To watch the video: “The Framing of an Oyster Farm”, click the link or copy and paste it into your web browser: http://vimeo.com/52331881
To: California Democratic Party Resolution Committee
From: Pete McCloskey
Date: October 20, 2013
Dear Resolution Committee members,
The purpose of this letter is to strongly endorse the Resolution to support the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm (DBOF), submitted to the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party.
As a former Congressman, a founder of the original Earth Day, co-author of the Endangered Species Act and early supporter of the national Wilderness Act, I played a key role in securing federal funding needed to purchase the Point Reyes ranchlands for the formation of the Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) in 1970. In August, 2011, I, along with John Burton, retired United States senator and lead author of the 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act (PRWA), and William Bagley, the former California state assemblyman who, in 1965, wrote the bill that transferred ownership of State waters surrounding Point Reyes to the National Park Service (NPS), submitted a letter to then-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, urging the Secretary to renew Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s operating permit. Simply stated, the claim that Drakes Estero must be converted to wilderness in 2012 is based upon a misinterpretation of the Act, and of the history leading to it.
For the complete article, click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser:
https://oysterzone.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/10-20-13-mccloskey-letter-to-ca-democratic-party-resolution-committee/
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10-20-13 McCloskey letter urges CA Democratic Party to endorse DBOF
“The purpose of this letter is to strongly endorse the Resolution to support the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm (DBOF), submitted to the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party.
As a former Congressman, a founder of the original Earth Day, co-author of the Endangered Species Act and early supporter of the national Wilderness Act, I played a key role in securing federal funding needed to purchase the Point Reyes ranchlands for the formation of the Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) in 1970. In August, 2011, I, along with John Burton, retired United States senator and lead author of the 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act (PRWA), and William Bagley, the former California state assemblyman who, in 1965, wrote the bill that transferred ownership of State waters surrounding Point Reyes to the National Park Service (NPS), submitted a letter to then Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, urging the Secretary to renew Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s operating permit and declaring that the claim that Drakes Estero must be converted to wilderness in 2012 is based upon a misinterpretation of the Act, and of the history leading to it.”
“DBOF and the marine aquaculture resource it represents is an essential component of our nation’s sustainable seafood production infrastructure. As the FDA, FAO, NOAA Fisheries and Department of Commerce have made clear, we need this irreplaceable resource now, and will need it even more in the near future.
As a registered Democrat, I strongly urge the Democratic Party Environmental Caucus to endorse the Resolution to support the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm.”
For the complete letter, click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser:
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06-03-2013 The City of Sonoma unanimously passed a resolution in support of Drakes Bay Oyster Farm today. In conclusion, the resolution reads:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Sonoma
1 Requesting Assembly Member Marc Levine, Chair of the Select Agriculture and Environment Committee, to urge the State of California to assert its rights to continue to lease the water bottoms in Drakes Estero for shellfish cultivation which would include giving support to the Fish and Game Commission in its full jurisdiction; and
2 Request Congressman Jared Huffman to support the bi-partisan Congressional investigation by the appropriate House Committee of Natural Resources which he is a member of, into the questionable science that informed Secretary Salazar’s decision not to grant the Oyster Farm a permit for the facilities onshore Drakes Estero; and
3 Commends and lends its support of Drakes Bay Oyster Farm in its heroic efforts to seek a permit to continue to utilize the onshore facilities and thus to preserve the last oyster cannery in California and the many jobs it provides for women, in particular, maintaining the environmental and agricultural stewardship which presents an expemplary template of harmonious co-existence of sustainable agriculture and wilderness.
ADOPTED this 3rd day of June, 2013 by the following vote:
AYES: Barbose, Rouse, Brown, Gallian, Cook
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
and was signed by Ken Brown, Mayor and attested to by Gay Johann, City Clerk
For the complete resolution, please click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser:
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10-04-2012 Cause of Action letter to Senators, House Members etc re Data Quality Act Complaint
10-04-2012
Today, Cause of Action (CoA), a government watchdog nonprofit, sent a letter to a bi-partisan group of Senators, House Members and other elected officials including Senator Feinstein and Chairman Issa, and the Marin County Board of Supervisors, regarding the Data Quality Act (DQA) complaint which stated, “on August 7, 2012, the Lunnys and Dr. Goodman, with the assistance of Cause of Action, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting arbitrary federal overreach, filed a DQA complaint with the National Park Service for its intentional use of inaccurate, non-transparent, and deliberately misleading information. Federal law requires that NPS respond within 60 days to this complaint, and either begin the process of correcting its errors or explain why it will not.”
These public officials were informed by CoA that“on or before October 8, 2012, NPS must respond to DBOC’s challenge to the quality of data used in the DEIS.”
For the full story and the actual letters, click the link below:
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06-23-12 Marin Voice: More evidence of state’s authority over Drakes Estero oyster beds
“(Fish and Game) Commissioner Michael Sutton: “Our jurisdiction in this matter is clear. We have exercised it in the form of a lease … We … confirm that … we support our continuing authority … and our support for the lease in Drakes Estero.”
