Morongo Basin Residents Defend the DRECP

Dear MBCA Members and Supporters,

It was a windy and chilly winter weeknight on March 1st… yet there was a fantastic turn out for the BLM-hosted DRECP (Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan) Scoping meeting and the subsequent conservation program in Joshua Tree. Every seat was occupied and a standing-room-only crowd filled the JT Community Center to capacity with as many as 200 attending. It was the strong response needed to demonstrate the Morongo Basin public’s support of conservation protections in the DRECP!

Thanks to all who were there. For those of you who were unable to attend, MBCA sponsored video documentation of the conservation program. Click here:  “Morongo Basin Residents / Defend DRECP Desert Plan”

The conservation panel was moderated by Chris Clarke, National Park Conservation Association. Panelists April Sall, California Desert Coalition, Kate Hoit, Vet Voice Foundation, & Frazier Haney, Mojave Desert Land Trust reviewed Department of Interior’s proposed amendment to the DRECP, and answered questions for making substantive comments. David Lamfrom, National Park Conservation Association, made eloquent closing remarks. Following the panel, a court recorder was provided for audience members’ oral responses to be submitted as comments to the DRECP Scoping.

The Basin community wants more, not less, public land protected from development. How do we communicate this with substantive comments to the Federal Administration?

There is a consensus that we don’t want to jeopardize the conservation lands achieved in the long 8-year DRECP process. Some voices at the meeting last week expressed the thought that accepting any changes to the Plan could unravel the whole bundle of agreements reached – like pulling at a thread in a knitted sweater. That was the just say “no” or “no change” position. Speakers noted that the process the DRECP established appears to be working. In the two years since the Record of Decision put the Plan into effect, there have been no lawsuits. Give it a chance to truly see how effective it is. This isn’t to say the DRECP is perfect, but let’s work within it before it’s scrapped for who knows what. It is not the conservation community advising the Department of Interior to reopen the DRECP, it is solar and wind energy developers and mining interests.

Another perspective contends that it’s not a question of whether the Administration will open up the DRECP, but when. This represents the position: if we don’t take a seat at the table, we won’t get dinner. The conservation community should weigh in with specifics on issues we’ve discovered since the implementation of the DRECP to identify where the Plan needs improvement and why. For example, issues around the location of Development Focus Areas (DFAs), especially with the increased knowledge of what can go wrong, including ineffective mitigations.

MBCA has been taking the lead, under the leadership of MBCA Director Pat Flanagan, at raising awareness of the unfortunate & irreversible impacts to our rural desert communities of inappropriately sited industrial scale Renewable Energy (RE). In particular, Pat has researched and shared when and where we can identify the effects of wind-borne dust after the delicate desert crust is damaged and native plants removed. Better soil analysis and knowledge to correlate the effects of siting RE along the Mojave Desert’s Sand Transport Paths (STPs) is needed.

Death by Dust!

Is this a social justice issue? Is this the Administration taking revenge on California? Is this a gross disregard for desert ecology and the welfare of desert citizens? I have to say, YES it is!

Here are considerations as you prepare to Comment on the DRECP:

If you are concerned about air quality - Say that!

If you are concerned about effects on wildlife – the desert tortoise, and other species - Say that!

If you are concerned about industrial scale RE overburdening our desert aquifers - Say that!

If you believe that California is on track to meet the 2030 goal established for 50% RE and that sufficient land was set aside for RE development in the DRECP (as does the California Energy Commission) - Say that!

If you have experienced the ill effects of a solar or wind “farm”  (Morongo Basin and Lucerne Valley residents have learned the hard way that their quality of life, and their property values are being destroyed from solar development sited next door to their homes) - Say that!

If you believe that point of use solar – rooftops & shade structures – is the way to go, not scraping intact pristine desert - Say that!

If you are benefiting from the Basin’s tourist economy and see the value of preserving the scenic values of our desert landscapes -

Say that!

If you believe it is critical to respond to climate change by keeping the natural desert landscape intact - Say that!

Say what you feel, you know, you care about! Be “substantive” – tie your concern back to a specific understanding about the DRECP and desert conservation.

If you haven’t already, make your voice heard in two critical ways

1. BLM: Submit comments against the Administration’s plan to reduce conservation protections achieved in the DRECP by the March 22, 2018 deadline by writing to:

BLM-California State Director
electronically: BLM_CA_DRECP@blm.gov
mail: 2800 Cottage Way, Room W-1623, Sacramento, CA 95825

Include with comments:
Your Name; Affiliation (if applicable); Phone: E-mail; Mailing Address

2. San Bernardino County’s desert Supervisors:

The County will be submitting Scoping comments to BLM. Your voice matters in their decision-making. Call or write to urge them:

• To demand that there should be no additional land allocation for RE development on public lands in the DRECP.
• To direct County Land Use Services (LUS) to immediately send RECE polices 4.10, 4.10.1 and 4.10.3 to the Planning Commission and adopt these measures as they stand to protect desert communities against impacts from RE projects.
  
  

THIS TUESDAY, March 13, 2018 join MBCA Directors at the Joshua Tree Burke Government videoconference center to make your comments at the Supervisors meting. The open comment period begins at approximately 10:00AM – 11:00AM.

At that time MBCA Directors will present a petition with more than 200 signatures.

