BHP Billiton ‘Evaluating’ Its Options

By HANS LAETZ Special to the Palisadian-Post A state commission’s 2-1 decision to kill a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal 30 miles west of Pacific Palisades has been hailed by coastal advocates, but the BHP Billiton proposal may not be dead yet. The company has spent four years trying to win approval for its $1-billion Cabrillo Port initiative, which would have permanently anchored a ship the size of an aircraft carrier offshore between Malibu and Oxnard. Although the ship and its fleet of LNG carriers would not be visible from the Palisades, air-quality experts said the regular ocean breezes would have dispersed more than 480 tons of smog-creating chemicals, mostly into the Los Angeles air basin, every year. Company spokesman Patrick E. Cassidy said the Australian firm is still evaluating its options, following the 12-hour public hearing in Oxnard Monday that ended with the rejection. ‘We intend to abide by the process,’ Cassidy said, but begged off answering if that process included a lawsuit. California courts have given government agencies such as the California State Lands Commission wide authority to reject a request under environmental laws, and the Cabrillo Port project would have violated state and federal standards in at least 20 areas. Late Tuesday afternoon, attorneys for BHP Billiton tried to have the matter pulled from this week’s Coastal Commission agenda. But executive director Peter Douglas said it would be impossible for the Cabrillo Port state permit to be delayed, and could be removed from the agenda only if BHP Billiton withdrew its entire application and four years and tens of millions of dollars worth of effort. Attorneys said federal law is more than confusing, but creates a two-track state and federal approval process for a proposed deepwater port. The state permit request is still alive and must continue to be evaluated by the Coastal Commission Thursday and the governor by May 21. But the federal permit died Monday night in Oxnard, as a result of the State Lands Commission to deny the environmental report and refusal to allow the pipelines to cross state-owned lands. Only a successful court ruling could revive Cabrillo Port’s federal permit, but the state is still required to process the state permit, even though the federal permit is, for all purposes, dead in the water. Monday night, the two votes against the project came from the two Democrats on the panel, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and State Controller John Chiang. The governor’s representative on the panel, Asst. Finance Director Anne Sheehan, cast the lone vote in favor. Sheehan praised the LNG terminal as an important step in bringing what she called a ‘bridge fuel’ into the state, which is grappling to comply with a new greenhouse gas emissions bill that mandates a rollback to 1990 levels by 2020. But Garamendi noted that Cabrillo Port would not come on line until at least 2012. ‘This project does not fulfill an immediate need,’ Garamendi said, adding that the project’s environmental studies proposed 18 alternatives, ‘and rejected every one of those 18 alternatives out of hand without considering them.’ It was the project’s air-pollution impact that troubled Garamendi and Chiang the most. ‘This isn’t going to clean the air in the immediate area of the project,’ Chiang said. ‘I also have serious reservations about locating an LNG plant along our beautiful California coast,’ he said. ‘There are also clear threats to marine life and human safety.’ Shortly after the late-night decision, Schwarzenegger’s office released a statement in which he praised natural gas as the ‘cleanest-burning fossil fuel. An LNG facility to serve our state would make California less vulnerable to variations in supply and price. Despite the action taken today by the State Lands Commission, my office, pursuant to federal law, is using the allotted 45-day review period to make sure that the project meets strict standards of public and environmental safety,’ the governor said. The vote was greeted by polite whoops from the crowd of 800 people in the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, a crowd that had been warned several times by Garamendi not to applaud or make comments–at threat of expulsion. The hearing was punctuated by a large late-afternoon rally outside the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, where Oxnard Police estimated that 2,000 persons listened to speeches outside the hall. Parking spaces within blocks of the Arts Center were taken, leading many Malibu and Palisades residents to circle the area in their cars, horns honking. At one point, a large number of participants shuffled into the hall, but most of the 800 seats were already taken, and Garamendi sternly ordered the aisles cleared. At one point in the evening, Malibu attorney Barry Haldeman asked opponents of the project to stand and raise their hands: nearly every person in the 800-seat auditorium stood quietly. Garamendi then asked them to be seated, and for project backers to stand up. BHP Billiton President Rebecca Macdonald and six others stood up. The hearing lasted 12 hours, and a rough tally showed 16 speakers favoring the terminal, and 111 opposed. Project supporters said the project would bring a badly needed, clean-burning fuel that can replace coal-fired electricity in the state’s grid. ‘We need to find some other source for this energy, and if not from this project, where?’ asked Will Reed, spokesman for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. ‘I don’t think this is about environmental issues, and I don’t think this is about fish,’ said Donna Worley, a Burbank resident. ‘I think this is about rich people down in Malibu who don’t want to see this thing in their ocean views, and these people have spent a lot of money to scare you to death.’ But the bad news started early for BHP Billiton. Garamendi started the day with a series of blistering questions to Lands Commission staff and the company’s lawyer-lobbyist, attorney Craig Meyer. In a rapid-fire set of terse questions, Garamendi asked if the project’s impact report included greenhouse-gas emissions for the entire trans-Pacific supply chain, estimated by one scientist at 66 times greater than the amount of emissions at the unloading terminal alone. ‘Those emissions are not within this project, because if the gas were not to come here, it would be going to somewhere else,’ the company’s attorney said. A skeptical Garamendi interrupted: ‘Then we are not to be concerned about the greenhouse-gas issue?’ Garamendi and Chiang also bombarded Lands Commission staff with questions about the report’s reliance on four-year-old data on the state’s natural gas needs, and said the foundation for the needs assessment is faulty. Commissioners also said they were unhappy with BHP Billiton’s effort to mitigate the emissions of nitrogen pollution by rebuilding the engines of a pair of tugboats plying the waters between San Pedro and San Francisco. Garamendi noted that the contract for the tugboats lasts only 15 years, and the project will be releasing hundreds of tons of smog upwind of Los Angeles and Ventura counties for 40 years or more. Garamendi also criticized the company for saying in its application it had plans to sell the natural gas in California, when the company’s spokesman said it would be shipped through California to ‘points beyond.’ ‘Is that in the EIR?’ Garamendi asked. ‘It’s not, but it seems to be an important point. How much gas is to be imported through Mexico? The EIR does not say that either.’ BHPB America Vice President Renee Klimczak ended the marathon public hearing with a reminder of the company’s main point, that ‘without natural gas you will not be able to replace coal for electric generation, and natural gas is a very efficient fuel for vehicles.’ The commission’s executive director, Paul Thayer, told the commission there are negative impacts that cannot be mitigated in any way. ‘For example, the chance for a catastrophic event is fairly remote, but that is kind of like rabies–chances are low of getting that, but once you do, it is fairly drastic.’ The Coastal Commission hearing starts Thursday (4/12) at 10 a.m. at Fess Parker’s Resort, 633 E. Cabrillo St., Santa Barbara. It will be webcast live by the commission at its Website: http://www.coastal.ca.gov/mtgcurr.html

Local Schools Rank Among Highest Statewide

New state education data show that Palisades Charter High School’s rank fell by 10 percent this year, following Department of Education changes that give greater weight to science test scores. Despite that change, PaliHi and the Palisades’ four other public schools all rank within the top 30 percent of schools statewide. The Education Department ranks public schools using the results of the Academic Performance Index (API), which is composed of the results of mandatory subject tests in English, math, science and history. The rankings range from one to 10, where a 10 signifies that a school scores among the top 10 percent of California schools. The school’s newly released 2006 Base API score of 766 means the school was ranked eight of 10, placing it among the top 30 percent of state schools. State educators have set 800 as the API target for all California schools. The 2,700-student school had ranked ninth since 2003. Other schools with similar student demographics were also ranked 8th, according to the department. Although Pali’s API score has risen and met state-mandated growth targets, other high schools statewide have outpaced its growth rate. New changes in how API scores are calculated mean there is now greater emphasis on science and less on English and history. Science scores on state achievement tests now comprise more than 19 percent of the API total score, up 4.3 percent from all previous years. That was bad news for PaliHi, where students score significantly worse on science and math than English and history. As previously reported in the Palisadian-Post, PaliHi students routinely score high above the state average in English and history. But they score equal to’and often below’state averages on math and science tests. For example, only seven percent of 9th-graders taking the Biology/Life Science test were considered proficient by state standards. Ninth- and 10th-grade students who took that test scored below the state average. But 11th-graders taking the test scored high above average. Also, only 14 percent of students who took chemistry were proficient. (The Education Department does not currently use chemistry scores to calculate statewide ranks.) Given the new emphasis on science set by the department, raising Pali’s API score will require improving science achievement. Executive Director Amy Held says the school has taken a multi-pronged approach to raising student achievement. She says the school has recently implemented a science placement test so that incoming first-year students are placed in classes that meet their proficiency levels. Science teachers also meet regularly to discuss strategies for meeting standards and raising achievement, Held says. Also, a class has recently been implemented that aims to bring students’ literacy to their grade level. ‘This will undoubtedly also have a positive impact on achievement across the curriculum,’ said Held. According to state data, Palisades’ four other public schools rank among the highest-achieving statewide. Canyon Charter Elementary ‘ It has a rank of 10. The school has the highest API in the Palisades with 924. Marquez Avenue Elementary ‘ It has a rank of 10, which increased from 9 in 2005. The school’s API is 889. Palisades Charter Elementary ‘ It has a rank of 10, placing it among the top 10 percent of California schools. Its API is 900. Paul Revere Charter Middle School ‘ With an 807 Base API score, the large middle school was ranked eighth out of 10. Its rank was unchanged from 2005. ——— To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.

