"The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve (BWER) project will enhance and establish native coastal wetlands and upland habitat on 566 of the reserve's 577 acres south of Marina del Rey and east of Playa del Rey," the CDFW said. "It will restore ecological function to currently degraded wetlands, preserving sensitive habitat for future generations and build climate resilience on a coast vulnerable to sea-level rise."

The decision will be in two phases and covers the largest area. Now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will complete its engineering plan in a process expected to take approximately two and a half years. During this time, the Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to acquire the necessary permits.

The plan includes replacing approximately 9,800 feet of existing Ballona Creek levees.

Many plant and animal species rely on the land to survive, including the Great Blue Heron, Egret, Osprey, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-Tailed Kite and many others.

Environmental activist Wendy-Sue Rosen said Protect Ballona Wetlands was formed due to the shocking lack of legitimate information related to flood risk, unacknowledged damage to the environment, and the high cost of a project that environmentalists call detrimental to wildlife.

“This project is estimated to cost the public more than $250 million, and more than $12 million in public funds have already been spent on a design using an incorrect flood risk standard – that’s outrageous," Rosen said.