The best way to stop cheating is not to start. This would also apply well to building tollways in state parks. The analogy is apt as the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency is proposing to build a tollway through San Onofre State Park ("450 turn out for toll road meeting," Jan. 13), in effect cheating future Californians. In the process, the TCA has manipulated and marginalized environmental law and is about to change the whole way the state park system is perceived.
San Onofre State Park, situated in northwestern San Diego County, was established through a 50-year lease in 1971. In the 30 years since that time, millions of Californians have enjoyed the park's beaches and campgrounds. The inland campground is one of the most heavily used in the entire state. With millions of people living to the north in Orange County and to the south in San Diego County, the park promises to be ever more important for recreation -- and quality of life. The park is also the home to 10 endangered or threatened species. If endangered plants and animals should be safe anywhere, they should be safe on our state parks. In fact, conserving California's rich and diverse natural heritage is one of the missions of the state park system. San Onofre represents a unique opportunity where critically threatened plants and animals and millions of people share the same turf with little ill effect. Almost certainly, when the lease is up in 2021, it would be renewed, or perhaps the land would be permanently dedicated -- at least if it isn't a freeway shoulder.
The Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies were formed with one goal and one goal alone: plan and build three tollways in rural Orange County. TCA has built two tollways already, both with some controversy, but now TCA has become so bold and arrogant that they want you to believe that the park is just a right-of-way for their newest tollway. They are only able to do this because they have worked through their lobbyists to convince friends in Congress to set aside and manipulate laws that would otherwise have placed public lands off limits. TCA has alternative alignments that don't require using difficult to acquire public lands.
They have misled the public about impacts (e.g. exaggerations about both the impacts of placing the road elsewhere and how effective it will be) and claims that the toll road will not seriously impact the environment or the recreation value of the park. When was the last time you chose to camp next to a freeway wall rather than a quiet terrace overlooking a scenic vista? State parks, like national parks, offer a sense of certainty: They were there when I was a kid and they will be there for kids generations to come. TCA is going to take that away. Building a freeway across the state park will diminish all state parks both in value and stature.
Once you build in one, building in others will not be far behind.
Fred Roberts is the rare plant coordinator for the San Diego chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
