Wetlands Bill on Bolsa Chica

With her Bolsa Chica bill, SB 1517, state Sen. Marian Bergeson is doing no favors for the environment. Although she did a good job with Upper Newport Bay, Sen. Bergeson is not repeating this experience with Bolsa Chica.

Always a problem at Bolsa Chica, the definition of wetlands, and how many of them are there at Bolsa Chica, is crucial to SB 1517, for this bill presumes fulfillment of the current development plan for Bolsa Chica, with 5,700 homes, a marina and waterfront development, and restoration of 915 acres of wetlands, all in a 1,600-acre parcel at Warner Avenue and Coast Highway just west of Huntington Beach.

The latest report to the EPA, however, published in February, 1987, identifies 1,270 acres of wetlands, all fully viable, at Bolsa Chica. Moreover, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report of December, 1982, identifies 1,292 acres of wetlands at Bolsa Chica.

Thus, SB 1517 actually is a bill that mandates the destruction of between 355 and 377 acres of wetlands, a sizable amount roughly half the acreage of Upper Newport Bay.

Coupled with the loss of 90% of Southern California’s original wetlands over the past century to development, this bill is disastrous. Even under the State Coastal Act, where 75% of a degraded wetlands must be restored in order to develop the remainder, SB 1517 falls short.

At a minimum, 75% of 1,270 acres is 950 acres to be restored, not 915 acres.

If Sen. Bergeson still wants to call herself a friend of the environment, she will need to respect the wetlands of Bolsa Chica and Southern California a bit more than she is showing with SB 1517.

Even former Secretary of the Interior James Watt called wetlands a precious natural resource.

JAN D. VANDERSLOOT

Huntington Beach