When Alyson Sena walked through the doors of the Palisadian-Post in September 2001 looking for work, no one at the paper could have predicted the impact her writing would have on the community. In her last semester at Brown University in May 2001, as an English literature major, Sena had taken a class in creative nonfiction writing that sparked her interest in journalism. ‘I wanted to write for my hometown newspaper,’ she explained. Her parents had moved to Pacific Palisades when she was a junior at Marlborough High School, so this had become her hometown. Working at the Post was the perfect marriage of ambition and community. Sena started as an intern, and her first story was about Bob Tur, a veteran helicopter news reporter, and his duties immediately following 9/11. Her early writing talents were recognized, and she was rapidly assigned news, business, real estate and feature stories. ‘The ones I liked the most were the human interest stories, like ‘The Water of Life’ [obtaining drinking water in Nicaragua] or the Darfur activist who spoke at Palisades High,’ Sena said. In September 2003, while completing a certificate in print journalism at UCLA Extension, Sena was promoted to staff writer at the Post. In 2005, when Laura Witsenhausen left to stay at home with her newborn, Sena was promoted to associate editor, where she was responsible for two sections: Healthy Living and Young Palisadians. Last month, Sena accepted a job as a production assistant on the movie ‘Whiteout,’ a thriller about U.S. Marshal Stetko (played by Kate Beckinsale), who tracks a killer in Antarctica. The movie is being shot in Canada, where Sena is now on location. Her first story for the Post ran on October 11, 2001, and her farewell piece on March 8 was a Lifestyle feature on photographer Chuck Rapoport. Sena, a total professional in the workplace and a nice person to boot, will be missed. We wish her well in her new ventures. (Editor’s note: We have received two e-mails from Sena since her departure. On March 3, she wrote, ‘I’m at the York Hotel in Winnipeg. It’s beautiful here–blanketed in snow and a pink sunset tonight. Tomorrow I am supposed to be a stand-in for Kate Beckinsale for a camera test.’ Four days later, Sena wrote: ‘Our days are long here but they are beautiful. It is like being in the middle of the ocean but it’s snow for miles and miles all around with the wind blowing the powder gently off the ice and the sun just enormous–a golden ball on the horizon. We’re in Gimli, just two hours north of Winnipeg. It’s hard to function in all these clothes we have to wear, plus face masks to prevent windburn and goggles and boots. [Currently the daily high is 0 degrees’without the wind chill]. It is hard to get to know people this way, but we’ve managed to get along and stay sane. I miss you all.’

