CITY OF SANTA MONICA

TASK FORCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

The meeting was convened at 7:10 p.m. Task Force members in attendance: Bill Selby, Mark Gold, Tim Carmichael, Bobby Rees, Matt Petersen, Susan Mearns and Sandy Grant. Santa Monica City staff in attendance: Craig Perkins, Brian Johnson, and Dean Kubani. Others: Mayor Michael Feinstein, Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown, Planning Commissioner Arlene Hopkins, Recreation and Parks Commissioner Lori Nafshun, MWD Board member Judy Abdo, SMMUSD Superintendent John Deasy, Paul Rosenstein, Louisa Fish, Barbara Filet, Marty Rubin, Stacy Brown, Cathy Larson, Lisa Lehman, Paris Poriea, Virginia Ernst, Ping Lo, Jake Block, Sheila Bernard, Pamelyn Ferdin, Andrea Gullo, Ryan Flegal, and five additional members of the group Earth Save.

Minutes

The minutes from the meeting of March 18, 2002 were unanimously approved.

Sustainable Schools Discussion

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy was introduced to the Task Force and welcomed. Mark Gold provided background information on the Task Force proposal for a Sustainable Schools Program at SMMUSD and the various political and financial obstacles that have prevented it from being adopted to date. Superintendent Deasy noted that he wants SMMUSD to be environmentally responsible and expressed his commitment to work with the City on this. He mentioned that the district can embed Sustainable Schools in its general funding request to the City and feels that all seven SMMUSD Board members will support this. He recommended that someone from the Task Force should contact Jeannie Wells in his office to identify SMMUSD administrative staff to attend future Task Force meetings to discuss how to proceed. He also recommended that Patty Harris should be contacted when the Task Force wants to agendize this for discussion at a SMMUSD Board meeting. Mayor Feinstein noted that it would be helpful to Council if the SMMUSD budget request includes information on how implementation of a Sustainable Schools program will lead to cost savings over time.

Discussion of possible recommendations to the City Council on environmental issues related to the Santa Monica Airport

Tim Carmichael summarized discussion at previous meetings regarding air quality issues related to the Santa Monica Airport. He suggested two possible ways for the Task Force to proceed: (1) Recommend to City Council that they direct City staff to develop a list of actions that can be taken by the City to address the issue; or (2) Seek out an independent, third party attorney, legal consultant, or university environmental law clinic to provide the City with a second opinion regarding the City’s legal authority to restrict emissions at the airport. Craig Perkins noted that the Airport Commission is meeting on April 22 to review and discuss a report on emissions related to the airport, and suggested that someone from the Task Force attend. He recommended that the Task Force be cautious about recommending that Council solicit independent legal advice because the Council receives full time legal advice from the City Attorney’s office.

Members of the public encouraged the Task Force to work with the Airport Commission and with the Friends of Sunset Park Airport Committee to move forward on this issue. John Adams Middle school student Jake Block presented the results of his study of particulate emissions adjacent to the Santa Monica Airport. He found significantly high levels of toxic particulates, based on tests conducted by the Southern California Particulate Center.

Tim agreed to attend the April 22 Airport Commission meeting. The Task Force deferred additional discussion on this issue until the May 20 Task Force meeting following a report back from Tim.

Discussion regarding Sustainable Business Initiatives

Discussion on this was deferred until a future meeting because representatives from Sustainable Works were not able to attend.

Report on Sustainable City Program Update Process

Dean Kubani reported on the update process. The update process has been proceeding on schedule. To date, complete sets of indicators and targets have been proposed for five of the eight goal areas and it is anticipated that the remaining three goal areas will be completed in mid-May. A full draft of the proposed goals, indicators and targets for all eight goal areas will be presented to the Task Force at the May 20 meeting for preliminary review, and detailed review and feedback by the Task Force will be scheduled for the June 17 meeting.

Metropolitan Water District Update

MWD Board member Judy Abdo provided the update. The MWD Board will be holding a workshop on the Cadiz proposal on April 30^th where the pros and cons of proceeding with the project will be presented to the Board and discussed (Note: this meeting was subsequently cancelled and has not yet been rescheduled). Percholrate is becoming an issue among the MWD board. Perchlorate is a toxic chemical linked to thyroid, kidney and liver problems. It is leaching into Lake Mead and is present in water purchased by MWD. The MWD water is blended which keeps the perchlorate levels at about 5 ppb. The EPA is planning to set a drinking water threshold for perchlorate at between 1 ppb and 6 ppb in the near future. MWD is currently serving water to some areas in the region with perchlorate levels greater than 5 ppb. She noted that the Board has requested information on perchlorate from MWD staff but staff hasn’t responded and doesn’t appear to be paying attention to the issue. She urged people to email MWD and attend the next Board meeting to encourage MWD to begin addressing this issue. Mark Gold and Tim Carmichael indicated that they will try to mobilize support for this issue through the Environmental Justice Network.

Public Input

Pamilyn Ferdin and Andrea Gullo spoke on behalf of the Animal Defense League and Earth Save. They asked the Task Force to consider adding language to the proposed SCP goals and indicators in the areas of Human Dignity, Environmental and Public Health, and Resource Conservation to address animal welfare and issues related to the consumption of meat. The Task Force agreed to review the request and discuss this further at their May 20 meeting.

Louisa Fish announced that the Big Blue Bus recently added 37 new liquid natural gas buses to its fleet. She also asked to participate in the small group meeting working on transportation indicators and targets.

Tim Carmichael announced that the Coalition for Clean Air will be having its annual awards luncheon on April 17 at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA.

Bill Selby reviewed the schedule for Task Force members presentations as part of the SMC environmental lecture series. Tim reported that the series is excellent and congratulated Bill.

Ryan Flegal spoke in support of the request to add additional goals to the Sustainable City Program addressing resource issues related to the consumption of meat.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 pm