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Eco-Bulletin ~ February 5, 2007

1. Downtown SLO Planning/Building-Height Discussion at Public Hearing

2. Local Pesticide Issue Featured on "Law and Order"

3. Morro Bay/Cayucos Wastewater Treatment Facility Meeting

Tuesday, Feb. 6

Downtown SLO Planning/Building-Height Discussion at Public Hearing

Voice your opinion about the shape of downtown at the next San Luis Obispo City Council meeting at 7pm on Tuesday, February 6 in the Council Chamber at 990 Palm Street. Participate in the public hearing that will address proposed general plan amendments regarding downtown building height. This is your chance to weigh in on the future of downtown and its surroundings. Here are a few of the issues:

- In the intermediate and long term, several billions of dollars will be invested in downtown, uptown and westtown realty. Strategic planning and consensus building requires a process as used for Measure Y.

- Our "Downtown Concept Plan" of 1994 should be revised as some of its authors acknowledged in a seminar at Cal Poly in Spring 2005.

- We urgently need a transportation concept for downtown, uptown and westtown that is well thought out -- before we hand out piecemeal building permits to developers.

- Bigger height limits tend to lead to more parking garages on private ground. This raises concerns in a pedestrian oriented downtown. Height limits should only be raised when real public participation has led to a downtown transportation concept valid for at least 25 years. This concept cannot be in contradiction with the Circulation and Land Use Element of the City.

Community participation is vital. Let the City Council know not to leave the public out of the discussion.

Click here for information on the City of San Luis Obispo’s Conservation and Open Space Element (COSE).

Click here to read “Visions for Downtown San Luis Obispo,” a summary of useable concepts of sustainable mobility for downtown San Luis Obispo, on a planning, design and operations level for the year 2050.

Tuesday, Feb. 6

Local Pesticide Issue Featured on “Law & Order”

On Tuesday, February 6, NBC will air "Loophole," an episode on the crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit an exceptional episode that focuses on the controversial EPA rule allowing intentional dosing of people with pesticides.

Martha Dina Arguello of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, and chair of the steering committee of Californians for Pesticide Reform, and Margaret Reeves (and other staff scientists from Pesticide Action Network - North America) consulted with Law and Order: SVU executive producer Neal Baer and writer Jonathan Greene. This episode is a great combination of education and entertainment.

“Loophole,” a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is a fictional chemical company tests several children and their families with a dangerous organophosphate pesticide (a class of acutely toxic chemicals). In real life, EPA's human testing rule contains loopholes that allow chemical corporations to test pesticides on women and children. A 2005 Congressional report written by Senator Barbara Boxer's and Congress member Henry Waxman's staff revealed human testing studies where pesticide corporations told their subjects they were ingesting vitamins or drugs. No study of the well-documented, long-term effects of pesticide exposures was conducted in follow-up of those test subjects.

The Law and Order: SVU episode highlights many regulatory problems concerning pesticides, and the difficulty of linking exposure with specific health outcomes. The show further reveals the many environmental health threats faced by low-income children in their own homes. Law and Order: SVU is doing a great public service by raising awareness about how low income communities are more vulnerable to environmental injustice.

Thursday, Feb. 8

Morro Bay/Cayucos Wastewater Treatment Facility Meeting

Speak out at the next Joint Powers Agreement (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 CenterOr 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,

[Your name and address]