Ballona Wetlands: Activists Sue to Stop Restoration Project

http://wetlandsrestoration.org...As expected, opponents of California's Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project filed lawsuits on January 28, 2021 in L.A. County Superior Court challenging the recently certified Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The proposed project would enhance, create and restore wetlands and upland habitats across the 640-acre Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. The project would also create 10 miles of new bike- and footpaths, connected by bridges over Lincoln Blvd. and Ballona Creek.

Above: Existing saltmarsh in the southern half of the Ecological Reserve. The restoration project would create about 70 acres of new saltmarsh in the northern half of the reserve, where former marsh was buried during Marina Del Rey construction.

California law allows legal challenges to a project EIR for a variety of reasons, but most boil down to two questions: (1) whether the lead agency (in this case the California Department of Fish and Wildlife) considered a reasonable range of feasible alternatives to the proposed project, and (2) whether the analysis of environmental impacts was thorough, credible and based on sound evidence.

The EIR considered 13 different and wide-ranging project alternatives, four of which were carried forward for thorough analysis, and nine which were rejected, owing to their failure to meet the project's primary goals. The law allows rejections for that reason. The EIR contained over 1000 pages of environmental analysis. An additional 4,800 pages were dedicated to public comments and the Department's responses to those comments, which the plaintiffs claim are inadequate or incorrect.

Above: Rendering of the proposed southern bike path adjacent to Culver Blvd, connecting Lincoln Blvd. with the coast. Many of the public EIR comments supported the public trails plan of the restoration Project.

The plaintiffs' rambling statements of reasons regurgitate many of the familiar fictional narratives manufactured by the opposing activists, including, that the project is a gas industry conspiracy, that responsible state agencies are corrupt, that the project will kill thousands of sensitive plants and animals, will harm the public health, will increase greenhouse gases, will cause a natural gas explosion apocalypse, and will cause a flood of biblical proportions, washing Playa Del Rey into the sea. The EIR contains substantial evidence rendering these claims false.

The plaintiffs also ask the Court to make state taxpayers pay their court costs and lawyers' fees.

The restoration project is supported by a Coalition of nineteen environmental groups, including Friends of Ballona Wetlands, Heal the Bay, L.A. Waterkeeper, and Surfrider Foundation. Audubon California also recently applauded the EIR in a January 14, 2021 letter to the state.

No hearing date has yet been set by the Court.

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands!

Above: Rendering of the main entrance to the reserve from Fiji Way.

Author’s note of transparency:
Dr. David W. Kay served on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Friends of Ballona Wetlands from 2007 until 2015, and served as Board President in 2012-13. He presently serves on the Board of Ballona Discovery Park.

Since 1984, David has been employed by Southern California Edison Company, exclusively in the company’s environmental services organizations. His many responsibilities included restoration of the 440-acre San Dieguito Wetlands near Del Mar. He is presently Senior Manager for Project Environmental Licensing at the company.

Dr. Kay is a staunch advocate for the State of California’s Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project.

See Dr. Kay’s Patch contributor profile here.