FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Marcia Hanscom (310) 877-2634

Wendy-Sue Rosen (310) 709-6398

Environmental public interest lawyer Jamie T. Hall has issued a Cease & Desist letter, notifying the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW), State Lands Commission (SLC) and SoCalGas that they have 10 days to stop development activities at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve (owned by CDFW and SLC) – a rare coastal ecosystem that has been fought over for decades, and also on adjacent property owned by SoCalGas where wetlands and other sensitive habitats exist. Both the ecological reserve and the SoCalGas properties are included within the project site of a habitat alteration and gas infrastructure project area where California Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant issued a strong and clear injunction order last summer to ensure no harm to the ecosystem. If activities outlined in the letter are not stopped, environmental community coalition groups Protect Ballona Wetlands and Defend Ballona Wetlands will be forced to return to Court to seek further remedies, according to Hall.

The letter is a demand for CDFW and SoCalGas to “cease and desist from all activities that ‘could result in an adverse change or alteration to the physical

environment’ including those described in this letter….Such activities are in direct violation of the Superior Court Order.”

“We are extremely concerned and horrified that CDFW would allow SoCalGas to scrape vegetation from the ground, cut down trees and harm wildlife at an ecological reserve, all in violation of the Court Order,” stated Wendy-Sue Rosen, President of Protect Ballona Wetlands.

According to the letter, an ecological reserve visit on February 15 took activists by surprise when they observed a large green tarpaulin obscuring habitat near the Fiji Way nature trail. What they observed was so alarming they returned a couple of days later when they documented removal of at least one mature tree, numerous tree branches cut, marsh habitat scraped away, and evidence of wildlife present at the gas well site.

“What we observed is exactly the type of activity that is not allowed at the Ballona Wetlands since the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was found to be in error and decertified, with an injunction put in place by Judge Chalfant. A thorough review of the maps and details in the EIR shows that moving of gas wells at Ballona is part of the larger project that purports to make things better at Ballona. In reality these activities would wreak havoc with hundreds of acres of destroyed habitat (woodlands, wetlands, grasslands, shrublands, dune-lands) and elimination of wildlife corridors for mammals, herpetofauna, entomofauna and avifauna,” stated Robert Jan ‘Roy’ van de Hoek, an environmental scientist who has documented rare species at Ballona.

The letter includes maps from the EIR illustrating that in addition to the Ecological Reserve, seven (7) sites on SoCalGas property are located within the Project boundary.

“CDFW has been a negligent land manager at times, and it appears they are colluding with SoCalGas to allow fossil fuel operations to continue on the Los Angeles coast – despite a Court Order and a climate emergency. Instead of

defying the Court, the State should be requiring SoCalGas to craft a plan to shut down this dangerous, leaking gas field which is contributing to climate change impacts,” van de Hoek continued.

On March 20, Hanscom visited the site again and was shocked to see a full-scale gas operation and drilling rig, clearly in violation of the injunction and Court Order.

“We call on California Attorney General Rob Bonta to explain to his clients that they are not allowed to continue this work,” stated Marcia Hanscom, a community organizer with Defend Ballona Wetlands.

“Judge Chalfant’s order was crystal clear;” said Hanscom, “The order stated; ‘Suspend any activity that could result in an adverse change or alteration to the physical environment…’ We trust the Attorney General will explain to CDFW and SoCalGas that they cannot continue to run roughshod over this fragile landscape and habitat where rare and endangered species thrive.”

Last summer Judge Chalfant made headlines with a strong ruling that invalidated a voluminous Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and brought the project to a screeching halt. Judge Chalfant concluded that state officials used erroneous flood risk calculations, in spite of spending nearly $20 million in bond funds over more than a decade to design the highly controversial plan for the Ballona Wetlands. The wrong flood calculation, if allowed to be used for a project that would demolish safety levees, could have placed the public in harm’s way, according to email message warnings to state officials from the US Army Corps of Engineers, the federal lead agency that decided to bow out of the environmental review process, along with LA County Public Works.

The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve is the only state ecological reserve in all of Los Angeles County, and this one square mile remnant of a coastal mosaic of habitats is relied on by some 1,700 species of plants and animals, including numerous rare, threatened, and endangered species.