Breaking MLPA News and call to action

[landwhale]

From Western Outdoor News. This is Pat McDonnell’s column.
http://www.wonews.com/Blog.aspx?id=517&AuthorID=59047&t=MLPA%20FUNDING%20ISSUE%20FINALLY%20STARTING%20TO %20DRAW%20SOME%20ATTENTION%20IN%20SACRAMENTO


Monday, March 30, 2009
MLPA FUNDING ISSUE FINALLY STARTING TO DRAW SOME ATTENTION IN SACRAMENTO

One has to liken the MLPA process to a baby elephant. When it was first brought into the house in 1999 it was manageable, an effort signed into law that would organize, improve and link our state’s patchwork of coastal reserves. It has, in the years since, evolved into a massive marine resource land grab with dubious intentions, high costs, conflicts of interest and no indications our state will be able to fund the science or the enforcement. The elephant has outgrown its welcome. We can’t house it, and we sure can’t afford it. The outcry from sportsmen is now being heard in Sacramento. The costs have escalated from $250,000 to $35 million a year, and it’s a price tag we simply can’t stomach at a time when public safety budgets are being cut, our best and brightest teachers are being pink-slipped and we may end up with a force of wardens that, laughably, will be 100-strong for the entire state. A “Thin Green Line” indeed. Last Saturday, at a fundraising dinner in San Francisco, Senate Majority Speaker Dean Florez (D-Shafter), had an interesting topic for his rubber chicken speech: “The runaway cost of the MLPA and the special interests running the process.” Florez told the assembled crowd of recreational anglers and press he will convene a hearing into the MLPA process to determine how the costs have escalated in 10 years to $35 million with no way to fund it. Further, Florez said that Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is aware of the issue and in favor of such a hearing. Music to our ears. Finally someone in political power has tuned into this madness. Better yet, Florez intends to look into claims of conflict of interest in the State Fish and Game Commission, which is the end of the line for any MLPA proposal. A massive closure in the Central Coast has already been rubber stamped by the commission and the EIR was just finished for the North Central Coast, opening the way for final commission approval for that area. The South Coast project and the SoCal closures it promises are coming at us like a freight train and is yet one more indication of the unholy alliance between the well-heeled enviro community and Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointees. Florez also told the crowd he intends to have Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman called before the Committee to answer “tough questions” at that hearing about the finding sources for running the MLPA process and possible conflicts of interest. We’ve been asking those questions for years. In our mind, sportsmen are being led to slaughter in the face of a monumental effort by environmentalists to fund the process and skew it for their own reserve-grabbing agenda. Conflicts of interest will be as easy for Florez and other senators to spot as, well, an elephant. At the dinner, he cited Fish and Game Commissioner Mike Sutton and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The conflict there is only too obvious. Florez will be asking Commissioner Sutton why he neglected to list his income from the Monterey Bay Aquarium on state Form 700 during the Commission vetting process, and whether Sutton, an officer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and who was once an officer in the Packard Foundation, should be allowed to vote on the MLPA closures. Of course not! It is the Packard Foundation that is pouring money into the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation (RLFF) that is funding the MLPA process, since the DFG has nowhere near the resources to keep it going. The RLFF kicked in $18 million into the process so far (but has not committed to any funding after the state lands are stolen from sportsmen). The biggest red flag? It has been reported that the Packard Foundation has provided $120 million over three years to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where Sutton works.

NOW I URGE YOU TO RIGHT AWAY READ AND ACT ON THE FOLLOWING

To Everyone Concerned With The Threat of MPAsfficeffice" />>>
>>
Friendly State Senators (Senators Florez, Ducheny and Hollingsworth) share our concerns and are interested in pursuing a Legislative review of the MLPA process and the creation of MPAs. To do so they need the support and permission of the leader in the Senate, President proTem Steinberg. MPA advocates are pressing him to stop any investigation. It is critical that everyone contact Senator Steinberg with the following message: CALL his office and FAX it to his office also (see below for numbers).>>
>>
> >
April 1, 2009>>
The Honorable Darrell Steinberg>>
President Pro Tempore>>
State Capitol, Room 205>>
ffice:smarttags" />lace w:st="on">Sacramento, CA 95814lace>>>
>>
Dear Senator Steinberg:>>
>>
The Marine Life Protection Act process requires oversight by the Legislature to ensure compliance with the law. I urge the Senate to exercise its oversight authority to investigate the numerous conflicts-of-interest in the MLPA process; the lack of funding to adequately carry out the program; and the inequitable single focus on fishing to fix the ocean. Further, I urge the Senate to investigate the cost of implementing the MLPA in light of lace w:st="on">Californialace>’s unprecedented budget shortfall. Without funding for science, monitoring and enforcement, huge sections of the ocean will be closed to fishing forever. This will unnecessarily impact the economy of coastal businesses and seafood consumers at the worst possible time in this terrible recession.>>
Thank you for considering my views.>>
Name>>
Address>>
City, CA zip>>
Phone number>>
>>
Please call Senator Steinberg's office with this message and also print it out and Fax it today! His numbers are:>>
Phone – 916-651-4006>>
FAX - 916-323-2263>>
THIS IS IMPORTANT!