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In the next few weeks, our region is due for its first major storm of the season. Bay Area residents will be faced with flooding in our neighborhoods and along our commutes. Many of us will see a lot of trash being quite literally flushed from our city streets into local creeks and the Bay, along with a long list of dangerous chemicals and toxic pollutants. Some of that rain could have been captured and stored for local use during the dry season, but it will flow away instead.

One of the reasons that flooding is prevalent in urban areas is because we have paved over most of our land. In natural areas, stormwater is absorbed into the dirt and either percolates into underground aquifers or slowly flows to the nearest creek. Our cities have so little remaining unpaved spaces that stormwater can only pool on the asphalt or flow into the storm drain system, carrying pollution to our creeks and the Bay. Most of our cities’ storm drain systems were built over 50 years ago. Severe underinvestment in these systems have left them inadequate, full of holes, and crumbling. They are becoming a liability.

If we want to protect our cities from flooding, reduce Bay pollution, and improve our resilience to climate change, we need to change the way we manage stormwater. The answer is relatively simple: more green, less grey. More dirt and plants, less asphalt and pipes. What I’m referring to is a broad set of strategies known as green stormwater infrastructure. Green infrastructure is a nature-based approach to managing stormwater flows. By mimicking nature in our built environment and allowing stormwater to filter back into the ground, we not only reduce flooding and pollution, but also gain additional benefits of more green space in urban areas: cooler neighborhoods, a better environment for walking and biking, even improved public health. In some parts of the Bay Area, green infrastructure can send fresh water back down into our groundwater supply, storing it for future use. The many benefits of green infrastructure are especially critical as our communities grapple with climate change, and work to reduce our regional contribution to the problem.

There are examples of green infrastructure in our region demonstrating what should be done everywhere: the Lakeside Green Streets project along Lake Merritt in Oakland; El Cerrito’s rain gardens along San Pablo Avenue; the Chynoweth Avenue Green Streets project in San Jose; and many others.

So why aren’t we doing this everywhere? One major reason is funding. Our cities need help paying for these beautiful and functional spaces. State and federal agencies must make more funding available for green infrastructure, especially for projects along city streets and other public spaces. Our cities need to raise more money for these projects, and that’s usually done through stormwater fees. The City of Alameda is proposing a stormwater fee increase, and we’re advocating for a stormwater fee to be included in a potential parks measure in Oakland.

Finally, we need political leadership to build more green infrastructure in our cities. Some of our elected representatives at the local and state level already share in the vision of greener, climate-resilient communities. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, along with the city council, recently directed city staff to develop a green infrastructure plan with the goal of achieving multiple community and environmental benefits. But in order to avoid more flooding and pollution, green infrastructure planning must happen collaboratively in our cities in every corner of the region, and leadership is needed to drive these multi-stakeholder efforts.

Our vision for Bay Smart Communities that broadly implement green infrastructure is possible to achieve, but only with public support and political leadership. Stay tuned for opportunities advocate for green infrastructure in your community.

By: Rachel Ishizaki

The Global Climate Strike that took place from September 20 to September 27 was the largest mobilization of climate activists ever seen and was inspired by teenage climate activist, Greta Thunberg. The week of strikes were organized to coincide with the United Nations Climate Action Summit where world leaders met to discuss how they will meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Over 7 million people rose up in defense of the environment to demand that countries enact much more ambitious climate policies.

Carrying a sign that had a picture of the earth and said “I’m with her”, Save The Bay’s political director Cheryl Brown and I marched through San Francisco’s financial district on Friday, September 20. We arrived at Embarcadero BART and were immediately met with a wave of young activists, powerfully chanting and marching. I immediately got goose bumps; what we were witnessing was a powerful effort of thousands of youth who were unified in their concern for the planet. The crowd’s disappointment in our political leaders’ failure to address climate change was visceral.