To call or write Supervisors:

* James Ramos, Third District Supervisor
(909) 387.4855 / E-mail: dyoung@cob.sbcounty.gov

* Robert A. Lovingood, Chairman & First District Supervisor
(909) 387.4830 / E-mail: melissa.mcclain@box.sbcounty.gov

In closing:

The Basin communities, perhaps more than any others, have spoken to defend the desert. We’ve stood up for it during the long 8-year deliberations to craft a DRECP with conservation protections & recreational opportunities, balanced with the demand for energy production, mining, and OHV use. It is unclear exactly how this new battle will play out. But it ain’t over till it’s over!

 

Sincerely,
Sarah Kennington, President
Morongo Basin Conservation Association

 

Your 2017 MBCA Board

David Fick, Vice President                      Steve Bardwell, Treasurer   
Marina West, Recording Secretary          Pat Flanagan, Director
Meg Foley, Director                                Mike Lipsitz, Director
Ruth Rieman, Director                            Claudia Sall, Director
Seth Shteir, Director                               Laraine Turk, Director

p.s. MBCA’s Desert Wise Living spring Landscape Tour, showcasing the desert lifestyle we are striving to protect through our comments on the DRECP, is in need of volunteer docents to assist during the tour on April 28 and 29. Please contact Cathy Zarakov, our volunteer coordinator at czarakov@gmail.com if you are interested in spending a half-day outdoors with our generous garden hosts and always enthusiastic visitors. In return for your time you will receive a complementary pass to attend the tour.

p.p.s. Our thanks to Bob Stephenson / ProVideo for his professional support in making the March 1^st video documentation possible.

 

www.mbconservation.org

MBCA advocates for a healthy desert environment
that nurtures the region’s rural character, cultural wealth
and economic well-being.

 

For more information, news, and links on the proposed amendment to DRECP:

MBCA’s News Update Review of DRECP Comments Needed – Feb 4, 2018 (with pertinent links to BLM, Federal Register, news articles)

Mojave Desert Blog Trump planning to Hand Over Desert Wildlands to Industry – February 1, 2018

Desert Sun In stunning reversal, Trump could open California desert to more solar and wind farms, by Sammy Roth – March 2, 1018

(https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2018/02/01/trump-could-open-california-desert-more-solar-and-wind-farms-mining-off-roading/1087021001/)

Desert Sun Joshua Tree cries foul as Trump targets California desert for energy projects, by Sammy Roth – March 5, 2018

(https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2018/02/01/trump-could-open-california-desert-more-solar-and-wind-farms-mining-off-roading/1087021001/

 

The Final Public Hearing Draft Renewable Energy and Conservation Element (REC Element) has been revised following the Planning Commission Public Hearing held November 3, 2016 and is now available for public review. The Board of Supervisors’ upcoming public hearing has not yet been scheduled, but the date will be posted on the Land Use Services Renewable Energy website and email notices sent out once scheduled.

 

The April 2017 Final Public Hearing Draft REC Element tracks the changes made to the November 2016 Draft and may be viewed via the following link:

 

 

 

Comments and/or questions may be sent directly to Linda.Mawby@lus.sbcounty.gov .

 

Senior Planner Land Use Services Department

Phone: 909-387-4002 Fax: 909-387-3223

385 North Arrowhead Avenue, First Floor

San Bernardino, CA 92415-0187

Commentary and documents provided by Pat Flanagan

 

The BLM believes they have the legal right to connect public land parcels together using county un-maintained dirt roads. I believe this is incorrect – our dirt roads, a legacy of the Small Tracts Act (STA), are considered by the County, based on case law and the STA, to constitute legal right-of-way (ROW) for those entitled to use them, i.e. the public and utility companies. 

 

The documents provided here, especially the STA pamphlet and Penfold letter and County opinion, need to be readily available to anyone wanting to understand their legal position should BLM open County un-maintained dirt roads to OHV riding.

While we cannot say that there has been an end to plans for the Alta Mira housing project in the Friendly Hills area of Joshua Tree, the JT 105 Alliance citizens' group has informed MBCA that the developers have recently offered the project land for sale.  Below is an update from the Alliance and also links to some of the documents involved in the ongoing legal efforts to stop or change the plan for the Alta Mira Housing Development in the Friendly Hills area of Joshua Tree.

1)  A summary of the current situation is presented in this Press Release from the JT105 Alliance.

2)  The Alliance provided a copy of the October 28, 2016 CEQA petition they filed that outlined all the points of concern about the development.

3)  In January 2017, the Alliance proposed to the developers a settlement offer that included two very specific alternative revisions to their existing development plan that would be much more acceptable to the alliance and many Joshua Tree residents who have been concerned about the very “urban” plan proposed by the developers.  As the Alliance wrote, “We are not anti-development; we respect smart and ecologically-sensitive development.”

Here's an explanatory paragraph about the stay from the Alliance update:

"A six-month stay was agreed upon, on March 17, so that the developers could explore these options, during which they are not to pursue any permits for construction. Shortly after the agreement, a community member notified the Alliance that the developers had listed the project for sale, with the tract map approval as a key marketing point. If they were to sell the land, the lawsuit, and the wrath of hundreds, would be inherited by the new owner." 

Several MBCA Directors have attended recent Desert Hot Springs City Council meetings to support their Planning Commission's decision to deny an extension for a developer's plans to create a large housing complex near Mission Creek Preserve and the Sand to Snow National Monument. At the Council meeting on March 22, a procedural situation resulted in the denial being upheld.  This Desert Sun article explains more about the circumstances and possible future actions by the developer. 

MBCA continues to keep an eye on California's Renewable Energy planning process.  In this letter crafted by our Board member Pat Flanagan, MBCA comments on concerns with the current planning process that, among other things, overlooks the extent of dust pollution created by excessive large-scale renewable energy projects.