Del Mar is gearing up for a tussle with the California Coastal Commission over the best way to adapt to rising sea levels, an issue with statewide implications.
The city north of San Diego has taken the position that one of the Coastal Commission’s basic strategies, called “managed retreat” or sometimes “planned retreat,” will not work in Del Mar.
“We have a plan, and we stand by our plan,” Del Mar Councilman Dwight Worden said Friday.
The City Council is scheduled to review its sea level rise adaptation plan Monday in preparation for a Coastal Commission hearing on Oct. 16. The commission’s staff has recommended its board reject Del Mar’s plan unless the city agrees to a list of 25 modifications that Worden said could be a “back door” to managed retreat.
Del Mar is among the first cities or counties in the state to formalize its plans for adapting to sea level rise. As a result, Del Mar’s decisions and its negotiations with the Coastal Commission will set a precedent.
Managed retreat requires communities to look for ways to remove structures from low-lying land or seaside bluffs that are threatened by the rising sea. In some cases, public agencies would step in and buy private property, or facilitate a move in some other way so that nature can take its course.
Del Mar, after nearly five years of community meetings and work by residents, staffers and consultants, has agreed to reject the idea of managed retreat. Instead, the city intends to focus on restoring sand to eroding beaches, reinforcing its existing seawalls and dredging the channel of the nearby San Dieguito River.
Boldface is mine.
This is an instance of a city government taking accounting charge off on climate damage, it is evidence of a tort case to be made.
Del mar can show its expense in adapting to CO2 damage, likely to a degree sufficient for damages paid. They should sue, mainly sue the state of California for a portion of the CO2 taxes. Will California government comply? No, they will claim they need the CO2 taxes to subsidize CO2 consumption for their official pals. And there is your problem, pals of Calizuelan government get special CO2 consumption privileges.
The oil companies show that damages arleady are collected by the state, additional damages are additional taxes and the monopoly position of government as tax collector means they must produce the CO2 taxes already collect, or apply more. And the oil companies are correct, the job of Calizuelan government has been to spend the money with energy inefficiency, thus becoming part of the problem.
This is physics meets failed Hispanic government.
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