Posted on 03/11/2006 3:53:04 PM PST by FairOpinion
SANTA BARBARA, CA – California State Treasurer and Democratic Candidate for Governor Phil Angelides today released Coast Guard, his plan to protect the California coastline, end Governor Schwarzenegger’s policy of neglect, and defeat President Bush’s new plans to drill for oil and gas off the California coast. Angelides, who has been endorsed by 70 prominent environmental leaders and Vote the Coast, a grassroots political action organization whose purpose is to achieve coastal protection and conservation, unveiled the plan in Santa Barbara.
“The California coast is endangered and President Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger are taking us in the wrong direction,” said Angelides. “When it comes to the coast, Governor Schwarzenegger moves his lips but doesn’t lift a hand to protect our coast. Unlike this Governor, I will offer real action and a real plan.”
Coast Guard – The Angelides Plan for Protecting the California Coast will:
Launch a comprehensive program to identify, purchase, and protect key undeveloped portions of the coast.
Fight for a permanent federal ban on oil and gas drilling off the California coast.
Require comprehensive state planning before approval of any liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals and desalination plants on the coast.
Restore funding for the Coastal Commission and other coastal protection agencies.
Reduce coastal pollution and beach closures from sewage and runoff.
Require lobbyists to register and disclose their contacts with the Coastal Commission.
“Phil Angelides is an informed, decisive, and visionary leader who is committed to protecting California’s magnificent coast for generations to come,” said Susan Jordan of the California Coastal Protection Network. “As Governor, he won't just talk about protecting California's tremendous natural resources, he'll deliver.”
Currently, three-dozen wastewater plants dump 1.5 billion gallons of sewage a day into the Pacific off California’s coast, many of them into shallow waters, forcing 3,985 beach closures and warnings in 2004 alone. This past summer, Los Angeles beaches had the worst water quality in five years. However, in the face of these mounting threats to the coast, Governor Schwarzenegger slashed legislative appropriations for the already under-funded Coastal Commission, failed to fund the Marine Life Protection Act and vetoed legislation requiring public disclosure of lobbyists’ private contacts with coastal commissioners.
California’s coast is also under attack in Washington, where President Bush and Republicans in Congress are pushing to resume oil and gas exploration and drilling off the cost, risking catastrophic new oil spills.
“As Governor, I will work with Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Lois Capps to permanently ban offshore oil drilling off the California coast,” Angelides added.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger claims to support our coast, but his words just don't match his actions,” said Vote the Coast Board Member Ozzie Silna. “We need a Governor who will truly stand up for our coast and aggressively fight to ban offshore oil drilling once and for all.”
Angelides’ campaign for Governor is co-chaired by Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and has been endorsed by over 70 prominent California environmental leaders including Congresswoman Lois Capps, Carlyle Hall and Robert Garcia of the Center for Law in the Public Interest, Mary Nichols of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment, Gary Patton of Land Watch Monterey County, Sara Wan of the California Coastal Commission, former State Senator Byron Sher, former Planning and Conservation League executive director Gerald Meral, conservationist Sam Schuchat, Global Green founder Diane Meyer Simon, and environmental advocates Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ted Danson, Ed Begley Jr. and Laurie David.
Angelides’ campaign has also been endorsed by a broad coalition of Santa Barbara County leaders including Congresswoman Lois Capps, Santa Barbara County Supervisors Salud Carbajal and Susan Rose, Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum, Mayor Pro Tem Helene Schneider, Santa Barbara City Councilmembers Iya Falcone, Roger Horton and Das Williams, former County Supervisor Naomi Schwartz and Susan Jordan of the California Coastal Protection Network.
To read Coast Guard – The Angelides Plan for Protecting the California Coast visit http://www.angelides.com/enviros/coastguard.html
“Arnold Schwarzenegger claims to support our coast, but his words just don't match his actions,” said Vote the Coast Board Member Ozzie Silna. “We need a Governor who will truly stand up for our coast and aggressively fight to ban offshore oil drilling once and for all.”
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Schwarzenegger or Angelides? Whom will conservatives support?
Lets add a rider to the bill. No oil or gas can be shipped INTO California. They must live on what they produce.
He's talking about guarding the coast from evil corporate America, and the evil profits they seek -- right?
Angelides campaign strategy is to promise mountains of money to every interest group in California. He's an idiot and a demagogue, in other words, your typical liberal democrat.
From Angelides' website:
(he has the nerve to call his plan "Coast Guard", impuning the name of the REAL Coast Guard)
Coast Guard
The Angelides Plan for Protecting the California Coast
http://www.angelides.com/enviros/coastguard.html
As Governor, Phil Angelides will reverse the policies of Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Bush, renewing California’s historic commitment to coastal and ocean protection.
