Ruling Against Newhall Ranch

Last week, Kern County Superior Court Judge Roger D. Randall handed down a ruling that brought the Newhall Ranch project to a screeching halt. The court determined that the analysis of future water supplies and impacts to traffic and wildlife put forth in the project’s environmental impact report are woefully inadequate.

Unless and until Newhall Land & Farming Co. provides evidence that this project will not damage the environment and negatively impact our quality of life, the bulldozers will stay in the shed.

This victory can be traced to the united voice of a strong, determined coalition of cities, agencies and activists. Ventura County was supported by California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, the cities of Santa Paula, Oxnard and Ventura, United Water Conservation District, the Sierra Club, Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, and Friends of the Santa Clara River. Together, we are a powerful team that has scored an important win in this David versus Goliath battle.

Los Angeles County and Newhall have paid a high price for turning a deaf ear to the citizens of Ventura County. Their refusal to address our concerns over the past four years has fueled the commitment of the coalition. All avenues for cooperation were exhausted prior to undertaking legal action.

In 1996 and 1997, Ventura County and the United Water Conservation District worked together to develop constructive responses to the draft environmental impact report. Numerous attempts were made to convey our concerns to Los Angeles County leaders. It became evident that they had no intention of addressing our issues.

We continued to seek a compromise. At Newhall’s request, I hosted a series of meetings that included interested agencies from Santa Clarita to Oxnard. Newhall’s stated intent for these meetings was to develop a better understanding of each party’s concerns and determine whether any common ground could be found. In fact, Newhall was unwilling to discuss any type of compromise. Our coalition emerged stronger, larger and ready to fight.

We feel vindicated that our concerns are finally going to be addressed, but there is still much to be done. Newhall and Los Angeles County now have the choice to appeal the judge’s ruling or move forward to comply with his directive.

Those of us who oppose the project hope that Newhall will take this opportunity to clean up its act. Those of us who love Ventura County have no intention of standing by silently and allowing our county to become a bedroom community of Los Angeles.

If Newhall decides to appeal this ruling, we will continue to pursue all available avenues to protect our quality of life in Ventura County.

KATHY LONG

Chair, Ventura County

Board of Supervisors