California AG Condemns Environmental Plan

California’s Attorney General (AG) Kamala D. Harris issued a statement critical of the Santa Clarita Valley Area Environmental Impact Report. The report is needed to assess the potential effects of proposed population growth in the valley.
California AG Condemns Environmental Plan
California Attorney General Kamala Harris (Kris Connor/Getty Images)
3/27/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/108972332.jpg" alt="California Attorney General Kamala Harris (Kris Connor/Getty Images)" title="California Attorney General Kamala Harris (Kris Connor/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1806341"/></a>
California Attorney General Kamala Harris (Kris Connor/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES—California’s Attorney General (AG) Kamala D. Harris issued a statement critical of the Santa Clarita Valley Area Environmental Impact Report. The report is needed to assess the potential effects of proposed population growth in the valley.

According to Harris, the plan “violates state law because it proposes inadequate remedies for increased air pollution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and other environmental degradation.” For this reason, among others, the AG’s office determined that “the report fails to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.”

Santa Clarita Valley is north of the San Fernando Valley in northern Los Angeles County along I-5 near the Angeles National Forest. It also includes part of Ventura County.

According to the plan, the “County of Los Angeles adopted the Santa Clarita Valley Area Plan as a component of the Los Angeles County General Plan.”

The One Valley One Vision (OVOV) effort was first proposed in 2000, but didn’t start until 2008.

Santa Clarita Valley Plan Inadequate

The valley is currently home to 250,000 people. The county is proposing a growth plan to accommodate 450,000 residents by 2035. Harris states that in 2008 the county exceeded California air quality limits 81 days out of the year. In March, the AG published a statement regarding the most recent version of the plan: “The increase would exacerbate ‘a severe, health-threatening air pollution problem’ that already exists in the Santa Clarita Valley.”

Furthermore, “Instead of proposing land-use changes to reduce the need to drive,“ the attorney general’s letter points out, ”the One Valley plan will result in a 120 percent increase in driving trips—a million more trips than were made in 2004.”

Other deficiencies include a failure to provide adequate information for “commuting patterns,” among other issues. The plan accounts for outbound employment, but fails to account for inbound employment, thus failing to properly account for pollution produced in the commuter study.

Also not addressed was the required affordable housing plan. Housing affordability helps assure that local employees can live where they work, without commuting long distances and thus reduce airborne and other pollution.

Another major flaw is that “to attempt to curb sprawl and reduce air pollution and GHG emissions in the OVOV area, the [plan] identifies various ’smart growth' strategies and requirements to be applied to new housing developments. The [plan], however, fails to provide sufficient information to allow the public to assess the potential effectiveness of these measures.”

The current 2008 One Valley One Vision plan fails to address how many dwelling units have been completed or in construction since 2008. Without this critical information, a review will be inaccurate in determining the environmental impact of the growth.

Former Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., now governor of California, issued a review report in December 2009, which was also critical of the plan at that time, making similar statements regarding its inadequacy.