Sierra
Club Action Alert
Five years after
we won a big victory in stopping plans for building the 16 mile Foothill South
Tollroad through San Onofre State Beach, the Transportation Corridor Agency
(TCA) has unveiled plans to build the highway in segments. Known as the Tesoro
Extension, the first 5.5 mile segment would extend the Foothill Eastern
Tollroad from
The
TCA has not applied for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) but
is relying on an addendum to the original EIR for the whole 16 mile tollroad. Without
a revised review there is no way to analyze the impact on the environment.
TCA
recently applied for an environmental permit with the San Diego Regional Water
Quality Control Board (SDWB) for the first section of the road to discharge
their waste into State waters. Their SDWB application is flawed; TCA is
overlooking impacts to important wetlands, the San Juan Creek, and the
surrounding watershed which could affect the coastal zone and ocean resources. The
San Juan Creek watershed is already degraded due to erosion from past development.
Further erosion from tollroad construction would seriously impact water quality
that could impact watershed habitat.
The SDWB will be hearing TCA’s application March 13. WE
NEED YOU TO ATTEND! Please join us at 9am at the
Also
please send a letter to SDWB urging them to deny TCA’s application. We
need your help to remind the TCA (and decision makers) that the public
doesn’t want their destructive toll road.
Both
the Surfriders and NRDC have suggested wording for your letters that can be
sent on-line and your response will be tallied. Please modify as you wish.
http://action.surfrider.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7351
LETTER
TO: David Gibson, Executive Officer
Dear
Mr. Gibson,
I urge the Regional Board to deny the
Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency’s (TCA) application for
waste discharge requirements (WDR) for the so-called Tesoro Extension, the
first five-mile segment of the proposed
I am deeply concerned about the
TCA’s unyielding efforts to build its destructive toll road through one
of the last unspoiled watersheds in
In 2008, both the California Coastal
Commission and the Bush administration rejected the toll road because of
potentially devastating impacts to the coastline. Despite those decisions, TCA
remains undeterred and now plans to build the road in segments. This
segmentation approach is an obvious attempt to circumvent the decisions
rejecting the road, and is illegal under both state and federal law.
This first five-mile segment would be a
literal “road to nowhere,” ending at a dirt road and threatening to
create traffic nightmares for thousands of
For these reasons, I urge the Regional
Board to deny waste discharge requirements for the so-called Tesoro Extension
project. I also urge the Board to extend the public comment period to March 13th
to allow my comments to be included in the official record of proceedings.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]