The San Francisco march was once of 6,135 across the planet. 185 countries and over 7.6 million people participated in the week of climate strikes. Youth vs. Apocalypse (YVA) led the march with seven banners, each carrying a demand aimed at world leaders. The slogans that really stood out to me were “we demand justice and asylum for people displaced by climate change” and “we demand that people, not corporations, influence politics”.  Here’s a link to full descriptions of their seven demands.

At the end of the march, we gathered at Sue Bierman Park and Embarcadero Plaza where the waters of the Vaillancourt Fountain had been turned green, the color that embodies the environmental movement. Organizations set up interactive booths, young protestors enjoyed lunch after a morning of marching and members of YVA got up on stage to speak about the state of the environment. There were also guest speakers and a performance by Destiny Arts, an Oakland-based organization that is creating social change through the arts. All spoke to the importance of acting now to create climate policies that keep our future generations in mind. “This is only the beginning”, spoke a YVA member from the stage, a phrase I’ve heard echoed from across the globe during last week’s climate strikes.

What we do here at Save the Bay falls right in line with the climate strike’s fight for a just and sustainable future in which all people, regardless of income, ethnicity, or gender, have access to clean water, housing, and a healthy planet. And this is also only the beginning.

At Save The Bay, we launched Bay Smart Communities a few years ago to go beyond restoring the Bay landscape, and start work to address the biggest challenges facing our Bay community. Through Bay Smart Communities we support sustainable and equitable development practices within cities by advocating for green infrastructure, affordable housing, and a robust public transit system.

Save The Bay’s restoration team, along with their community and education based efforts, have restored wetlands across the Bay back to being functional tidal marshes. Save The Bay, along with other environmental and social organizations, is greatly needed during this time of rapid urban growth and rising sea levels.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 24, 2019

Redwood City, CA—Save The Bay, San Francisco Baykeeper, Committee for Green Foothills, and Citizens’ Committee to Complete the Refuge joined together today to protect San Francisco Bay by filing a critical lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency. The lawsuit seeks to overturn EPA’s recent arbitrary decision that the Redwood City Salt Ponds along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay are not protected by the Clean Water Act.

The suit alleges EPA violated the law by determining the Salt Ponds are not “waters of the United States” and removing them from legal protection.

The Salt Ponds, like other wetlands around the Bay, deserve protection and are an integral part of the Bay Area’s ecosystem.

The environmental organizations are asking the United States District Court in San Francisco to “reject EPA’s complete abdication of its duty to regulate the Salt Ponds under the Clean Water Act.” The lawsuit highlights the importance of the Salt Ponds in providing habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife, as well as the educational and recreational opportunities they provide for the people in the community. The Salt Ponds are also critical to protecting the Bay’s water quality and mitigating the impacts of sea level rise.

“The Salt Ponds and other San Francisco Bay wetlands and water deserve continued federal legal protection against pollution and development,” said Save The Bay Executive Director David Lewis. “We won’t let the Trump Administration invite developers to pave the Bay.”

The Salt Ponds have been owned and operated by Cargill, Inc. and its affiliates since 1978. They constitute one of the last remaining undeveloped areas along the San Francisco Bay’s shoreline. For over a decade, Cargill and its developer partner DMB Associates have sought to build on the Salt Ponds. In 2012, the companies withdrew a proposal to build over 12,000 homes and thousands of square feet of commercial buildings on the ponds due to intense opposition from the local community.

“We’re not going to stand by while Cargill uses the Trump administration’s eagerness to gut our environmental laws for its own economic advantage,” said Megan Fluke, Executive Director of Committee for Green Foothills. “The salt ponds are part of the Bay. Development here would not only destroy restorable natural resources, it would put homes and businesses in the path of sea level rise, on an earthquake liquefaction site, and next to heavy industry.”

“EPA’s decision to classify the salt ponds as ‘land’ instead of water is absurd and illegal,” said Sejal Choksi-Chugh, Executive Director of San Francisco Baykeeper. “It’s a thinly veiled scheme by the Trump Administration to allow the Cargill Corporation to destroy the Bay for profit, without worrying about Clean Water Act safeguards.”