Three decades ago, when oil spills blackened California beaches and uncontrolled development threatened public access to the coast, California leaders and voters acted to protect the coast, creating the Coastal Commission and passing the California Coastal Act. As Governor, Phil Angelides will call this generation of Californians to carry forward the work of protecting the coast against new threats to its environment and beauty.
The Angelides coastal protection plan will fight the unprecedented drive by President Bush and the Republican Congress for renewed oil and gas drilling off the California coast. And it will reverse the policy of coastal neglect by Governor Schwarzenegger, whose actions have not matched his rhetoric.
The California coast is in danger
The Pacific coastline is California’s most precious natural asset. It touches the lives of millions of Californians every day – as a place for recreation and relaxation; as a source of food and fresh air; as a habitat for fish, birds, mammals, and plants; as an engine of our economy. It is an enduring symbol of the health and vitality of California and the bond we Californians have with our environment and all of nature. And it is a test of our commitment to be stewards for future generations of Californians.
Unfortunately, the health of the coast and the ocean are at risk on many fronts. Runoff and sewage degrade the water in the ocean and estuaries, harming marine ecosystems and closing beaches. Three-dozen wastewater plants dump 1.5 billion gallons of sewage a day into the Pacific off California’s coast, many of them into shallow waters, forcing 3,985 beach closures and warnings in 2004. This past summer, Los Angeles beaches had the worst water quality in five years. Coastal development walls off public access in many places. Seawalls and dams on coastal streams block the natural replenishment of sand, allowing waves to sweep beaches away and erode the coastline.
President Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger are taking California's coast in the wrong direction.
At a time when the California coast needs more protection, President Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger are increasing the risks to the coast and its environment. The Bush administration and Republicans in Congress are pushing to resume oil and gas exploration and drilling off the cost, risking catastrophic new oil spills, and are trying to take away California's ability to regulate LNG siting on the coast. Governor Schwarzenegger pledges his support for coastal protection, but his actions have not matched his rhetoric. He slashed legislative appropriations for the already under-funded Coastal Commission, failed to fund the Marine Life Protection Act and vetoed legislation requiring public disclosure of lobbyists' private contacts with coastal commissioners. He has championed the construction of LNG terminals on the coast without adequate review and the weakening of environmental review of new development. He wants to lock up all California's infrastructure funding for a decade without devoting a dime to state parks, beaches, the purchase and protection of open space along the coast, or the reduction of sewage and urban runoff contaminating beaches, bays, and the ocean.
Protecting the coast and its environment is critical to California's economy and quality of life. The coastal economy directly employs nearly a half million Californians, and the beauty and recreational opportunities a clean coast offers define California as a special place to live and invest. As Governor, Phil Angelides will fight the Bush administration's unprecedented efforts to open up the California coast to oil drilling, and unlike Governor Schwarzenegger, he will offer real action and a real plan to protect our coast.
The Angelides Coast Guard Plan will:
1. Launch a comprehensive program to identify, purchase, and protect key undeveloped portions of the coast.
California has only one coast, and we must not allow it to be degraded bit by bit. The best way to make certain that critical coastal areas are permanently protected is to put them into public or trust ownership.
As Governor, Phil Angelides will create a comprehensive program to identify the most valuable and most threatened portions of the coast and fund the purchase of the land or, working with conservation-minded landowners, permanent easements protecting it. Unlike Governor Schwarzenegger, he will make coastal protection a priority for bond funding. His program will focus on protecting lands at risk of immediate development, major wetlands and critical habitat areas, important coastal views, lands necessary to complete the California Coastal Trail, additional public access areas, and agricultural land that can be kept in production. The program will set strict standards for purchases so that public funds are prudently used for the highest-priority lands.
2. Fight for a permanent federal ban on oil and gas drilling off the California coast.
The Bush administration, the Republican Congress, and oil companies have targeted the California coast for new offshore oil drilling, which has been prevented by a moratorium. The 2005 federal energy bill, pushed and signed by Bush, authorizes conducting exploration off the California coast to inventory potential oil and gas supplies, a first step toward more drilling. As Governor, Phil Angelides will use all the powers of his office to block any resumption of offshore oil drilling on the California coast and he will fight for congressional passage of the legislation authored by Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Lois Capps to permanently ban such drilling.
3. Require comprehensive state planning before approval of any liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals and desalination plants on the coast.
Corporations are pushing to bring a new wave of industrial facilities to the coast, proposing LNG terminals and desalination plants, which have the potential to threaten public safety and the environment. The current approach of considering each proposal in isolation risks missing their collective impact on the coast and its environment.