Decision Follows Local Design Review Board

Following community concerns, the Director of City Planning rejected CVS/Pharmacy’s application for a 12-foot-long lighted sign on a community mural facing Sunset Boulevard. The nationwide pharmacy’s application for a larger sign above its entrance was approved. The Palisades Design Review Board met in late March and unanimously recommended that the department reject the sign on the Clearwater mural. CVS has a long-term lease with the American Legion, which gives it legal control over the building, including the mural of pre-Columbian Palisades. CVS, which sits along Swarthmore Avenue between Antioch Street and La Cruz Drive, applied for the sign in November. And it has been determined not to lose the sign, which it considers a key advertising presence along the heavily trafficked Sunset Boulevard and pedestrian-popular Antioch. DRB members and community members were heartened by the director’s decision, which rebuked CVS’ plan. ‘The sign, that was proposed but not approved, was located on a building face with no entrance, not the street frontage of the building, and atop an artistic mural,’ wrote S. Gail Goldberg, director of City Planning. ‘A sign in this location, exceeding the two square feet permitted is not in conformance with the Specific Plan, furthermore the obstruction of an existing mural is not within the character of the surrounding community and development and therefore not in conformance with the Specific Plan.’ Ever since CVS acquired the store from Sav-on last June, community members have criticized the store for ‘negligent’ management of the store, which they say is ‘out of touch with community standards.’ Among other concerns, they have pointed to irregular landscaping, bare conduits, out-of-compliance awnings, graffiti and peeling paint. The director’s decision responded directly to those concerns, say community members. Goldberg mandated that CVS remove nonconforming signage, including window signs, sandwich signs and exterior freestanding signs. She also mandated that the company ‘expediently’ remove graffiti from the building and repaint the area in a color that matches the adjacent color and material. Further, she wrote that CVS must seek the approval of the Planning Department for all changes to the building’s exterior, including rooftop equipment and lighting. The company installed fluorescent lights without the proper permits last month. CVS lawyer Evans said the company has stopped using them. ‘It is gratifying that the director acknowledged community concerns,’ said Rick Mills, chair of the DRB, which oversees the architectural plans and outward appearance of buildings in the Palisades’ commercial zones as formulated in the Specific Plan. ‘We hope that CVS will work with the community and not have an adversarial posture.’ Mills and many other community members want CVS to commit to an ‘extensive’ remodel of the aging building. CVS has not made public any plans, but the company has already made changes that have pleased its critics. Responding to complaints, the company now regularly cleans trash and crates from its loading dock. And Evans said that CVS would fix a long-inoperable elevator. ‘We fully support the decisions of the DRB and, now, the Planning Dept,’ said Paul Glasgall, co-chair of the Community Council’s CVS committee. ‘I see no indication that CVS will not follow these decisions and continue to improve their property. I believe they have already done more in a few months of ownership to improve the store than Sav-on did in years.’ CVS has until April 25 to appeal the decision to the city’s planning board. After the Palisades DRB’s decision, Bruce Evans indicated that CVS would consider appealing. He said that the company had ‘grandfather’ rights from Sav-on, which had a lighted sign on the mural. Last Friday, CVS officials asked the Planning Director to delay releasing her decision for one week. Applicants who expect a rejection often ask for a delay to give extra time to prepare an appeal. Planning official Christ Koontz said the company withdrew its request and okayed releasing the decision on Monday. Calls made by the Palisadian-Post to Evans were not returned. It is not known whether the company has current plans to appeal. In a previous conversation with the Palisadian-Post, Evans has said that the company is ‘committed to working with the community.’ According to Koontz, a successful appeal of this decision is unlikely. In the past five years, the department has rejected virtually all applications for signs that are not above a store’s entrance or along a store’s street frontage. Community Council member Stuart Muller, who worked to create the mural and beautify the area, was elated by the director’s decision. ‘I feel that this determination is a major victory for the Palisades community and for local control,’ said Muller. ‘All the hard work over the past 35 years to create a local planning code and approval process has been vindicated by this action.’ ——– To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.

THURSDAY, APRIL 12 Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting, 7 p.m., Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. The public is invited. ‘An Evening With Ella Fitzgerald,’ featuring a presentation of seldom-seen videos of the beloved First Lady of Song,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. Fran Morris Rosman, executive director of the Palisades-based Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, will answer questions from the audience. FRIDAY, APRIL 13 Quarterly networking breakfast for Chamber of Commerce members, hosted by the Palisades Rotary Club, 8 a.m. at Kay ‘n Dave’s Cantina, 15246 Sunset. Reservations required. Call the Chamber at 459-7963 for details. Theatre Palisades’ production of ‘The Hot L Baltimore,’ written by Lanford Wilson and directed by Lewis Hauser, 8 p.m. at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., through May 6. Ticket reservations: 454-1970. (See review, page 15.) Music at St. Matthew’s features the Concord Ensemble and Piffaro Renaissance Wind Band performing music from the Bavarian Court of Albrecht V, 8 p.m. in St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda. Tickets at the door: $25. (See story, page 16.) SATURDAY, APRIL 14 A gently used book sale, hosted by the Pacific Palisades Library Association, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 861 Alma Real Dr. in the library parking lot. SUNDAY, APRIL 15 Annual Health & Environmental Fair, co-sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Pharmaca, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Antioch and Swarthmore. Free admission. (See story, page 9.) MONDAY, APRIL 16 TUESDAY, APRIL 17 Donald Strauss will present the groundbreaking slideshow that was the basis for the award-winning and mind-changing documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Woodland Dining Hall at Temescal Gateway Park, on the corner of Sunset and Temescal Canyon Rd. $5 parking. Contact: (310) 454-1395, ext. 106. The Palisades Malibu Orchid Society’s annual orchid auction for collectors, hobbyists, and orchid lovers. Inspection by buyers, 7 to 7:30 p.m. with the auction starting promptly at 7:30 p.m. at the Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18 League of Women Voters meeting, 9:30 a.m., Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Public invited. Contact: Gloria Schmidt at 454-2233. Monthly meeting of the Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee, 7:30 p.m. in the old gym at the Palisades Recreation Center, 851 Alma Real. THURSDAY, APRIL 19 Screening of ‘Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness’ about a Japanese diplomat who rescued Jewish refugees under Hitler’s regime, 6:45 p.m. Running time 82 minutes. A short discussion will follow. Kehillat Israel,16019 Sunset Blvd. Park in the KI lot. ‘Deliver Me: True Confessions of Motherhood,’ a collection of personal essays, stories and poems by 20 writers, edited by Palisadian Laura Diamond, 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. (See story, page 12.) Welcoming reception for the three spring fellows at the Villa Aurora on Paseo Miramar, 7:30 p.m. Free admission. Please RSVP to 573-3603. Shuttle service starts at 7 p.m. on Los Liones Drive, just above Sunset.

