Ballona Wetlands Construction Projects Approved, Activists 'Outraged'

VENICE, CA — The California Coastal Commission unanimously voted to approve two permits that would allow a tree-removal project and boring at the wetlands to proceed, and activists against the project said it felt like a "slap in the face."

Lisa Levinson with In Defense of Animals said members of the group were denied the opportunity to speak against the plans to bring boring machines into the area at this month's hearing and were told, "we got all of the public comment that we really, truly needed," by Coastal Commission Chair Donne Brownsey.

According to Levinson she, Ballona Wetlands activist Marcia Hanscom and environmental scientist Robert Roy van de Hoek all prepared and submitted PowerPoint presentations the day before the meeting and were all denied comment.

“What we witnessed was a slap in the face to everyone who cares about wildlife in Los Angeles and a blow to democracy," Levinson said. "We had waited all day on the Zoom to relay vital information on behalf of thousands of caring Californians who want to halt the destruction of Ballona Wetlands,”

Levinson and Hanscom said the approved plan is highly destructive and invasive. The activists said the main beneficiaries of the bulldozing of the wetlands would be the fossil fuel industry and SoCalGas.

Despite this project's approval, no project application that is a part of the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project will be brought before the Coastal Commission until 2024. Only two of the 35 construction sequences that comprise the full project could be presented at that time.

Friends of Ballona Wetlands applied for the tree removal permit because previous successful litigation prevented the removal of certain trees without a permit.

The Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project, which the activists oppose, was created by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and aims to restore damaged and degraded habitats to promote a thriving wetland.

The project would add 200 acres of coastal wetland and replace 9,800 feet of existing Ballona Creek levees to accommodate for sea-level rise as well as construct new levees to reestablish a functioning floodplain, according to CDFW.

"Absent the project, sea level rise and climate change will require existing floodgates to be permanently closed. As a result, tidal waters will be cut off from the remaining struggling wetland habitats by around 2050 and portions of the site will be stagnant, flooded ponds," CDFW said in the project summary.

Hanscom and activists criticize the plan, citing that mistakes in the flood control figures could result in danger to residents as storms intensify and sea levels rise. A lawsuit was filed in January of 2021 and it said that characterizing the projects as a means of "restoration, enhancement and establishment" is disingenuous.

Adverse impacts on the environment include endangering species like the Belding's savannah sparrow, the federally-endangered El Segundo blue butterfly and the Least Bell's Vireo according to the lawsuit. Several lawsuits also challenge the plan that will bulldoze the habitat that is home to 1,7oo species.

“Industrial works planned at Ballona Wetlands would ease future installations of new fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when we should be phasing out oil and gas facilities. Bulldozing Ballona Wetlands is a double blow to the environment since it will immediately wipe out rare wild animals living in this critical habitat and later prop up dirty energy that is worsening the climate crisis and pushing wild animal species to extinction,” Levinson said.