My vote wrote on Jul 16, 2008 6:37 AM:NO!!

How about wrote on Jul 16, 2008 6:52 AM:the AG requesting a hearing on the value of protecting Delta Smelt versus the value of protecting farmers and citizens water needs. Stupid me ex Governor Moonbeam the Environut is in charge.

Oh brother wrote on Jul 16, 2008 10:21 AM:When are you people going to realize that the Delta smelt is a 'marker' species similar to the canary in the coal mine? It is an indicator of the health of the Delta which supplies about 90% of the water to California. Your food grows there, you drink the water and you bathe your children in it. What happens when it is no longer safe and healthy? What then 'how about'??

just do it wrote on Jul 16, 2008 10:23 AM:put that toll road in, hurry up

To Oh Brother wrote on Jul 16, 2008 10:47 AM:Good points. The only problem with your logic is if the Smelt could be kept out of the pumps water would be flowing south. So they are not an indicator, they just keep getting killed. The common theory the Water board passes says that if voters would have passed a bond for a bypass in 1986 we would not have this problem and water would be flowing. So your comment has no bearing on the health of the Delta, only the health of the smelt which it appears you think is more important then providing water to us and our children. Rather then listening to the environuts ranting to build their donations and make a living, read the facts. BTW I just returned from a road trip through the Sierras and there is still snow, still snow melt and streams full coming down the mountains. So continue to believe there is a water shortage if you want while the environuts continue their scare tactics for funds and donations from people who won't read and dig out the facts.

Concerned One wrote on Jul 16, 2008 12:24 PM:I oppose the toll road for several reasons, but mainly because I think we need road infrastructure elsewhere. I love that area of Southern California and want to see it preserved in perpetuity. That said, the environuts cause more harm than good. The Delta Smelt is a one-inch fish that can barely swim. It drifts into the pumps and gets killed, but there are many other things killing them and the Salmon. Pesticide run-off from the farms for one. But the enviros went after the one authority they could target, the Metropolitan Water District. Why? Because their real agenda is to stop growth and strangle Southern California. As for the idiot sheep that dance to the tune of Surfrider and other pseudo-environmental groups, they can all take a long walk off a short pier. Regards, C-1.

We need wrote on Jul 16, 2008 12:51 PM:the smelt to be there so we can eat them after evryone realizes that our farmers cannot grow food without water from the delta. And i think that in this day and age our water dept's can pretty well check our water quality without going to the delta to see if the smelt feels ok.

To oh brother wrote on Jul 16, 2008 12:54 PM:You need to check your species listings. Canaries are not native to coal mines. Just like environmentalists are not native to reality.

man you guys wrote on Jul 16, 2008 2:11 PM:Have really gotten off topic :p

Oh Brother wrote on Jul 16, 2008 3:10 PM:You folks are sadly out of touch with the science of the Delta. Figure it out when the Delta ecosystem collapses and there will be no more water avalable. Keep dreaming and watering your fluffy green lawns.
And to get back on topic, this road is a devasting impact to already dedicated mitigation lands. No public lands will be safe from private developers if this scheme passes.

WHAT wrote on Jul 16, 2008 3:19 PM:What the heck does the delta smelt have to do with the extension of the toll road thru San Onofre State Beach??

now you know wrote on Jul 16, 2008 4:08 PM:The delta smelt need it when they sneak across the border from Mexico. They can use thier fast pass to get to the delta quicker. Oh brother could you post a link to your "facts" that if the smelt dies off from being sucked up in an intake we will have no more water. Im sorry but I would rather have our crops watered and my children able to be able to drink water before I worry about a fish that has no food value.
Actually I am against any toll road at all, especially if they propose building it along any strech of beach. Also if there is to be a meeting and there should be, the company that is going to benefit from such a road should pay the full expense of any meeting, not the taxpayers. Also NO taxpayer funds should go into a toll road, period. If we need more lanes than add them to the existing 5 freeway and keep it that way, free. we as taxpayers already pay for it thru gas taxes. So if you use a toll road now or expect them in the future, just remember you are paying twice, once with toll fees, once with gas tax.

Still undecided wrote on Jul 16, 2008 6:06 PM:It would seem that a public hearing of this magnitude would require more than 6 weeks for planning and scheduling. This is another attempt to thwart the Coastal Commissions decision to DENY the toll road. How can anyone expect to plan ahead for this hearing when it is stil up in the air and being put on probably as a show - hoping the masses of public that came out originally cannot attend or wont know about it. We need all of the news services to carry this story so that people from thousands of miles away can attend as they did before.

Kevin wrote on Jul 16, 2008 7:51 PM:Just build it.

The combined CO2 emissions from the tons of stop lights / stop and go traffic that has to take a backwards route to get up to RSM and the other cities on the 241 cause an infinitely greater environmental impact than the construction of the road itself.

The bigger problem is that people who need the road are not vocal enough, but the hippies who are so concerned about the environment tend to have no job and increased spare time so they can protest all day and night.

Other options wrote on Jul 17, 2008 10:44 AM:Not everyone that wishes to preserve what little is left of our open space and our environment can or should be branded a "hippie". Thousands of us who came to voice our opposition to the extension of the toll road left our jobs to do so. Once the park land is gone, it is gone forever, along with the plants and animals that frequent the area. A much better solution would have been to build an elevated light rail system along I-15 and to straighten out the Ortega Highway, with tunnels, if necessary, making it 6 lanes wide and giving another east-west route. That makes a lot more sense. The reduction in CO-2 emissions from all of the miles less travelled would make up for a lot, not to mention the hours of traffic jamb they would eliminate.