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VOTE OPPOSES MITSUBISHI SALT PLANT The California Coastal Commission undertook deliberations and acted decisively on Jan. 11, in one of those rare decisions that makes you feel like the Coastal Act actually means something -- something more important than traffic, parking and seawalls.... On the agenda was a resolution urging Mitsubishi to withdraw its plan to construct a giant salt plant on San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja, the winter home and calving location for the California gray whale. The gray whale, reduced in population from a once mighty 200,000 to fewer than 10,000 mammals today, makes one of the world's great commutes, annually traveling from Alaska along the Pacific Coast to Mexico to birth and spend the winter. Mitsubishi Corporation and the government of Mexico sought to convince the Commission to remain silent regarding Mitsubishi's plan to construct the world's largest salt pond at San Ignacio Lagoon. At a proposed 116 sq. miles, billions of tons of toxic salt brine would be dumped into the gray whale calving area. Imagine a Mount Shasta-sized pile of salt. San Ignacio Lagoon is currently a pristine environment and a World Heritage site and United Nations Biosphere Reserve. It is the last undisturbed gray whale breeding lagoon in the world. The whales are so friendly during the calving season that numerous witnesses spoke of how they push their young to the surface to receive the kisses of humans. Numerous California communities have passed resolutions opposing the project - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda Counties, among others, have adopted the same or similar resolutions. More than 1 million letters of protest have been sent to Mitsubishi already. Back at the Jan. 11 Coastal Commission meeting, Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council represented the Coalition to Save San Ignacio, a group of scientists and environmentalists opposed the project. Mitsubishi and its experts argued that there are already too many gray whales and that they have outgrown their food source, krill. Their science was self-serving and disingenuous and sought to allow Mitsubishi Corp. to judge the appropriate whale population size. One observer called their experts "bio-stitutes." Mitsubishi begged the Commission to postpone its decision to allow them more time to lobby. Another study was due to be released. But Commission Chair Sara Wan said that waiting for the study would be like waiting for an environmental report for a toxic industrial plant in Yosemite Valley. Ultimately, the Commission voted 8-1 to pass the resolution opposing the salt plant. 2002 Update: Shortly after the Commission passed this resolution, the Government of Mexico decided not to allow Mitsubishi to construct the proposed salt plant, resulting in one of the most important environmental collaborations and victories between Mexico and United States ever. Up to Top |