EPA “determined the vast majority of the surface waters located at the Site are not subject to the Clean Water Act’s protections, effectively authorizing their pollution or destruction,” according to the lawsuit.

“Through the efforts of Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge and others, Congress has authorized the potential expansion of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge to include the Salt Ponds because they have significant conservation and wildlife values,” stated Gail Raabe, Co-Chair of CCCR. “We find it indefensible that the Trump Administration has removed federal Clean Water Act protection over those same ponds, flying in the face of decades of critically important regulatory protection.”

The lawsuit alleges that the Trump Administration’s EPA, previously headed by Scott Pruitt, and now Andrew Wheeler, has systematically worked to decrease protection of the nation’s water under the Clean Water Act. The Plaintiffs are represented by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, headquartered in Burlingame, and Earthrise Law Center, based at the Lewis and Clark Law School.
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that EPA’s negative jurisdictional determination was arbitrary and capricious, contrary to the Clean Water Act, and lacked substantial evidence to support the findings, under the Administrative Procedure Act.

According to Joe Cotchett, lead attorney at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy: “This is one more Trump attack on our environment, as EPA puts the profits of big businesses like Cargill ahead of the good of the country.”

According to the litigation, the EPA wholly ignored its own legal and environmental experts in reaching an unlawful determination. “EPA’s own exhaustive study of these ponds in 2016 appears to have been completely ignored by political decision makers in Washington, DC. They provided extensive scientific and legal analysis demonstrating the Salt Ponds are waters of the United States,” according to Attorney Nazy Fahimi of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy.

“EPA’s decision sets a dangerous legal precedent for waters across the United States,” said Allison LaPlante, an attorney at Earthrise Law Center. “If the San Francisco Bay salt ponds are not waters, then waterbodies across the country are at risk of losing vital protections under the Clean Water Act.”

“The Salt Ponds are a vital part of the health of the entire Bay Area ecosystem,” said Eric Buescher, an attorney at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy. “This is just one fight against the abdication of environmental protection occurring on a daily basis throughout the United States. It is a fight that our clients are waging every day and that requires the support and involvement of the entire community to win.”

Former Congressman and founder of Earth Day, Pete McCloskey, an attorney at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, stated “this fight is vital to protecting the San Francisco Bay from money grabs by wealthy developers. Protecting these lands are vital to preventing the natural resources of the Bay from being destroyed.”

This Tuesday, after a dramatic multi-week negotiation, Oakland City Council passed the “Oakland Together Budget”. Supporters of Save The Bay, along with many others, called Council Members, emailed the Council and City staff, and attended meetings to ask the City for funding to address Oakland’s greatest needs. The resulting budget will steer the course of Oakland’s work for the next two years, determining how far the City goes to address pollution, local flooding, sea level rise, and many other critical issues.

Wins for the Bay
A few highlights in the new budget will benefit the community by helping to keep pollution off of city streets, and out of creeks, Lake Merritt, and the Bay:

1. Continued funding for Oakland’s illegal dumping crews and the addition of one more team: Oakland’s illegal dumping crew program has been incredibly successful, with crews responding to tens of thousands of requests every year. These crews remove large and small trash items like abandoned furniture and mattresses from Oakland’s sidewalks and streets. This helps to keep the sidewalks safe for children to walk to school, reduces community blight, and keeps trash and contaminants from flooding and leaching into creeks, streams, and the Bay during rainstorms. The addition of one more team will help keep our communities clean, and help properly dispose of illegally dumped waste before it enters our waterways.
2. $1,000,000 for Downtown Streets Team and other community clean up work: Downtown Streets Team hires unsheltered residents to remove litter from illegal dumping hot spots around the City, while providing employment training and building community among those struggling with displacement. Programs like this help to address pollution in our waterways while providing support for another critical issue facing Oakland residents: displacement and homelessness. After proving to be so successful over the past budget cycle, we are disappointed that these programs won’t see funding until year two in this budget, and we hope other resources can be achieved to continue this work in the interim.

