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From The People Who Brought You The Bailout

How did this happen? Bush appointee gets last say on San Onofre toll road

After all the studies, all the meetings, all the hours of lobbying and arguing and testimony and acrimony, it comes down to this: a political appointee of the Bush administration will decide whether or not a toll road cuts through San Onofre State Beach -- and through a pristine watershed. How did this happen? Our own Susannah Rosenblatt explains:

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez -- who oversees international trade operations, economic development work, patents and the census -- will have sole discretion over the 16 miles of California 241 intended to link Orange and San Diego counties and ease traffic on Interstate 5.

A jumble of state and federal coastal regulations has bounced the decades-long toll road battle from state to federal hands as the clock runs out on the current administration. The decision seems to have little precedent.

"There's certainly nothing the least bit comparable to this case that one could look to for how the secretary might rule," said Mark Delaplaine, a California Coastal Commission manager who specializes in energy, ocean resources and federal matters. "There's really no case like it."

You may recall that actor Clint Eastwood was a member of a state parks commission until he opposed the toll road and got the boot from Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Proving he doesn't play favorites, the Governator also dumped his own brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver, from the panel.)

For more views, here's Surfrider's take, and here's Red County, which says the road has strong support. (HA!) And check out Karin Klein, at our Opinion blog.

Thoughts? --Veronique de Turenne

In other news AT&T on El Camino Real looks to sweeten the HOT NEW SAVE TRESTLES package, move from COX.NET to AT&T! Go in and say

SAVE SANO!

Dont forget to tell them NeoN sent you.

Labels: cox.net, san clemente, san onofre

Listen to this post

posted by NeoN @ 10/07/2008 11:13:00 AM