Source: https://whittierhillsoilwatch.org/smmc-and-mrca.php
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 19:55:47
Document Index: 371508407

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 5', 'art 6']

L.A. County Board of Supervisors Need to Release land
from Open Space Status before Oil Project can Start.
Supervisors Vote 5/0 to Opposed Oil Project
October 29, 2013 Supervisors meeting
Transcript of Conversation between L.A. County Supervisor and Matrix Attorney
SUP. YAROSLAVSKY: WE ARE TAKING IT UP NOW. WHERE IS THE CITY OF WHITTIER?
JORDAN BORDER: WELL, THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE'S NO REQUEST FOR THE DISTRICT TO TAKE IT UP RIGHT NOW. AND THERE'S JURISDICTIONAL PROBLEMS.
SUP. YAROSLAVSKY: SO YOU'RE SAYING THAT WE HAVE A RIGHT TO REVIEW IT. AND WE BETTER DO IT BEFORE NOVEMBER 8TH. BUT WE CAN ONLY DO IT IF THE CITY OF WHITTIER MAKES A REQUEST TO BE HEARD ON IT. AND IF THEY DON'T MAKE A REQUEST TO BE HEARD ON IT, THEN WE HAVE NO ABILITY TO OPINE ON THIS AND TO REVIEW IT AND TO CONDUCT A HEARING OF THIS TYPE. I FIND IT BIZARRE THAT BASICALLY WHAT YOU'RE ARGUING AND WHAT THE CITY OF WHITTIER IS ARGUING -- AND THE COURT CASES ARE NOT OVER, AS YOU WELL, WELL KNOW -- WHAT YOU'RE ARGUING IS -- THERE'S SOMETHING IN WHAT YOU'RE SAYING THAT SUGGESTS THAT PROP "A" ONLY LASTS FOR 20 YEARS. THE FUNDING REVENUES ONLY LAST, MAY LAST FOR 20 YEARS. THE OPEN SPACE COMMITMENT THAT WAS MADE TO THE PEOPLE IN EXCHANGE FOR THEIR VOTE TO APPROVE THIS REVENUE STREAM WAS THAT THE OPEN SPACE WOULD BE IN PERPETUITY. [APPLAUSE.]
PLEASE, PLEASE. THAT "IN PERPETUITY" LANGUAGE IS NOT -- DOES October 29, 2013 NOT GET CUT OFF IN 2015 OR 2075 OR IN 2115. IN PERPETUITY MEANS IN PERPETUITY. AND THE NOTION THAT SOME BODY, SOME BUSINESS CAN COME IN AND CUT A DEAL AROUND THE OPEN SPACE DISTRICT AND CUT SOME KIND OF A REAL ESTATE DEAL OR BUSINESS DEAL AND THUS FRUSTRATE THE INTENT OF THE PROPOSITION, BOTH PROPOSITION "A" OF '92 AND '96 STANDS LOGIC ON ITS HEAD. SO, I MEAN, I'VE READ EVERYTHING YOU'VE SENT OR YOUR REPRESENTATIVES HAVE SENT. I'VE READ EVERYTHING, THE 20-PAGE STUFF I GOT HERE THIS MORNING, WHICH WE'VE READ. I'VE READ IT ALL. AND WHAT IT REALLY COMES DOWN TO IS YOU DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES AS ESTABLISHED BY THE PROPOSITION. AND YOU'RE EVEN INCONSISTENT ON THE QUESTION OF WHETHER WE HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE THIS HEARING. YOU'RE SAYING WE INVENTED THIS HEARING. WE'VE CREATED IT OUT OF WHOLE CLOTH, MY WORDS, NOT YOURS. THAT THIS HAS NO FORCE AND EFFECT ON ANYBODY. YET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR MOUTHS, YOU'RE SAYING YOU HAVE UNTIL NOVEMBER 8TH TO OPINE ON THIS THING OR YOU LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO DO IT, WITHY WE DON'T AGREE WITH, BY THE WAY. WE DON'T THINK IT CUTS OFF
NOVEMBER 8TH. BUT LET'S STIPULATE THAT YOU'RE RIGHT ON THAT ONE, HERE WE ARE ON OCTOBER 28TH. AND YOU'RE SAYING WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THIS. I JUST, ANYWAY, THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE TIME.
Why did the Executive Director of the Santa Monica Mountain
Conservancy Joe Edminston Flip from being opposed to the oil project to
taking Royalties of $11.25 Million Dollars from the oil project?
Interview with Joe Edminston sometime 2010
Hear what Joe Edmiston Executive Director of the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy says about the Whittier Oil Project. He was against LAND Exploitation then. Later they decide to settle with the oil companies. So why did he flip? Does SMMC and MRCA have a price? We believe this interview took place in 2010.
Interview with Roy McKee President of WHOW
Interview date August 30, 2013
WHOW's response to MRCA's settlement for $11.25 million with Oil Companies.
Whittier Daily News Articles on
Whittier's Oil Project
The articles show how the Santa Monica Conservancy Flipped. Originally they were against the oil project to include filing a lawsuit to stop the oil project. With the settlement from the lawsuit SMMC will receive 11 million dollars in royalties from the oil project. So, are they exploitation the very land they were establish to protect? You decide.
* Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority sues Whittier, challenging right to allow oil drilling in Whittier hills - Click here
Article date March 1 2012
* Environmental groups, state conservancies say Whittier oil project could open other preserves to oil drilling - Click here
Article date June 3, 2012
* City's attorney: 'There is a lot of money on the table. Perhaps that might meet everybody's needs’ - Click here
Article date July 8, 2013
* Environmental groups agree to drop case against Whittier oil drilling - Click here
* Note - Environmental groups in this article are Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy and their outer group which is part of SMMC Mountain Recreation Conservation Authority (MRCA).
MRCA Lawsuit - Click here
Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy Board
Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy meeting July 22, 2013 at Calabasas. Discussing settlement on Whittier Oil Project. Details count not be discussed. We did find information from Joe Edmiston was not exactly accurate that he was telling to his board. There are several parts to this. WHOW had 15 speakers represented by four different organizations that clarified for the SMMC and MRCA Boards. Part 1
Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy meeting July 22, 2013 at Calabasas. Discussing settlement on Whittier Oil Project. Details count not be discussed. We did find information from Joe Edmiston was not exactly accurate that he was telling to his board. There are several parts to this. WHOW had 15 speakers represented by four different organizations that clarified for the SMMC and MRCA Boards. Part 2
Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy meeting July 22, 2013 at Calabasas. Discussing settlement on Whittier Oil Project. Details count not be discussed. We did find information from Joe Edmiston was not exactly accurate that he was telling to his board. There are several parts to this. WHOW had 15 speakers represented by four different organizations that clarified for the SMMC and MRCA Boards. Part 3
Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy meeting July 22, 2013 at Calabasas. Discussing settlement on Whittier Oil Project. Details count not be discussed. We did find information from Joe Edmiston was not exactly accurate that he was telling to his board. There are several parts to this. WHOW had 15 speakers represented by four different organizations that clarified for the SMMC and MRCA Boards. Part 4
Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy meeting July 22, 2013 at Calabasas. Discussing settlement on Whittier Oil Project. Details count not be discussed. We did find information from Joe Edmiston was not exactly accurate that he was telling to his board. There are several parts to this. WHOW had 15 speakers represented by four different organizations that clarified for the SMMC and MRCA Boards. Part 5
Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy meeting July 22, 2013 at Calabasas. Discussing settlement on Whittier Oil Project. Details count not be discussed. We did find information from Joe Edmiston was not exactly accurate that he was telling to his board. There are several parts to this. WHOW had 15 speakers represented by four different organizations that clarified for the SMMC and MRCA Boards. Part 6 - END OF VIDEOS
Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority Wins Temporary Restraining Order to Prevent the City of Whittier and Matrix Oil from Starting Oil Drilling Project at Whittier Hills Nature Preserve
LOS ANGELESAt the request of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, the Los Angeles County Regional Open Space District, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the City of Whittier and Matrix Oil Company to stop the company from commencing grading and drilling activities in furtherance of its oil and drilling project in the Whittier Hills. The City of Whittier had given Matrix Oil permission to conduct site clearing and abandoned well identification activities at a site in the Whittier Hills Nature preserve.
Late last year, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the MRCA and the County filed for a preliminary injunction against the City, Matrix Oil and Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. to stop the proposed drilling at the nature preserve in its entirety. Yesterday, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority rangers were informed that bulldozers and heavy equipment had been delivered to the site and that Matrix Oil employees had intended to begin work today, before the Court had an opportunity to hear the merits of the MRCA’s case. The MRCA and the County quickly asked the court to order the work stopped. This morning, the Court agreed and issued an order halting all grading and excavation work, allowing only vegetation removal from a small area. The TRO will be in place until the Court has the ability to consider the motion for preliminary injunction on February 21, 2013.
“The Whittier Hills Open Space was acquired with taxpayer money for habitat preservation and park purposes,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, Executive Director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “The City of Whittier has contractual obligations to the State, County, and MRCA. It cannot unilaterally decide to use the nature preserve for any purpose it sees fit. Grading, clearing, and drilling of oil wells will irreparably harm the open space and wildlife habitat and cause significant environmental impacts to air quality, aesthetics, hydrology and water quality, land use, and recreational uses of the Open Space.”
The Whittier Hills Open Space was purchased with funds granted in 1992 from Los Angeles County Proposition A to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for the acquisition of park and open space land for this generation and generations to come. The nature preserve includes portions of the last remaining chaparral, native oak woodlands and coastal scrub ecosystem within eastern Los Angeles County and serves as an important wildlife corridor. Drilling for oil on the property would cause irreparable environmental damage to the property.
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is a State Agency dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and creation of public parkland. The Conservancy’s mission is to form an interlinking system of urban, rural, and river parks, open space, trails, and wildlife habitat that are easily accessible to the public. Since it was created by the Legislature in 1980, the Conservancy has helped to preserve over 69,000 acres of urban and wilderness parkland throughout Southern California.
The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) is a local government agency established pursuant to the Joint Powers Act between the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Conejo Recreation and Park District, and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. The MRCA acquires and preserves open space and manages and provides planning, education and interpretation, construction, ranger and fire prevention services for parkland it owns or that is owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and other agencies.