As Governor, Phil Angelides will require that LNG terminals and desalination plants be considered only after a comprehensive planning process is put in place to examine the necessity, safety, and environmental sustainability of the projects and their cumulative effect on the coast.
4. Restore funding for the Coastal Commission and other coastal protection agencies.
California has many of the nation's strongest legal protections for the coast, but Governor Schwarzenegger has deprived the Coastal Commission and other coastal protection agencies of the resources they need to do their jobs. Under Schwarzenegger, the Coastal Commission's staff is 20 percent smaller than five years ago. The agency has only three employees to handle the enormous issues involving offshore oil, LNG, and power plants along 1,100 miles of the coast. The state's Legislative Analyst says the commission lacks the necessary staff to carry out its coastal protection duties. Yet Schwarzenegger last year vetoed funds appropriated by the Legislature to address some of the under-funding. Under Schwarzenegger, the Department of Fish and Game, which is supposed to administer the Marine Life Protection Act to preserve marine life off the coast, has not received the funding to carry out its environmental duties.
As Governor, Phil Angelides will make coastal protection a top budget priority, restoring funding to the Coastal Commission, and he will find a permanent source of funding for the State's coastal program, to assure that the law is enforced as Californians intend.
5. Reduce coastal pollution and beach closures from sewage and runoff.
To protect the health of beach-goers and preserve fisheries and marine ecosystems, California must reduce the flow of untreated sewage and contaminated urban runoff. The Angelides Coast Guard Plan will make reducing coastal pollution a goal across his administration. As Governor, Phil Angelides will direct state infrastructure grants, loans, and bonds to sewage and storm water cleanup, water conservation, wetlands restoration, and urban parks and open space. By building and upgrading wastewater and storm water systems, California can reduce the amount of pollution and debris that reach the ocean, bays, and estuaries. He will also pursue a smart growth plan to reduce sprawl and encourage coast-friendly development practices, such as state-of-the art urban runoff systems. Reducing sprawl will mean less pollution from roads and the preservation of open space that retains storm waters and prevents runoff.
6. Require lobbyists to register and disclose their contacts with the Coastal Commission.
The public deserves to know who is influencing the Coastal Commission. But the current California lobbyist registration laws exempt lobbyists who try to sway the Coastal Commission's land-use decisions. As Governor, Phil Angelides will press the Legislature to apply the same lobbying disclosure rules to the Coastal Commission that now apply to lobbyists at the Capitol and other state agencies. And he will call on the Legislature to again pass rules, which Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed, requiring that lobbyists' private (ex parte) communications with members of the Coastal Commission be fully disclosed and posted on the Internet.
"Lets add a rider to the bill. No oil or gas can be shipped INTO California. They must live on what they produce."
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Good thinking. Note, that while the Dems keep talking about alternative energy, they are really against it, what they really want is to destroy the economy, not to have energy independence. Note that Angelides is even against natural gas and desalienation plants.
From his website:
"Require comprehensive state planning before approval of any liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals and desalination plants on the coast.
Corporations are pushing to bring a new wave of industrial facilities to the coast, proposing LNG terminals and desalination plants, which have the potential to threaten public safety and the environment. The current approach of considering each proposal in isolation risks missing their collective impact on the coast and its environment.
As Governor, Phil Angelides will require that LNG terminals and desalination plants be considered only after a comprehensive planning process is put in place to examine the necessity, safety, and environmental sustainability of the projects and their cumulative effect on the coast. "
I am sure you'll be so much happier with Angelides' environmental policies...
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
It's time for a NIMBY tax!
We really missed you. We did.
Welcome back!
Ah, come on, Phil! All you have to do is look at the latest legislation Arnie negotiated with the Dems (AB 134). There is all sorts of whacky environmental stuff in there protecting the coast, the wetlands, billions for conservancies and open space. He's got you matched on the environment! (Thank goodness Pubblies were smart enough to smack this bill down last night, with not a single Senator voting yes). Here's a snip on the coastal stuff, only.
Article 12. Coastal Protection Program5096.905. The sum of five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) shall be available, upon appropriation therefor, for the protection of beaches, bays, and coastal waters and watersheds, including projects to prevent contamination and degradation of coastal waters and watersheds, projects to protect and restore the natural habitat values of coastal waters and lands, and projects and expenditures to promote access to, and enjoyment of, the coastal resources of the state, in accordance with the following schedule:
(a) The sum of one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) shall be available to the State Water Resources Control Board for the purpose of matching grants for protecting beaches and coastal waters from pollution and toxic contamination pursuant to the Clean Beaches Program... not less than thirty-five million dollars ($35,000,000) shall be for grants to local public agencies to assist those agencies to comply with the prohibition against discharge into areas of special biological significance set forth in the California Ocean Plan. Of the funds described in this subdivision, not less than 20 percent shall be available to the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission.
