Surfrider Foundation: MAKING WAVES

home


Water quality, sandbars and Sense of Place at Trestles/San Onofre will all be strongly negatively affected by the toll road	Southern California's Toll Road to Hell by Mark Babski and Rick Kentner MAKING WAVES, June/July 1999

For more info, see http://www.surfrider.org/stoptollroad)

     The most naturally intact coastal watershed in Southern California (south of Point Conception and north of the Mexican border) is the San Mateo Creek watershed that straddles the Orange County and San Diego County border. Unlike every other Southern California coastal watershed, the San Mateo Creek watershed has escaped not only all environmentally-damaging flood control measures like dams and concrete levees, but this watershed has also been spared from any significant residential, commercial or military development. As a result, the San Mateo Creek watershed is truly an amazing wildlife area with mountain lions, deer, bobcats, hawks, road runners, Southern Steelhead trout, PLUS 7 federally endangered or threatened species, making the watershed one of North America's most important biological "hotspots."
      In recognition of San Mateo Creek's incredible natural resources and value, the San Onofre Beach State Park was established almost 3 decades ago with the inland portion of the San Onofre park protecting the very sensitive last 3 miles of the lower San Mateo Creek. In addition to the inland San Mateo Creek area, the San Onofre Beach State Park also encompasses the world famous Trestles surf breaks and beaches (including Cotton's Point, Upper Trestles and Lower Trestles) that are formed around the mouth of the San Mateo Creek. The San Onofre Beach State Park is one of California's most popular State Parks with over 1.5 million visitors annually. Nowhere else in Southern California do beaches receive such an uninterrupted, natural supply of sand AND clean fresh water as those San Onofre beaches in the vicinity of the mouth of the San Mateo Creek. The excellent water quality and wave shape of the Trestles surf breaks are directly the result of the San Mateo Creek being pure and free-flowing.
      Unbelievably, Orange County's Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) has proposed that a toll road highway be built RIGHT THROUGH THE SAN ONOFRE BEACH STATE PARK and along the pristine Christianitos and San Mateo Creeks! Focused on their mission of finishing their network of Orange County toll road highways at the lowest cost possible, the TCA is willing to sacrifice Southern California's most valuable coastal natural assets to save about $250 million in land acquisition costs that would be incurred by building the highway through non-State Park land. Aware of the audacity of their toll road alignment through a State Park, the TCA has been very busy behind the scenes spending, literally, millions of dollars on public relations and political lobbying on the city, county, state and federal levels.
      The toll road is officially called the Foothill Transportation Corridor-South (or FTC-South) and represents the most southerly 16 mile portion of Highway 241 that is planned to extend from inland Mission Viejo to the southern edge of San Clemente. The TCA's officially preferred alignment for the toll road, called the CP alignment, is the alignment that would go through the San Mateo Creek watershed and San Onofre Beach State Park and would actually, in its entirety, go through undeveloped, open space. Many other toll road alignments that don't go through the San Mateo Creek watershed are possible and have been "considered" by the TCA, though the TCA has, surprise, chosen the cheapest and most environmentally damaging route for the highway. The total cost of the CP alignment for the toll road is just under $1 billion, with about $650 million representing the construction costs, according to the TCA's own figures.
     Disturbingly, a significant portion of the cost of the toll road, $70 million, will be met by collecting local "development fees" in south Orange, thereby guaranteeing suburban sprawl and development into the last bit of coastal open space left in south Orange County. The TCA makes the absurd claim that they can adequately mitigate the environmental impact of the construction and operation of a highway in a sensitive coastal wilderness area next to a free-flowing stream subject to large winter-time flood events. The TCA also claims that their models show that the toll road will reduce air pollution (that's a comical claim) and alleviate traffic on highway I-5. If one looks at the recent history of highway building in Southern California (instead of a make-believe, incomplete model), the evidence is overwhelming that the toll road will induce development, increase traffic both locally and on I-5, and worsen local air pollution. Like their traffic models, the TCA's environmental arguments and claims of mitigation are deeply flawed. Among the environmental impacts of the toll road that cannot be mitigated to a significant degree include:

