Project '99 Newsletter, March 1999

A Plan of Action to Protect and Improve Our Community
A Note from Larry Agran Chair of Project 99

Dear Neighbor,

This year and next - 1999 and 2000 - present our best chance yet to defeat the County's El Toro International Airport and replace it with the non-aviation Millennium Plan for El Toro.

The first step in this decisive two-step strategy is to qualify the "Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative" for the March 7, 2000 ballot. In fact, citizens are already beginning to organize a massive signature-gathering effort. (See the article below.)

As this countywide effort gets under way, Project 99 remains committed to the watchwords that have guided our work for four years - Research... Education...Learning...Teaching. We believe that with good information in hand, each and every citizen can make a difference. The challenge is to put that information in yet more hands every day.

Here's how you can help right now. Just join our "Each One. . .Reach One" campaign by using the enclosed reply form to list Orange County friends and neighbors who might be interested in Project 99's work. We'll do the rest. We'll send them materials. We'll tell them how they, too, can make all the difference in the months ahead.

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Interested in working on the "Safe and Healthy Communities Measure?" Call Jim Davy at (949) 498-0833.

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Petition Drive to Begin
Safe and Healthy Communities Activists Kick-Off Effort to Qualify Measure for March 7, 2000 Countywide Ballot

In a series of fast-moving events, anti-airport activists are now ready to circulate a countywide initiative petition to stop the County's proposed El Toro International Airport and pave the way for adoption of the non-aviation Millennium Plan. The initiative petition became "official" when Jeff Metzger, one of the County's leading lawyers and a highly respected anti-airport activist, filed the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative with the Registrar of Voters on February 18. Metzger listed himself as the official proponent. This followed by minutes the unanimous approval of the Initiative's language by the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) - the official seven-city South County anti-airport agency. The ETRPA Board also unanimously agreed to forward the initiative to the County Board of Supervisors for submission on the next general election ballot.

By its terms, the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative would require a two-thirds majority of Orange County voters to approve the construction of commercial airports, jails or hazardous waste landfills. ETRPA's research indicates that more than 70% of the voters in all five supervisorial districts support this concept. The initiative requires a two-thirds majority vote on these County projects only:

Most County observers believe that a two-thirds vote to approve an airport at El Toro is extremely unlikely, if not impossible. In the first countywide vote on the airport in 1994, pro-airport forces spent over $1 million on deceptive mail pieces yet still received barely 51% of the vote. Recent polls show pro-airport support is now down to 40%. According to Jeff Metzger, the time to return to the ballot is now.

"For the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative to qualify for the March 7, 2000 ballot, we need to gather nearly 72,000 signatures by this summer," said Metzger at a recent organizing meeting. Metzger expects a broad coalition of forces, including Central and North County residents as well as traditional South County activists to help with the drive.

"Everywhere I go, Orange County voters tell me that they're ready to defend their communities from the pro-airport special interests," Metzger said. "A signature gathering effort of this magnitude is always a challenge. We'll need as many volunteers as we can get. I'm looking forward to mobilizing our forces as quickly as possible."

Metzger noted that the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative is part of a two-step strategy. "Ultimately, we not only need to defeat the airport and defend our communities against noxious uses," he said, "but we need to replace the current County plan for El Toro with the non-aviation Millennium Plan developed by ETRPA."

Current plans call for qualifying a Millennium Plan initiative for the November 2000 ballot.

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Air Cargo Flights at El Toro Starting This July? NO WAY!

For months now, County officials have been promising to start "interim" air cargo operations at El Toro, beginning July 2, 1999 - the day after the Marine Corps leaves the military base. Like so much of what emanates from the pro-airport County Hall of Administration, the "promise" of air cargo is nonsense.

County officials are desperate to gain approval from the Department of the Navy to begin some kind - any kind - of commercial aircraft use at El Toro. Their fear is that when the Marine Corps leaves on July 1st and the base "goes quiet" for an extended period, the legal and environmental barriers to introducing noisy commercial air operations will be insurmountable.

The truth of the matter is that come this July, even a hundred County press releases won't be able to erase the requirements of state and federal law. And as things stand right now, air cargo operations at El Toro would be in direct violation of multiple laws.

First, Sec. 312 of Public Law 101-189, introduced by Congressman Chris Cox and adopted by the United States Congress in 1989, provides: "The Secretary of the Navy may not enter into any agreement that would provide for, or permit, civil aircraft to regularly use the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, California." The meaning of this law seems plain: As long as the federal government owns and controls El Toro - which will be long beyond July of 1999 - there can be no regular civilian aircraft activity at El Toro. This, of course, includes commercial air cargo operations. County officials apparently think this law doesn't matter. If and when a lawsuit is filed, chances are a federal judge will express a very different point of view and hold that a federal law is more important than a County press release.

Second, a federal judge would no doubt also hold that the County (and the Navy Department) cannot enter into an agreement to permit middle-of-the-night air cargo operations at El Toro without first preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. An EIS - which could easily take a year or two to produce - would reveal the full extent of noise, air pollution, traffic and neighborhood disruption caused by proposed air cargo operations at El Toro.

Third, a state court - responding to yet other suits - would almost certainly require the County to develop a state-mandated environmental impact report (EIR), as required by the California Environmental Quality Act. It appears that the State Lands Commission, under a process called "retrocession," will require the County to prepare a full and complete EIR even before the federal government can lawfully transfer any portion of the 4700-acre El Toro Base from federal jurisdiction back to state jurisdiction.

Fourth, if the County ever gets close to winning approval of air cargo operations, the issue of "aviation easements" will emerge with a vengeance. Simply stated, once the Marines leave the base and the base "goes quiet," no commercial aircraft operators would have the right to disrupt and damage residential neighborhoods and businesses with low-altitude overflights. The result if they try? Legal liability for air cargo operators and for the County that could total billions of dollars.

What are the near-term prospects for air cargo operations at El Toro? About zero. When the Marine Corps leaves this July, the sound of roaring military aircraft will be replaced with what songwriters Simon and Garfunkle once called the "Sounds of Silence."

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New Internet Resource for the Millennium Plan

Comprehensive information about the Millennium Plan is now available online at www.MillenniumPlan.com.

Launched in November 1998, MillenniumPlan.com provides timely and accurate information regarding the adoption of ETRPA's official reuse strategy for El Toro - The Millennium Plan.

MillenniumPlan.com features both the official Executive Summary of the Millennium Plan as well as the entire 150 page text. Visitors will be invited to post their ideas to improve the Plan, and to find out how to take political action to promote its adoption. Visitors will also find online versions of the Project 99 newsletters as well as links to all other El Toro web sites - both for and against the proposed international airport. The web site allows visitors to order free materials about the Millennium Plan.

In the coming months, Project 99 and MillenniumPlan.com intend to collaborate to make even more information available online and to increase the opportunity for input by local residents and businesses.

Project ’99 is a special project of the Tides Center, a duly registered public charity. Donations to Project ’99/Tides Center are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.