California toll road hearing focuses on security

The federal government will decide whether national safety interests outweigh environmental concerns in building the 16-mile, six-lane road through San Onofre State Park.

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press

9/22/2008

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Until now, the fight over a proposed toll road near a world-class surf break has focused on the plight of the endangered Pacific pocket mouse and damage to the popular San Onofre beach.

But now the federal government will decide whether national safety interests outweigh environmental concerns in building the 16-mile, six-lane road through San Onofre State Park.

Hundreds of people were expected to turn out Monday at a public hearing on the issue by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

So many people have signed up to speak — 650 — that NOAA has scheduled a 10-hour meeting at the Del Mar Fairgrounds to accommodate the crowd and hired security officers to help keep the hearing orderly.

It is the latest step in the ongoing battle over the $875 million toll road. Environmentalists won the first round when the California Coastal Commission rejected the plan in February after a raucous meeting attended by more than 3,000 people.

But the company that wants to build and finance the road, Transportation Corridor Agencies, appealed that decision to NOAA, a branch of the U.S. Commerce Department.

The issue has impassioned environmentalists, who argue the toll road would slice through one of California's most popular state parks, and end a half-mile from Trestles, a pristine surf break known around the world. The 2,100-acre San Onofre State Park attracts 2.4 million visitors each year and hosts national surfing competitions.

"San Onofre is one of the most extraordinary state parks in the system and this toll road proposal isn't a minor intrusion," said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation. "It is a toll road instead of a state park, rather than a toll road through a state park."

But road proponents, who include Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, say the toll road extension shores up national security as an alternate route in case Interstate 5 traffic is jammed in the event of wildfire or an accident at the nearby San Onofre nuclear power plant.

"When those fires in San Diego happened and they had to evacuate all the people, they had one exit route and that was backed up for hours. People were trying to drive 60 miles and it took them five hours," said Lance MacLean, a TCA board member. "It's in the interest of national security that you have an alternate route."

The existing toll road was shut down to all but firefighters and police during the 2007 firestorms in San Diego and Orange counties and served as a firebreak for homes in Orange and Anaheim, said Jerry Amante, chairman of the toll agency.

"That saved tens of thousands of homes. What happens when we build — and we will — tens of thousands more homes in south Orange County?" he said.

Environmentalists counter that the final piece of the county's 67-mile network of toll roads would be little more than another local commuter option for a yet-to-be-built 14,000-home development in south Orange County — hardly a national security linchpin.

"This is a road that's going to serve a small portion of people in the area, and to say that there's a significant national interest in such a local road is laughable," said David Nagami, a staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

NOAA could make a decision on whether to override the state's veto as early as next month.

In its history, the California Coastal Commission has rejected only 28 projects and 14 of those were appealed to the Commerce Department. The commission was overruled in five cases and upheld in two. The remaining cases were withdrawn, dismissed or settled.

The toll road is the first California project to go before the Commerce Department since 1991.