POLLUTED TOXIC RUNOFF from the toll road which will flow into San Mateo Creek and directly into the Trestles surf breaks. The toll road will generate considerable polluted runoff with over 300 known toxins from vehicles collecting not only on the road itself, but also on the land directly adjacent to the highway.
The natural SEDIMENTATION FLOWS of the San Mateo Creek will be altered significantly during both the highway's construction and operation. The TCA claims that the highway won't touch the San Mateo Creek, but they'll try to avoid telling you that their calculations disregard big flood events that are precisely what is responsible for carrying most sediments and sand to the San Onofre beaches and offshore sandbars. The TCA won't let our winter flood events wash out their highway, so some sort of flood control measures will be imposed on San Mateo Creek, changing the flow of sand to our beaches and sandbars.
We'll lose our very special SENSE OF PLACE that the San Onofre Beach State Park gives us. In densely developed Southern California, San Onofre is a very special place and represents our only opportunity to experience a bona fide coastal wilderness area. The San Mateo Creek watershed is our coastal Yosemite and is unique for our area. Put a highway through the middle and that is lost forever.
HABITAT of 7 ENDANGERED/THREATENED SPECIES will be covered in concrete or graded by the highway construction. The TCA's main mitigation device - wildlife underpasses - really do very little to help impacted endangered species in the area. And unlike endangered plants, endangered animals can't be relocated effectively since the overwhelming majority of relocated endangered animals DIE.

The San Clemente Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has been very active in opposing the CP alignment for the FTC-South toll road. The San Clemente Chapter helped form and plays an important role in the growing "Stop the Toll Road" coalition that was founded in late 1998. The "Stop the Toll Road" coalition includes the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Audubon Society, and many other environmental groups that are united in their opposition to the construction of a highway through the San Mateo Creek watershed area. Though Surfrider and the coalition are being outspent by the TCA by approximately 100 to 1, the coalition nevertheless is beginning to have tangible success in fighting this project from being built in the San Mateo Creek watershed. Encouraging signs include:

California State Senator Tom Hayden recently introduced a bill, SB 1277, that would prohibit new highway construction in all California State Parks. SB 1277 has passed its first committee hurdle and is gaining momentum in the State Senate, despite an incredibly well-funded attack on the bill by the TCA.
Southern Steelhead trout, a "superstar" fish that invokes great passion in a lot of people, has been found on several occasions recently in the San Mateo Creek. Surfrider, the Sierra Club and other groups are now seeking to have the San Mateo Creek watershed area designated "critical habitat" for the Southern Steelhead trout, which would make it much more difficult for the highway to be built alongside the San Mateo Creek.
A Federal Court recently ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service must designate within 120 days "critical habitat" for the Tidewater Goby which is one of the endangered species historically found in the San Mateo Creek. It is expected that the San Mateo Creek area will get the "critical habitat" designation.
The "Stop the Toll Road" coalition has begun an aggressive public awareness and education campaign to raise both the public's and the politician's level of understanding concerning the value of the San Mateo Creek watershed and the folly of building a highway through the San Onofre Beach State Park. As with most environmental issues, if we can get enough of the public to realize what is really going on, the battle is two-thirds won.

      What can you do to help protect Southern California's most pristine coastal watershed? Join one of the environmental organizations in the "Stop the Toll Road" coalition. Make a donation to the Surfrider Foundation and specify that you want the money to be used only for the toll road battle (you can make a donation online at http://www.surfrider.org/stoptollroad/donation/index.htm). If you live in California, write your State Senator NOW and communicate your opinion on SB 1277 which will prohibit new highway construction in State Parks. For those of you who live in Orange County, California, you are the ones who can do the most. Write your City Council members, the TCA board members, Orange County Board of Supervisors, and your local newspapers. There are example letters, addresses, and more information on the "Stop the Toll Road" website, created and maintained for the "Stop the Toll Road" coalition by the Surfrider Foundation (see http://www.surfrider.org/stoptollroad/what.htm). Let your voice be heard and participate in the political process. We CAN stop the toll road from violating the San Mateo Creek watershed, but it won't be easy and we need your help.


*  *  *

Surfrider Foundation USA:
122 S. El Camino Real #67
San Clemente, CA 92672
tel. (949) 492-8170
fax (949) 492-8142

Email addresses:
Membership: mmate@surfrider.org
Chapter Issues: emazzarella@surfrider.org
Envir. Issues: ekliszewski@surfrider.org
Legal Issues: mkremer@surfrider.org
Catalog: jwright@surfrider.org
Website Staff: mbabski@surfrider.org
Other: info@surfrider.org

See our feedback page.
Surfrider Website INDEX