(b) The sum of three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000) shall be available to the State Coastal Conservancy...
(c) The sum of one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) shall be deposited in the California Ocean Protection Trust Fund ... Priority projects shall include the development of scientific data needed to adaptively manage the state's marine resources and reserves, including the development of marine habitat maps, the development and implementation of projects to foster sustainable fisheries using loans and grants, and the development and implementation of projects to conserve marine wildlife.
Does that mean you find Angelides more acceptable than Arnold?
SACRAMENTO - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides has made $11.6 million since he was elected state treasurer in 1998, according to tax returns he released Thursday.
Angelides' returns confirm the 52-year-old candidate has amassed significant personal wealth from his Sacramento-area real estate holdings and development projects that could be tapped to help fund his campaign.
But by releasing tax returns for only the past seven years -- and not the years immediately before taking office when he was most active in business -- Angelides left it nearly impossible to determine if his net worth might rival that of state Controller Steve Westly, the former eBay executive who is Angelides' main competition in the Democratic primary.
Westly last year released tax returns for the previous 10 years and challenged his opponents to do the same. His returns revealed a personal fortune of at least $225 million; and on Thursday Westly's campaign manager blasted Angelides for not being more open.
"The precedent is 10 years, and by not releasing 10 years it really raises questions," said Jude Barry, Westly's campaign manager, noting former Gov. Gray Davis also released 10 years of returns.
"It suggests maybe there are things he does not want the people of California to know. What if we released just three years or four years, what would that show?" Barry said, referring to a shorter window of returns that would have his hid Westly's meteoric rise in income.
Cathy Calfo, Angelides' campaign manager, fired back at the Westly camp Thursday, raising questions about the source of some of Westly's dot-com success.
"If Steve Westly is so concerned about more disclosure, he should address the growing cloud over his financial dealings at eBay," Calfo said, referring to a report first published last year in the San Jose Mercury News noting that Westly in 1999 and 2000 bought pre-IPO shares in 189 companies and then often sold them on the first day of trading -- a somewhat common practice during the dot-com boom but one that analysts say could raise ethical questions for his campaign.
Angelides' returns showed he made $11.6 million from 1998 to 2004 and paid $3.4 million during that time in federal and state taxes.
The treasurer's government salary in those years rose from about $123,000 to $134,000, including a 5 percent voluntary pay cut he took in 2003 amid the state's budget crisis.
About 73 percent of Angelides' income since he took office has come from Sacramento housing and other investment properties. Angelides also still earns income -- as much as $1.2 million a year -- from deferred payments for management services he provided under his company, River West Investments. Angelides sold the company before taking office.
From 1998 to 2004, the returns showed, Angelides also donated between $9,882 and $58,471 annually to charity -- or about 1.8 percent of his income.
Adwatch: Ad touts Westly tie, albeit brief, with Carter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594703/posts
Now who do you suppose conservatives might support?
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
SCHWARZENEGGER:
Governor's office joins fray, backs desalination
http://www.waterindustry.org/New%20Projects/desal-8.htm
Putting the Coastal Commission on notice, the Schwarzenegger administration made it clear yesterday that it fully supports building desalination projects along California's shoreline.
The move injected the Schwarzenegger administration into what has been a simmering debate over the commission's reach in permitting plants to turn ocean water into drinking water.
"From our perspective, desalination is a big part of our water supply needs here in California," he said. "We need to do everything we can to push that technology."
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ANGELIDES:
Require comprehensive state planning before approval of any liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals and desalination plants on the coast.
Corporations are pushing to bring a new wave of industrial facilities to the coast, proposing LNG terminals and desalination plants, which have the potential to threaten public safety and the environment. The current approach of considering each proposal in isolation risks missing their collective impact on the coast and its environment.
As Governor, Phil Angelides will require that LNG terminals and desalination plants be considered only after a comprehensive planning process is put in place to examine the necessity, safety, and environmental sustainability of the projects and their cumulative effect on the coast.
I find neither acceptable.
"Now who do you suppose conservatives might support?"
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You must have just walked into this.
We have people here on record ( see above), who tell us how conservative they are and also tell us that they want to see Arnold defeated, which of course means the election of Angelides (or Westly, another Dem, no different), but even after having reality explained to them, they still prefer to have Angelides elected.
Hence my question and sig line.
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