Lawsuit over land swap deal set to go before judge
Environmentalists oppose way property transfer is structured
The fate of a land swap deal between a public agency trying to restore the Los Cerritos Wetlands and an oil company that owns a portion of that land could be decided in a Los Angeles courtroom this week, even as the final draft plans for the initial phase of restoration work come under public review.
A Superior Court judge will hear arguments Thursday afternoon in a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate a deal between the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority and Beach Oil Minerals LLC that would move the latter’s oil operations behind the pumpkin patch east of the Marketplace shopping center in exchange for the company restoring and eventually transferring to the authority 150 acres of wetlands.
The wetlands, in Long Beach but on the border of Orange County, were originally a tidal marsh, but the lands have long been degraded by human-caused environmental factors, including oil drilling. So the authority — a joint-powers agency with representatives from Long Beach and Seal Beach, the state
Coastal Commission and the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers and Mountains Conservancy — has undertaken a yearslong effort to restore the area.
The land swap is part of that effort.
Environmental activists filed the lawsuit about 1½ years ago after the Coastal Commission approved the land deal. The commission is the primary respondent in the case, though the authority and the oil company also are named.
All three declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. The plaintiffs — Puvunga Wetlands Protectors, a nonprofit apparently formed specifically for the lawsuit, and its director, Anna Christensen — also declined to comment.
But the lawsuit argued that the commission violated its own regulations by improperly using a provision in state law that allows the agency to override any potential environmental consequences related to a proposal. That provision requires a statement outlining why a proposal’s benefits outweigh any of those potential consequences. The lawsuit also argued oil production would increase as a result of the deal, but without any real wetlands reclamation in return.
The judge could rule the same day as the hearing.
The land trade hasn’t taken place, but the final draft of the authority’s conceptual restoration plan does mention it.
The 175-page plan looks broadly at restoring the massive wetlands, including the 166 acres the authority owns and 337 acres of privately owned land. Beach Oil Minerals is the largest landholder.
Because the draft plan is conceptual, it generally lacks specifics. The most detailed portion, however, concerns the southernmost 100 acres — different from the land included in the lawsuit — because it will be the first priority, even though any actual work is still years away.
“The LCWA views restoration in this area as a near-term priority so restoration designs for this area are developed in the most detail in this plan,” the plan’s executive summary said. “The smallest of the LCWA areas already has a restoration plan being implemented and the third area is currently constrained by active oil leases and easements so further planning and implementation will occur later.”
The plan is currently under public review, meaning those who are interested can comment on it, in writing until March 25. The authority also has a virtual public meeting to discuss the plan and hear comments on it scheduled for 7 p.m. March 18.
Once the public review period ends, the plan could receive some final edits before the authority’s board of directors certifies it.
Once certification occurs, officials will develop restoration plans for specific wetlands areas, which will each require analysis of potential consequences related to the proposed work, called an environmental impact report. The authority’s board certified the conceptual plan’s environmental impact report in January.
The conceptual draft does not offer a timeline for those specific plans or for work to begin.
“An important theme that is apparent throughout this plan,” the summary report said, “is that tradeoffs must be made on a wide range of issues in the development of restoration designs.”
The restoration plan and information on how to watch next week’s public meeting are available on the authority’s website, intoloscerritoswetlands. org. Email written comments to lcwa@tidalinflu ence.com.