Room for Improvement
While there are a number of exciting achievements, the approved budget does not go far enough to protect our communities and waterways from trash, runoff, and other harmful pollution. There are two key items which need additional funding:

1. More funding is needed for trash capture devices: We are glad to see the inclusion of some funds in the budget to install trash capture devices, which collect trash in the storm drain system and keep it from flowing to the Bay. However, the $250,000 included in the budget will only pay for a fraction of the devices the city needs. The City must spend more than eight times this amount to achieve the pollution controls required by the Clean Water Act, and ongoing maintenance for these devices. More funding for these devices is critical to keep trash out of our creeks, Lake Merritt, and the Bay.
2. An update of the Storm Drainage Master Plan – which remains unfunded – is still a critical step in addressing Oakland’s storm drain needs: Oakland must spend $2 million on an evaluation of the City’s 400 miles of storm drains and pipes that carry polluted water to the Bay. The City’s storm drain system is in a concerning state of disrepair, but no one knows just how bad it is because the last assessment was 13 years ago. Re-evaluating this critical infrastructure was ranked priority # 2 among all of the City’s proposed capital projects, so it is frustrating that the Council chose not to fund this project. Oakland must update their Storm Drainage Master Plan to ensure Oakland’s infrastructure is resilient in the face of climate change, sea level rise, and flooding from large storms.

In addition to these funding needs, we are disappointed to see that a remaining balance of over $400,000 in Oakland’s revenue from their Excess Litter Fee Fund remains unspent in the budget. These funds are collected specifically to prevent trash and litter from entering the City’s storm drain system and polluting our waterways, and they should be allocated as soon as possible to address this pressing need.

What’s Next?
While the budget is set, there are many avenues for Oakland to achieve its work to stop pollution from entering local waterways. Save The Bay will keep pushing the City to find opportunities to increase the number of trash capture devices installed, and to update its Storm Drainage Master Plan.

Save The Bay will also continue to encourage the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to collaborate with Oakland City Council to address trash and runoff on highways that spills over into Oakland communities and waterways. Caltrans, like Oakland, is required to clean up trash from roadways before it enters the storm drain system and eventually the Bay. Caltrans is under a strict enforcement order to carry out this work in the next year (read more here!), and partnering with Oakland will help both Caltrans and Oakland achieve their pollution prevention goals more effectively, more quickly, and at a lower cost than working on this issue alone.

By Sidra Goldberg Pierson

Our weather has been hot and dry, but we know the rains will return this winter, bringing with them flooded streets and storm drains, carrying water, trash, and pollution into Lake Merritt, our creeks, and the San Francisco Bay. Oakland’s storm drains are a critical system in preventing this pollution, as they carry stormwater directly into the Bay. We know Oakland’s storm drain system is deteriorating, but no one knows just how bad it is.

The City of Oakland has a chance to fund critical storm drain system improvements now, through its two-year budgeting process. The City budget is being negotiated by the City Council and must be completed by the end of this month. Unfortunately, the Mayor’s initial budget didn’t include any funding for Trash Capture Devices which collect trash in the storm drain system and keep it from entering waterways. Council President Rebecca Kaplan’s budget included $1.5 million for Trash Capture Devices but the latest proposal already rolled this back to just $250,000. The City needs to show a lot more commitment to keeping trash out of our Bay.

Here’s What You Need to Know
Save The Bay is asking the City Council to reconsider their original proposal and include $1.5 million for Trash Capture Devices in the City budget. In addition, Oakland needs to update its Storm Drainage Master Plan.

We are concerned because we know that $250,000 is nowhere near enough for Oakland to achieve its trash capture goals and meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act. The city needs multiple large devices, as well as thousands of small devices to keep our waterways free of trash. The proposed $250,00 would only cover 100-200 small devices, or a small fraction of the cost of a large device. If the City budgets $1.5 million for this work, it will go much further in achieving the pollution controls the City needs, and ongoing maintenance for these devices. This will keep trash out of our creeks, Lake Merritt, and the Bay.