Normally when a single-story house is being razed in Pacific Palisades, a bulldozer arrives and the demolition is completed within hours. Rarely are windows, doors, framing wood, metals and concrete salvaged and reused–until now, which is why a house in the 1000 block of Hartzell recently took three weeks to come down. That’s because the builder, John Lee, hopes to have the new home he plans to build on the site certified ‘green’ by LEED, the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. While LEED has existed for a decade, only commercial buildings and multi-unit dwellings could qualify until this year. Now a dozen builders, including Lee, are involved in a nationwide pilot program to apply LEED standards to single-family homes. Lee said he learned about construction recycling from the City of Santa Monica, where he lives and has built a ‘green’ house for his family. ‘The City of Santa Monica requires that 65 percent of all waste be recycled. While the City of Los Angeles does not yet have such a requirement, it has been very good about expediting building plans for houses that are ‘green,” said Lee, who plans to break ground on Hartzell, which he bought in October for just over $1 million, sometime in the next three weeks and to have the property on the market for resale by Christmas. Lee said a LEED house, which works on a point system, costs about 10 percent more to build–most of it upfront to pay for the labor for the extended demolition time and preparation of the recycled materials, some of which may be reused in the new construction but most of which ends up being donated to a community recycling depot in Sunland. Lee gave all the windows and doors from the Hartzell house to an artist friend of his, Jeremy Corbell, whose work using salvage materials is on display in a Beverly Hills gallery. While the builder found the framing wood on the house to be better than some of the woods being used now, he ended up donating them as well. ‘After separating out the framing wood with termite damage and dry rot we used a metal detector wand to find the nails in the wood,’ he explained. ‘When we sanded this wood down, some of it came out so nice it can be used for finish products, even furniture.’ The new house Lee is planning to build will have four bedrooms and 3-and one-half baths in 3,000 sq. ft. The structure will face south, be rectangular in shape and placed sideways on the lot to take advantage of the light. However, to protect it from the heat it will have roof overhangs and strategically placed landscaping. The only salvage he plans on using is the concrete, which will be broken up and put to work for drainage. ‘Instead of the rainwater running out onto the street as it does now and ending up in the ocean, we are going to build a storm retention pit in the front yard where we will dig a big hole and fill it with hard materials such as concrete, rocks and gravel so that the drain water can slowly percolate into the earth,’ Lee explained. ‘The driveway will also be built to absorb the rainwater.’ Lee ‘converted’ his company to do only ‘green’ building projects two years ago. He currently has three projects in various stages of development. The tipping point for him? When he heard there were waiting lists to buy hybrid cars, ‘I felt there was some momentum.’ Does he think being ‘green’ brings more value to a property? ‘Not yet,’ he said, but he expects that to change once appraisers and lenders recognize the value added in making an effort to improve the environment. Right now Lee expects the house on Hartzell, which will take five to six months to build, to sell for about the same ‘as any other new construction in the Alphabets which he currently estimates to be ‘about $800 to $900 a square foot.’ However, that estimate could change by the end of the year should there be a growing demand for ‘green’ houses. ‘Up until now, most consumers have associated ‘green’ with contemporary design,’ noted Lee. ‘The house I am building on Hartzell will be traditional and charming and will look like it has always been here. It will fit right into the Alphabet streets. That’s the goal, anyway, to make it a showcase for this kind of building.’