DELTA SIERRA CLUB GROUP

Standing up for what is right can be a scary thing. Delta Sierra Group members did just that at the Old River Parkway hearings at the Parks and Recreation Commission meetings in February. A sizable delegation of environmentalist stood up before 100 angry opponents and made a pitch for public access to the Old River and for the formation of a parkway in that sensitive area which development is sure to gobble up. If that were not enough, even more showed up for the March meeting prepared to make intelligent, non-belligerent arguments for the park. In the end, the commissioners voted to turn the planning back to staff to make more studies and to review other sites. The park concept is not dead. It takes courage to stand up for what is right and we know we have the mettle to do it.

Cleaning up the Valley air quality is another hot issue. At our March general meeting, Jude Lamare from Sacramento and John Honnette, from Modesto, both air quality specialists, and Eric Parfrey, Mother Lode Chapter Chair, presented the severe air pollution problems we face and what is being done about it. They made the point that the Air Quality Pollution Prevention Board and the Environmental Protection Agency need to hear from the environmental community. If no representatives outside industry speak up, these government agencies have no mandate even to enforce the law, let alone to be pro-active. We must be heard at all levels.

Once again, out of the interested attendees, came a volunteer to serve as watch dog at the citizens' advisory board on air quality.

Students from Stockton and Lodi High Schools showed us how much they care at our February meeting. Nearly 35 students from six high schools turned out to hear Denise Thomas and Julie Schardt explain the school programs for cleaning up area waterways. The students impressed us with stories of what they are doing to preserve our precious resources. Don't let anyone tell you that teenagers don't do their share even when it's not that "cool."

We took a pleasant break in January and had an outing to the UOP Library. Daryl Morrison made a wonderful presentation of the John Muir collection which is housed in the Holt-Atherton Room. Forty people crowded into close quarters to view, in awe, the impressive works of our Sierra Club founder, John Muir. Calls of appreciation came pouring in for that inspiring night.

WORDS TO REMEMBER: "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt  Back to Top.

Lodi ProStyle Sports Complex Project

Update on the application to build a large recreation/soccer field/hotel/retail complex on 400 acres of prime farmland located immediately east of the I-5 freeway, approximately two miles north of Eight Mile Road, across from the city’s White Slough Waste Water Treatment Facility. Following the public hearing last month the EIR has been updated and is expected to be reissued the first week of April. The partners have mailed a brochure to many Lodi residents and have been trying to drum up support by speaking before various community organizations. Meanwhile Senator Machado has introduced a bill to plug the loop hole in state law governing annexations of "non-contiguous" lands into cities.

The California Government Code dealing with annexations allows non-contiguous lands to be annexed into cities for public uses such as wastewater plants. State law requires that if non-contiguous city lands are sold by the city to a private developer, then the lands are to be de-annexed from the city and revert to unincorporated control with the county. However, the existing statutes are silent as to whether the lands can be leased by a city to a private developer.

Under State law an EIR must first be approved before the project itself can be acted upon.   Back to Top.

"Between the Senate and the Bush administration, we are advancing to the rear, double time. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, fuel efficiency standards, toxic waste - this is literally sickening stuff.

...the Senate recently voted 62 to 38 to postpone, yet again, increasing the fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. According to the Sierra Club, the average fuel economy of cars sold last year was 20.4 miles per gallon, the lowest since 1980. The failed fuel efficiency proposal could have saved the country up to one million barrels of oil a day by 2016 - as much as the United States currently imports from Iraq and Kuwait.

According to Public Campaign, on the average the 62 senators which voted with the auto industry received $18,000 from auto companies. The 38 senators who wanted strong standards got a measly $5,900. Since 1989, the auto companies have given $9.9 million to federal candidates and parties....

The EPA under Christi Todd Whitman is just not enforcing the law. She has put into effect new regulations that put off air controls for at least two morejust not enforcing the law. She has put into effect new regulations that put off air controls for at least two more years. According to EPA’s own figures, 80,000 major polluters - each with the capacity to put 10 tons of toxic gas and particles into the air>each year - are doing little or nothing to reduce emissions. This is not about tree huggers and spotted owls. Air pollution kills people.