In addition to immediate installation of Trash Capture Devices, Oakland must fund critical planning to address its storm drain needs now and into the future. We are asking the Council to include additional funding for an evaluation of Oakland’s 400 miles of storm drains and pipes that carry polluted water to the Bay. We know this system is deteriorating, but no one knows just how bad it is. Updating the City’s Storm Drainage Master Plan will ensure Oakland’s infrastructure is resilient in the face of climate change, sea level rise, and flooding from large storms. You can read more about it in our last blog on this campaign.

Your Help is Needed!
You have the opportunity to influence Oakland’s budget before it is finalized at the end of this month. Please take a few minutes to call or email Mayor Schaaf, Council President Kaplan and your representative on the City Council (contact information listed below). We have provided a template that you can either copy and paste into an email or use as a script for a phone call. If you are unsure who represents you, look up your Council District here.

Thank you for your efforts to protect The Bay!

All Districts	Mayor Schaaf	officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com	510-238-3141
All Districts	Council President Kaplan	atlarge@oaklandnet.com	510-238-7008
District 1	Council Member Kalb	dkalb@oaklandca.gov	510-238-7001
District 2	Council Member Bas	district2@oaklandca.gov	510-238-7002
District 3	Council Member McElhaney	AMarqusee@oaklandnet.com	510-238-7003
District 4	Council Member Thao	District4@Oaklandca.gov	510-238-7004
District 5	Council Member Gallo	Ngallo@oaklandca.gov	510-238-7005
District 6	Council Member Taylor	District6@oaklandca.gov	510-238-7006
District 7	Council Member Reid	lreid@oaklandnet.com	510-238-7007

Phone/ Email Script:

Hello, My name is ________, and I am an Oakland resident. I am calling/emailing to support the inclusion of $1.5 million for Full Trash Capture Devices in the budget – these devices will collect trash in the storm drain system and keep it from entering waterways.

But the City still needs to allocate additional funds to remain in compliance with the Clean Water Act and keep trash out of our Bay. I also support funding for an update the Storm Drainage Master Plan. These additions will protect our community from flooding during large storm events, prepare the city to meet regulatory requirements, and allow Oakland to partner with Caltrans to achieve critical funds to clean up trash in our stormwater. These key recommendations are in the Resilient Oakland Playbook and will reduce community flooding and pollution that harms public health, creeks, Lake Merritt, and the San Francisco Bay.

Thank you.

By Sidra Goldberg Pierson

Oakland’s City Council is meeting on Monday, June 10 to discuss adoption and revision of the Proposed City Budget. The current proposal is missing a key piece of funding to protect Oakland residents and the Bay: an evaluation of Oakland’s 400 miles of storm drains and pipes that carry polluted water to the Bay. We know this system is deteriorating, but no one knows just how bad it is.

This evaluation, the Storm Drainage Master Plan (SDMP), is a necessary investment in Oakland’s long-term resilience, sustainability, and Bay stewardship.

Here’s What You Need to Know and How You Can Take Action

Many parts of Oakland already experience seasonal flooding due to decades of underinvestment in the City’s stormwater infrastructure, and climate change only exacerbates these threats to Oakland residents. We see the consequences of ignored infrastructure in Oakland’s pot-holed and dangerous roads. Patchwork attempts to reduce damage to the storm drain system without a comprehensive plan will set the city up for increased community flooding, unmitigated pollution, pricey emergency repairs, and potential regulatory fines.

Funding for an update to the SDMP will provide a critical tool for the city to begin to address all these needs. A SDMP update will:

