It is very critical that everyone in Southern California who is interested in breathing decent air at some point in the next century attends a meeting on Monday, April 9 in Oxnard.  The details on the meeting here:

California State Lands Commission Hearing:
Monday, April 9, 2007
Location: Oxnard Performing Arts Center
800 Hobson Way, Oxnard, CA 93030
Times: 10:00am and 5:00pm

The details on why it’s so important, and what you can do no matter where you live in California, on the flip.

The largest mining company in the world, BHP Billiton, wants to build a massive LNG (liquefied natural gas) storage and processing terminal 14 miles off the coast of Malibu, at the Los Angeles/Ventura County line.  This fossil fuel terminal is not necessary; the US has plenty of natural gas reserves, and this terminal would mainly import natural gas from abroad for processing.  What this terminal would do is:

• cause 20 “Class One” impacts to air and water quality, public safety, marine wildlife, views, recreation, noise, and agriculture;

• based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates, “the Cabrillo Port project will emit over 200 tons of smog-producing pollutants (NOx and ROC) each year,” which would make it the largest smog-producing polluter in Ventura County.

• put a giant terrorist target 14 miles off the coast of Los Angeles and Ventura counties;

• be a fixture off the Pacific coast for at least the next 40 years (actually, the license has no firm expiration date, so this could be forever or until California falls into the sea, whichever comes first).

There’s much more here.

Despite the EPA draft report on the environmental impact of this terminal, the agency actually reversed its initial position and granted BHP Billiton an exemption from Clean Air Act restrictions, enabling them to continue moving forward.  At this point, all that can stop this project… is you.

The April 9 meeting in Oxnard will be one of the last opportunities for public comment on the LNG Terminal project.  Staff members of the California Coastal Commission are recommending rejecting this project, and local lawmakers are fighting to keep BHP Billiton off the coast.  But the State Lands Commission will be vital to making the decision.  There are actually two statewide elected Democrats that sit on this baord: Lt. Governor John Garamendi and State Controller John Chiang.  Based on what I’ve heard from activists, NEITHER HAS COMMITTED to blocking this proposal.  They need to be heard from.

Lt. Governor John Garamendi
(916) 445-8994

California State Controller John Chiang
(916) 445-2636

In addition, if all else fails, the Governor can show his commitment to the environment by vetoing the proposal, and you can tell him why he should at the link.

We need to mass support to get this destructive environmental hazard away from our coastline.  I’ll be attending the April 9 meeting and will have a full report.

This weekend I attended a pre-convention meeting for Region 10 of the California Democratic Party, which stretches from Santa Monica all the way up to the Monterey/San Luis Obispo County line.  This is a big coastal region, parts of which have not been sufficiently Democratic over the years.  But there are some great people in the trenches doing the necessary work to change that.  Here are some disconnected thoughts:

• It is extremely important to spread the Democratic message into outlying counties, because we can’t expect to solely depend on LA and SF to carry us through.  In 1992, Democrats controlled 41 counties in California; by 2006, that number had dwindled to 22.

• One of the most vibrant areas of the state for Democrats is Ventura County.  Whether it’s because of demographic shifts (more people moving in from Santa Barbara) or a lot of hard work, the results are impressive.  While statewide, Democratic registration has faltered over the past 15 years, in Ventura County Democrats hold a scant 5,000 vote disadvantage currently, compared to 15,000 not but a few years ago. 

• One of the great pilot programs that Democrats in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties have rolled out is called Vote Blue.  This is a neighbor-to-neighbor program that uses targeted canvassing to spread the progressive message in communities.  They get new homeowner information and arrive at the new resident’s doorstep, saying “Hi, we’re your neighbors, here’s some voter registration information for this area, here’s some information on the Democratic agenda.”  I know we bloggers like to stay on the Internets and ensure never having to talk to anyone, but there’s no substitute for this kind of real-life neighbor-to-neighbor contact.  They also sweeten the pot by adding a 3-month free subscription to the local paper, which the papers are all too happy to give them.  This is the kind of thing Democrats all over the state should be doing on a weekly basis, not just around elections.  You can get more informaiton at the link.

• There is strong support at the grassroots for a 58-county strategy, and every single delegate reading this needs to add their endorsement to that issue and make sure the Resolutions Committee is flooded with people supporting it.

• The SD-19 race is not going to be a walkover for Republicans, even though it’s currently held by Tom McClintock.  I met Jim Dantona at the meeting, and hope to do a longer piece on his chances later.  He ran for County Supervisor in Simi Valley last time out, easily the most Republican city in the region, and garnered 48% of the vote in a district that is something like +30 Republican registration.  We may have parity in registration for this Senate district by the time this race comes around in 2008, and Dantona appears to be running.  Keep this one on the radar screen.

• Another great success story was relayed by Henry Vandemire, chair of the Computer and Internet Caucus and head of the Big Bear Lake Democratic Club.  Big Bear is also 2/1 Republican, and yet they managed to get 3 Democrats on the City Council for the first time in as long as anyone can remember.  And they did it entirely through civic action, visibility and hard work.

There are opportunities for the party to grow, and there would be even more if the Party leaders fully commit to a 58-county strategy and strengthen the efforts of these progressive leaders in red counties.  The Party must live up to its commitments of supporting Democrats everywhere.  That means providing the money they promise to candidates, like Ferial Masry in AD-37 and Jill Martinez in CA-24 (that’s very likely to be an open seat next time around).  These two are both running again, and can win if they get even a modicum of support from the state party.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  I invited many of the people at the meeting to start posting on Calitics, hopefully we’ll begin to see Ventura and Santa Barbara better represented here.

Being that the districts are so gerrymandered, there are several open seats that are, for all intents and purposes, being decided in the primary.  One of these Assembly seats is the 41st District.  It is currently held by Fran Pavely, who is being termed out.  The fight to replace her is being contested by four decently funded candidates and a fifth (O’Brien) who is trying to run on a shoestring.  They are:

*  Julia Brownley
*  Barry Groverman
*  Kelly Hayes-Raitt
*  Jonathan Levey
*  Shawn Casey O’Brien

The Ventura County Star has published a nice little recap of the district:

If this were a war, there would be four fronts, forming a horseshoe around the Santa Monica Mountains. The army that can take one, fight to a draw in another and keep its casualties to a minimum in the other two will win.

In fact, it’s a political campaign. But the same battle strategies apply in the 41st Assembly District’s Democratic primary. … One front is Santa Monica-Malibu, home to about 30 percent of likely voters. Another is Oxnard-Port Hueneme, home to 20 percent. Along the Highway 101 corridor just south of the county line is the Agoura Hills-Westlake Village-Calabasas front, with 12 percent. Nearly all the rest are farther down the road on the Woodland Hills-Encino-Tarzana front.

Four distinct communities, five separate candidates. A variety of battle plans. (Ventura C-S 5/24/06) 

Pavley has endorsed Bronwley, but first brother-in-law Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver has endorsed Calabassas mayor Groverman.  This one should come down to the wire.  For more on this race, I would suggest keeping an eye on Tim Herdt’s blog at the County Star.