Bush’s choice to lead EPA’s clean air program is Jeffrey Holmstead, formerly a lawyer for the Chemical Manufacturers Association...and an adjunct scholar at Citizen’s for the Environment...

According to the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, CFE "labeled most environmental problems - including acid rain, natural resource depletion and shrinking landfill space - as myths."

Michael Dombeck, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service, points out that forests are not only critical to the atmosphere but are also the key source of clean water. The undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment, is Mark Rey, who work for 20 years for big timer trade associations. He vociferously opposes the National Forest Roadless Conservation Policy, which would protect one-third of our forests from logging, mining and other destructive activities. Rey has defended clear-cutting as "compatible with rain forest ecology."...

Administrations come and go, and little of what they do is permanent. Policies can be reversed, wars come to an end and new under secretaries bloom in Washington, But if you screw up the air, the land and the water, you can’t undo it."   Back to Top.

Back in the old days "ecology" was emerging from the older, established interest on "conservation." It demanded change and political action when before a more conservative and contemplative type of ecological awareness prevailed. Many were deeply worried about the threats of over population, nuclear holocaust, poisoning of water and air by pesticides and other chemicals and what was seen as the erosion of the quality of life.

For some this would go so far as trying to hook up with the radical left in an attempt to "bring down corporate America." Some believed that political action within the existing system was the best action. Still another group "opted out" and moved back to the land and attempted to create a peaceful, more simple life more in tune with the environment. But not much of this could be found in Stockton or San Joaquin County.

Even so, there have been many environmental improvements in San Joaquin County in the last 25 years. But change as basic as how we treat our home planet comes incrementally. Some examples are worthy of contemplation. The "Save the Mokelumne" effort had much success in cleaning up the old copper mines which poisoned Comanche Lake and the Mokelumne River. Under the leadership of Bill Jennings this effort morphed into the Delta Keeper Organization which is now doing so much in its attempts to improve the delta environment. There was virtually no recycling in the county back then and a solid waste plan for the county was rejected by several cities. Now much waste which was filling our landfills and adding to ground water pollution is recycled. The endangered species act had been passed, but in a rural area such as ours, with an agricultural orientation the whole concept of endangered species was questioned by those who wondered how a spotted owl would taste. This was even taken up by our congressman who attacked the E.S.A. on both a national and local level. Now, after a cooperative effort spearheaded by the Council of Governments, San Joaquin County has an innovative plan in its San Joaquin County Multispecies Conservation Plan.

All of these efforts and others, are backed by state and federal regulations and laws. But as we know, without an informed and concerned group of citizens and activists the paper these rules are written on could just as well be recycled. Having activist organizations does much to counteract the anti-environmental efforts of a conservative national administration.

The most positive development is that the general public now supports clean water and air and would look askance at any efforts to weaken those laws now in existence. Although there are some very vocal opponents to local environmental efforts these are slowly fading into the background. One last-ditch stand is being seen locally when efforts are put forth to improve our local system of parks and recreation areas. Opponents of such improvements along the San Joaquin River have called in "wise use" allies from all over. Hopefully this opposition can be overcome by the so far rather silent majority who would like us to catch up with the rest of the valley. Fresno is developing its San Joaquin River Parkway, Sacramento has its American River Parkway and Redding, Visalia and Chico have similar park systems.

Problem areas certainly remain. One of the largest is the issue of land and its "highest and best use." There have been efforts to protect prime agricultural land and stop urban sprawl. Maybe this will be the environmental issue of the coming years.

Best wishes. It has been an interesting 35 years.    Back to Top.

Eric Parfrey from our Group has been elected Chair of the Mother Lode Chapter. This is the largest chapter with 11 Groups and 17,931 members. Former Chair, Vicki Lee, has moved to Conservation Chair.    Back to Top.