Feinstein goes to bat for beach project
By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY ---- U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sent letters to a pair of federal agencies last week in a bid to jump-start a stalled $4.5 million study examining options for fortifying three miles of battered North County coastline.
Feinstein last week wrote top administrators with the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and urged them to resolve differences in the next 60 days over steps that need to be taken to soften the project's harm to the environment.
The project aims to restore "the historic sandy coastlines in the cities of Solana Beach and Encinitas, whose coastal beaches are among the most severely eroded in California," Feinstein wrote in both of the letters. read the rest here.
This photo was taken this morning around 10 am. in Carlsbad. You can see a thin strip of cobblestones at the base of the bluff. If they want to cover up these cobblestones with sand I don't mind. But the Army Corp of Engineers wants to go so overboard that it is disturbing. Notice the 100 yards of sand from the cobble strip to the waterline.
It is important to note that the new recovering kelp beds in Leucadia are much closer to the shoreline than in other areas of north county. The 2001 sand project smothered these kelp beds. There has been no kelp in Leucadia until late 2006 and early 2007. The sand is at a good level right now and we even have more sand this week than last week thanks to the early south swells we are now getting. I am deeply concerned about another massive sand project, it will destroy our kelp and ruin the quality of our surf spots which are used by thousands of surfers across north county daily. North county surfing is an economic engine and needs to be considered. It sounds like the politicians have drank the "no-sand-all-cobbles" kool-aid; a quick trip to the beach would reveal a different reality for them. The NCT's coverage of this story borders on propaganda in favor of the sand project. I want the 500 bluff dwellers to feel secure but we don't need to go overboard on this. I want Feinstein to be please be mindful of the kelp, lobster, fish, surf spots and tax dollars.
Leucadia!: "We're back to cobbles" >>>VIDEOS<<<
It would probably be cheaper to buy out the 500 bluff homes and tear them down and create a green belt along the bluff instead of spending money on the massive sand replenishment projects.
ReplyDeleteFirst anon has the idea I have been saying for years. Buy them one at a time and tear them down until they are all gone. Don't issue any more permits for building or remodeling on the bluffs.
ReplyDeleteHowever, JP has it wrong. The corps has it right. Bring on the sand now!!! and lots of it.
I was here when there was plenty of sand. There was was also plenty of kelp, lobster and fish.
Having plenty of sand will not decimate our kelp, fish and lobster.
um, the 2001 sand project completely buried our kelp. Ask a lobster fisherman how the last couple of years went for him. The Army Corp wants 2-3 times MORE than the 2001 amount. That is insane.
ReplyDeleteI was hear too. There was a strip of cobbles in the Ponto area in the early 1980s.
ReplyDeleteI was here too. There were no cobbles in the 1970s, until the powerful el niño storms at the end of the decade stripped the beaches of most of their sand ending the calm weather period. In the 1978 to 1983 period it was common for waves to pound the buildings in Cardiff's restaurant row causing Highway 101 to be closed. The highway had to cleaned of cobbles before it could be reopened.
ReplyDeleteWe are in another calm weather period. The beaches need little or no sand. Save the kelp.
Wake up people. This isn't about sand or the beach or homeowners. This is about politician milking the cash cow taxpayer. If the government is so concerned about protecting homeowners then why have the residents of the Marbella condos been given the run around?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060311/news_1mi11slide.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060311/news_1mi11slide.html
ReplyDeleteI say let nature take it's course.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, what if nature's course is to let man completely destroy nature and himself?
ReplyDeleteYeah, instead of live and let live, is it live and let die? Oh, I think that's a James Bond novel.
I hope Dianne Feinstein realizes that the environment is HARMED by excessive sand "replenishment."
I think the Dept. of Marine Fisheries & Dept. of Fish and Game are dead right. They are "softening the blow," by saying we could live with 5 million cu. feet instead of nearly 11 million cu. feet of sand. People are doing fine this year. Put the money in the sand budget for next year. Then we'll see.
Dianne Feinstein shouldn't put pressure on the environmental groups to soften the blow, as quoted in the NCT piece. That suggest a Senator pressuring scientists to spin the data, really for the sake of business tourist interests.
ReplyDeletePeople camp out and visit cobbled beaches, too. Ares are okay this year, I agree.
http://www.corruptionchronicles.com/2007/03/violations_force_feinstein_mil.html
ReplyDelete