CLCV PRAISES ATTORNEY GENERAL KAMALA HARRIS FOR VIGOUROUS DEFENSE OF CALIFORNIA’S LANDMARK OCEAN PROTECTION EFFORT
In Brief, AG’s Office Says Special Interest Group’s Effort to Derail Marine Life Protection Act “Wrong,” “Irrelevant”
Warner Chabot
California League of Conservation Voters
09/16/2011
The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) today applauded Attorney General Kamala Harris for defending the state’s landmark Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) from a lawsuit filed against the California Fish and Game Commission by members of the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans, an industry group supported by foreign fishing equipment interests.
“The Attorney General is taking strong action in protecting California’s coast from this meritless legal attack by overseas special interests,” said CLCV Executive Director Warner Chabot. “We are confident the Court will dismiss this ill-conceived Hail Mary effort to derail years of bipartisan efforts by thousands of Californians to safeguard our ocean resources.”
In a brief filed in San Diego Superior Court late last week, the California Department of Justice asked for dismissal of the suit, which was filed by Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO) group member, the Coastside Fishing Club.
The PSO is a foreign fishing industry equipment-backed group that has battled the establishment of marine reserves off the California coast for several years. It has spent millions on lawsuits and a public relations campaign attacking the scientifically-backed proposals to set aside areas of the ocean to allow fish and other marine life to replenish.
Coastside’s lawsuit alleges the Fish & Game Commission did not have the authority to adopt 22 marine protected areas along the California coast, an argument that the Attorney General’s office aggressively countered.
“Misunderstanding the MLPA, Coastside presents a misleading and confusing argument incorrectly interpreting two legislative acts,” the AG wrote in her brief. “The entire argument is not only irrelevant but misstates the appropriate authority upon which the Commission relied in adopting MPAs.”
Incredibly, said Chabot, the special interest lawsuit also calls for placing the Commission’s marine reserves before the California Coastal Commission for approval.
“It is astonishing that these special interests, which previously have called the Coastal Commission ‘corrupt and overreaching,’ now want to delay ocean habitat protection by seeking a Coastal Commission permit. There is one word to describe their legal ploy: laughable.”
The AG’s brief stated that a Coastal Commission development permit was not needed to establish marine reserves, because those reserves are not “development” at all, but constitute a fish and wildlife management plan exempt from Coastal Commission review. “The special interests behind PSO are now on record saying the role of California’s Coastal Commission should be expanded,” added Chabot. “Oh, the irony.”
Chabot also noted that Coastside had sought to unravel ocean protection efforts through the courts for years, pointing to a report in a fishing industry publication which noted in 2003: “Off the record, Coastside Fishing Club insiders promised that their legal-eagle squad would ‘make Department bureaucrats’ lives a living hell.’” (Source: Noyo Harbor Confidential, http://www.noyoharborconfidential.com/jan.html).
The Attorney General’s brief also noted that over a 14-month rulemaking process, the Commission conducted seven public hearings to hear presentations on the status of MPA proposals, received scientific analysis, and stated that “Coastside should not be allowed to challenge the regulations at this late date just because Coastside’s preferred MPA option was not selected by the Commission when Coastside participated fully in the rulemaking process and advocated the Commission exercise its statutory authority to adopt an alternative MPA option.”
CLCV sponsors the website, www.SomethingsFishyAboutPSO.org. The website reveals the organization’s funders and actions to undermine ocean protection efforts in California, the United States, and around the world.
About the California League of Conservation Voters:
The political muscle of the environmental movement in America’s leading environmental state, the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) is the nation’s oldest grassroots environmental political action organization. CLCV uses sophisticated campaign tools to help elect pro-environment officials – and to hold them accountable for passing legislation to protect health, communities and the environment. CLCV publishes the annual California Environmental Scorecard, which rates the actions of every state legislator and the governor on the state’s environmental priorities each legislative year. For more information about CLCV, visit www.ecovote.org.