• Comply with the City’s own Resilient Oakland Playbook, which recommends this update:  The Resilient Oakland Playbook, a tool for fostering climate and economic resilience in Oakland, identifies updating the SDMP as a key action step. It warns that the City’s storm drainage system is in critical need of maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. A key first step to identifying critical projects that will reduce potentially costly and dangerous flooding is to update to the SDMP.
• Provide needed knowledge and data to address stormwater pollution systematically: This will help to ensure that Oakland infrastructure is resilient the face of climate change, sea level rise, and flooding from large storms while reducing trash and pollution flowing into the Bay.
• Help the City to achieve trash clean-up goals: Oakland is required to achieve “100% trash capture from stormwater” by 2022 based on the Clean Water Act. If the City fails to do so, pollution will continue to run into the Bay, and Oakland could face fines that would further jeopardize efforts to achieve a clean and healthy Bay.
• Allow Oakland to access state funding for needed trash clean-up: In pursuing work to clean up trash in stormwater, Oakland has an opportunity to partner with the California Department of Transportation to achieve the requirements of the Clean Water Act. A cooperative trash clean-up plan could give the City access to much-needed state funding, making trash clean-up faster and cheaper.

You Can Make a Positive Impact for Oakland

You have the opportunity to influence Oakland’s two-year budget before it is finalized at the end of this month. Please take a few minutes to call or email members of the budget committee, whose contact information is listed below. We have provided a template that you can either copy and paste into an email or use as a script for a phone call.

Council President Kaplan	atlarge@oaklandnet.com	510-238-7008
Council Member Fortunato Bas	district2@oaklandca.gov	510-238-7002
Council Member McElhaney	AMarqusee@oaklandnet.com	510-238-7003
Council Member Taylor	District6@oaklandca.gov	510-238-7006 (press 5)
Council Member Thao	District4@Oaklandca.gov	510-238-7004

Phone/ Email Script:

Hello, My name is ________, and I am an Oakland resident. I am calling (/emailing) to request that funding to update the Storm Drain Master Plan be included in the Oakland City Budget. Completion of a Storm Drain Master Plan will protect our community from flooding during large storm events, prepare the city to meet regulatory requirements, and allow Oakland to partner with Caltrans to achieve critical funds to clean up trash in our stormwater. Also, an update to the Storm Drain Master Plan is a key recommendation in our own Resilient Oakland Playbook, as it will reduce community flooding and pollution that harms public health, creeks, Lake Merritt, and the San Francisco Bay.

 

Living in the Bay Area right now means you are acutely aware of the housing crisis our region is facing.

The local news headlines are a constant reminder of the staggering rates of displacement—particularly of low-income communities and communities of color—to the outer boundaries of the Bay Area and beyond. Crushing commutes are a constant topic of conversation. Unsheltered individuals are struggling more than ever to access services and find permanent housing.

But did you know that the housing crisis is also a threat to the Bay?

The lack of infrastructure available to homeless encampments is resulting in staggering amounts of trash and other waste making its way into local creeks and the Bay. Long commute times and more people driving alone increases roadway pollution, such as oil and trash. These and other pollutants flow into the Bay and threaten wildlife.

We must aggressively address the housing crisis to protect the Bay and improve quality of life in the Bay Area. Through our work to advocate for Bay Smart Communities Save The Bay is engaging with local and regional organizations to Protect tenants from displacement; Produce more housing, with a focus on permanently affordable homes; and Preserve the existing stock of affordable housing.

While this work happens year-round, May is Affordable Housing Month–which is an opportunity for the entire region and organizations of all kinds to support and create affordable homes for all.

Here are five ways to get involved:

Engage – Get involved and join Save The Bay leaders as we attend events sponsored by The Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County; Community Council of Housing Organizations; East Bay Housing Organizations; Silicon Valley @ Home

Learn – Find out more about our Bay Smart Communities initiative to achieve sustainable and equitable communities.

Read – Find out how housing and climate change are connected by reading California Senator Scott Wiener’s recent article in the New York Times highlighting the links between these important issues.

Follow – Join the conversation on twitter as we turn over our feed to organizations around the Bay championing the effort for affordable homes. Use the hashtags #AffordableHousingMonth and #AffordableHomesForAll #savesfbay @savesfbay

Attend – Find a regional event near you and take action in your community. Here are a few activities to consider.

