Eco-Bulletin ~ February 1, 2007

Dr. Gordon F. Hartman will present two lectures based on his recent article in the Jan/Feb issue of HopeDance magazine: "Converging Ecological Crises: Are We Up to the Challenges?" The first lecture will be at 11 a.m., Feb. 2 in the biology museum in Cal Poly’s Fisher Hall. The second will be at 7 p.m., Feb. 3 at the San Luis Obispo public library. A donation of $5 is requested for the Feb. 3 lecture sponsored by Passion for Peace and HopeDance. Hartman is a fisheries biologist who is considered an authority on interactions between fish and forests.

Small Wilderness Area Preservation (S.W.A.P.) invites volunteers to help with erosion and weed control in the Elfin Forest. The next workday will be Saturday, Feb. 3, from 9:00am to noon. The El Moro Elfin Forest in Los Osos is adjacent to the Morro Bay Estuary. Small Wilderness Area Preservation raised funds for its purchase in 1994, and turned the land over to San Luis Obispo County Parks. SWAP signed a 10-year Adopt-A-Park agreement with the County, which includes helping to restore and maintain the Elfin Forest.

Supervisor Katcho Achadjian will hold a town hall meeting at the Oceano Elks Lodge (410 Air Park Dr.) at 6pm on Monday, Feb. 5, focusing on the county-owned property within the Oceano Dunes State Park Vehicle Recreation Area and the future of the La Grande Beach property. The state is proposing to buy the land because its 25- year lease agreement with the county expires in June 2008. The meeting is an opportunity to give input to Supervisor Achadjian and State Parks representatives.

The county's potential sale of close to 600 acres on the Oceano Dunes to the state will be slowed and could be derailed by a Planning Commission decision.

Speak out at the next JPA meeting on the future of the Morro Bay/Cayucos Sewage Plant at 6pm on Thursday, February 8, in the Multi-Purpose Room at the Morro Bay Community Center (1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay, CA, 93442). Please urge local officials to upgrade the outdated sewage plant as fast as possible to better protect the Central Coast’s ecosystem.

For more than two decades the Morro Bay/Cayucos sewage plant has dumped sewage containing high levels of bacteria and other pollutants into the ocean, and the bay's surrounding waters have become a hotspot for sea otter deaths. Otters are especially important because they are "sentinels" that indicate the overall health of the marine ecosystem. Studies have traced the otters' decline to infections from land-based contaminants found in sewage wastewater and urban runoff. These pathogens, parasites, fecal bacteria and other contaminants also threaten other marine life, pose a danger to public health, degrade coastal habitats, cause beach closures and damage the local economy.

The sewage treatment plant submitted an application for yet another waiver from basic federal standards in July 2003. Although the necessary construction time is less than two and a half years, the plant proposes to complete the project and improve water quality by March 31, 2014. However, the plant's own documents show that a faster, more efficient upgrade is not only possible, but would be less expensive as well. In fact, the average upgrade for larger plants along the Central Coast is just five years—over three years less than the time Morro Bay and Cayucos are requesting.

Send a message, urging the officials of Morro Bay and Cayucos to upgrade their outdated sewage plant to tertiary treatment in less than 5 years. You can send an official comment to Morro Bay and Cayucos directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/otters. Or use the contact information and sample letter below to send your own message.

Contact Information:

Morro Bay City Council, Attn: Janice Peters, Mayor (flamingos@charter.net) or Cayucos Sanitary District Governing Body, Attn: Bonnie Connelly (bonniecsd@charter.net)

Sample Letter:

Subject: Reject the proposed Morro Bay/Cayucos Settlement Agreement Dear Members,

I urge you to shorten the 2014 upgrade timeline now proposed by the Morro Bay/Cayucos sewage treatment plant. The Clean Water Act and state law require that this sewage plant shorten the proposed upgrade timeline so that it is as rapid as possible. Moreover, it is critical that specific measures be included in the sewage plant's permit assuring that it will protect the California sea otter.

There is no reason that the Morro Bay community cannot meet the standard established by many similar small cities around California that have accomplished a similar upgrade in a fraction of the time. Adopting a shorter timeframe for the plant upgrade and requiring measures to protect the sea otter and other marine life are the only ways to preserve local waters, including Morro Bay's extraordinary estuary, for future generations. I am counting on you to take the necessary steps to protect these valuable coastal resources.

Sincerely,

“Who Killed the Electric Car?” is a 2006 documentary film that explores the birth, limited commercialization, and subsequent death of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s. ECOSLO and HopeDance will host a screening at 7pm on Friday, February 9 at the SLO Library. Suggested donation is $5. This is a film with an important message that not only calls to task the officials who squelched the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, but the other accomplices: our government, the car companies, Big Oil, even eco-darling hydrogen, as well as consumers. This documentary investigates the death and resurrection of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in our country's future; issues which affect everyone from progressive liberals to the neo-conservative right.

The California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network is offering docent-training sessions on Saturdays in February and March in the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden.

- Children’s Docent Training (for school and other children’s group tours) will be held from 9am to noon on February 3, 10, 17, and 24. Contact Teresa Lees, Children’s Education Coordinator by emailing education@slobg.org or calling (805) 927-5922.

- Adult Docent Training (for adult, family, and community group tours) will occur from 9am to 11am on March 17, 24, 31, and April 7 at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. Contact Ron Kindig by emailing ronkindig@charter.net or calling (805) 481-4451.

The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is located on Highway 1 in El Chorro Regional Park, between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay.