Los Angeles Audubon Society has submitted a pair of letters regarding the proposed construction project for the Ballona Wetlands. A judge ruled that the original Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s project was deficient and ordered that the project could not proceed until a new, legally sufficient EIR was prepared. LAAS concurred that the original EIR was flawed and disagrees fundamentally with the project desired by CDFW.
CDFW recently issued a request for comments on their preparation of a new EIR with a 30-day comment period. LAAS is respectfully requesting that this comment period be extended to 75 days in the interest of public participation and transparency. You can read the letter here.
The planning for the Ballona Wetlands project has been funded by the Wildlife Conservation Board and CDFW is going back to the WCB for even more funds to redesign the project to account for accurate estimates of future possible flooding in Ballona Creek. CDFW used a lower estimate of flooding in the original EIR, even though they knew that higher flows were possible. The Wildlife Conservation Board may schedule consideration of the additional funding as soon as November 15. LAAS opposes this timing, and is requesting that instead the funding decision be schedule only after the scoping period for the EIR so that all parties know and understand the scope of the revisions that might be necessary.
LAAS opposes further funding of a planning process that has been flawed in many ways and has led to a proposed project that is inconsistent with current understanding of the ecology of the area, does not account for current estimates of sea level rise, and does not address the adverse impacts to groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
You can read our letter to the Wildlife Conservation Board here. And you can express your concerns to the WCB by calling them at (916) 445-8448 and requesting that they not fund further Ballona Wetlands planning until there is a commitment from CDFW to reopen the project design and to incorporate the changed environmental conditions and legal requirements since the current design was selected in 2008. A lot has changed since then and Ballona deserves a restoration plan that reflects current scientific understanding and has the full support of the environmental community.