San Mateo County 

• May 3: Learn about state legislation
• May 10: Sign up to share food, drinks, and talk strategy with local housing advocates

San Francisco

• May 3: Kick off Affordable Housing Month with an evening of food, history and housing awards
• May 8: Learn about how state housing policy could reshape our cities.Full schedule of events

Santa Clara County

• May 3: Engage in a lively discussion of Bay Area affordable housing initiatives at a policy luncheon
• May 16: Share ideas and build innovative partnerships at a housing huddle

Alameda & Contra Costa

• May 14: Learn the ins and outs of local and national housing initiatives
• May 15: Discuss strategies to help unsheltered community members achieve their housing goals

 

 

Save The Bay’s Education Team has begun to implement a new activity that’s only possible with a fusion of Bay-Saving values. Instead of throwing them out, Save The Bay staff collected their egg cartons for a great application of reuse! This activity, adapted from Life Lab, is called 6 of 1, ½ Dozen of the Other. This provides a new way for students to explore marsh ecosystems by interacting with each other and their environment. 

Using their egg cartons (or “secret science containers”), students collect items using opposite descriptive words written on the bottom. Soft and hard, wet and dry, and living or nonliving are some pairs that they use. Once students collect their items, they switch with another pair and guess each other’s words! Mostly done with students grades 1-6, older students can participate and choose their own words.

This hands-on and engaging activity satisfies California State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Thanks to our Education team, kids are getting out to experience our beautiful Bay, learning necessary science skills, and having fun while doing it!

The East Bay Regional Park District provides Bay Area residents with access to public parks and trails along the San Francisco Bay Shoreline, an oasis destination that goes beyond the bustling urban development.

Measure FF funds protection and enhancement of urban parks by extending the current annual parcel tax on property owners in parts of western Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. It extends the tax of $12/year per single-family parcel and $8.28/year for multi-family units, raising approximately $3.3 million annually for the parks. Read More

Cargill and its Arizona-based luxury housing developer DMB Associates withdrew their controversial bay fill plan in Redwood City back in May. They announced they would return with a revised development after working to avoid key federal environmental rules like the Clean Water Act from applying in any way to salt ponds in San Francisco Bay.

If you ever wondered what the argument to support such an outrageous claim might look like, you’re in luck. Recently, the US Army Corps posted Cargill’s submittal on line. Click on that link with caution: at 37 megabytes and 369 pages, there is a lot more here to chew on than was found in the short, upbeat press release Cargill and DMB circulated for public consumption in May.

In their May press release, Cargill/DMB stated that they wanted to “clarify certain aspects of the federal regulatory approval process.” No kidding. This document features Cargill’s lawyers’ blunt assertion that the salt ponds are unregulated and not part of the Bay.

Central to the argument is the assertion that all the Bay water Cargill uses to evaporate and make salt – it’s not water at all. This water is instead called an “intermediate industrial product,” it’s “brine,” or sometimes it’s just “liquid.” Whenever Cargill refers to the ponds, it avoids the word “water.” Why? Because water sounds like something that should probably be regulated under the Clean Water Act.

These key environmental laws are critical tools in limiting the pollution of our waterways and preventing unnecessary fill that destroys our wetlands, so important to the Bay. Those protections could jeopardize Cargill’s ability to fill and destroy these baylands. And so the new strategy is to get federal agencies to declare the ponds “exempt,” because Cargill is convinced it is above the law.

This endless legal obstructionism is taking place behind closed doors and out of public view, where Cargill hopes its lobbyists and legal threats may have the most impact. And so I am sharing this obscure legal document with you today: because the Bay Area won’t stand for America’s largest private corporation escaping rules that apply to everyone else.

Save The Bay is going to stay on the case, and we appreciate your help in spreading the word.

UPDATE (9/27/2012):

Cargill’s developer DMB confirmed the substance of this blog post on Wednesday. Contacted by a reporter, a DMB spokesman first claimed that Save The Bay’s blog post was “completely wrong” – and in the next breath confirmed that Cargill’s position is that the Redwood City salt ponds “are not subject to the Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act.”

The spokesman also reiterated that Cargill and DMB remain “very committed” to pursuing the Bay fill proposal.

Authored by Stephen Knight, Former Political Director