(Fish and Game ) Commissioner Richard B. Rogers: “I agree … here is a strong affirmation, a message from the commission … We believe the water-bottom lease should continue until 2029. … We control those bottoms, not the National Park Service…”
THE EXTREME ideologues, intent upon shucking the entire Drakes Estero oyster farm, are now attacking California’s most respected officeholder, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, for trying to save aquaculture production in Point Reyes.
Extreme ideologues have trouble accepting facts.
That goes with the mindset of Marin Voice author Gordon Bennett (IJ, June 14) but it provides an opportunity to again set forth some irrefutable facts.
The newest fact is that the California Fish and Game Commission, exercising its constitutionally granted authority, has again asserted its jurisdiction over Drakes Estero oyster beds at its May meeting in Monterey.”
For the complete article, click on the link below:
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05-25-12 Senator Dianne Feinstein Letter to Ca Dept of Fish & Game
“I became concerned about this issue when I found that the science regarding the impacts of the oyster farm had been manipulated, and that the oyster farm operator had been treated in a biased and unfair manner. The Park Service has repeatedly misrepresented the scientific record since 2006 to portray the farm as environmentally harmful, and it is my belief that the Park Service is doing everything it can to justify ending the oyster farm’s operations.”
For the full letter, click on the link below.
via Feinstein Letter to California Fish and Game on Drakes Bay Oyster Co. – Press Releases – News Room – United States Senator Dianne Feinstein.
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03-29-12 Senator Dianne Feinstein letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
“…the straw that breaks the camel’s back…”
Senator Dianne Feinstein in a strongly worded letter to Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, spells out the deception by the National Park Service and the falsification of data by the National Park Service as it relates to Drakes Bay Oyster Company and demands renewal of the lease as the only solution.
For the full text of the Senator’s letter, please click the link below:
03-29-12 Feinstein letter to Salazar re NPS Repeated Misconduct
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02-13-12 US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
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02-13-12 Letter from Senators Vitter and Inhofe to Salazar
“On three occasions in 2009, while the Jarvis nomination was being vetted, Dr. Corey Goodman, an elected NAS member, submitted three letters to you detailing a case of serial scientific misconduct by Jon Jarvis and NPS officials and scientists under his direct supervision…We are in possession of the three letters dates April 27, 2009, May 10, 2009 and May 16,2009. That a distinguished member of the NAS would need to send such letters of concern to you directly is distressing. Even more distressing is the fact that you have failed to respond.”
For the full text of the letter, click the link below:
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12/10/2011 API ABC News: NorCal Oyster Farm Dispute Spreads to Capitol Hill
“…scrutiny of the research unearthed errors and omissions that critics say showed the park officials had an agenda of getting rid of the oyster farm.”
For the complete article, copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/12/10/norcal_oyster_farm_dispute_s
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12/10/2011 Marin Voice: Former Assemblyman Says Original Legislation Favors Oyster Farm
“…October 22, 1965 letter from the director of the Department of Fish and Game to the superintendent of the Point Reyes National Seashore stating that since [Assembly Bill] AB 1024 ‘reserved fishing rights to the state, (it) appears all state laws and regulations pertaining to shellfish cultivation remain in effect [and thus] are applicable to the Johnson Oyster Company.’ On March 25, 1966 Superintendent Leslie Arnberger responded: ‘This office is quite agreeable with 9your) interpretation…” All of this was confirmed by the National Park Service in a 1974 environmental review of possible wilderness status: ‘…control of the lease…from the California Department of Fish and Game, with a renewal indefinitely, is within the rights reserved by the State.’
Folks who wish to change history or legal rights should not try to do so while the author is still alive.”
For the full article, click on the link below:
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10/20/11 Republican Congressman, Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar of formal announcement of a Congressional investigation
Issa, former founder and CEO of Directed Electronics named entrepreneur of the year by Inc. magazine, Member of the House Judiciary Committee, requested all documents by noon 11/04/11, and the appearance in Washington for “transcribed interviews” as of 11-07-11.
Called to appear are NPS officials, scientists, and a DOI solicitor, namely:
Gavin Frost, Solicitor’s Office
Jonathon Jarvis, NPS Director
Don Neubacher, Former Superintendent, Point Reyes National Seashore
Dr. Marcia McNutt, Science Advisor to the Office of the Secretary
Dr. Sarah Allen, NPS Scientist
Dr. Ben Becker, NPS Scientist
Cicely Muldoon, Superintendent, Point Reyes National Seashore
For the full text of the letter, click the link below:
Issa Chmn House Committee Oversight n Govt Reform Letter to Salazar-DOI 10-20-11
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09/01/11 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, letter to Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, requests delay of publication of the draft EIS
Senator Feinstein, Chairman Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Member Senate Appropriations Committee, Chairman Subcommittee on Energy & Water, Member of Senate Committee on Judiciary, Member of Senate Committee on Rules & Administration, stated:
“Several reports have shown that Point Reyes scientists have not been objective in their analysis of harbor seal impacts in Drakes Estero….
….The Draft Environmental Impact Statement must incorporate the findings of a review of the Park Service’s scientific work when it is in question especially given their history of misrepresenting science. I fear that unless the Department of the Interior stands behind the independent analysis of this scientific paper, then it will be another example of a lack of credibility at Point Reyes National Seashore. The delay would only be approximately one month, but not incorporating the Marin Mammal Commission’s report would threaten the validity of the environmental review.”
For the full text of the letter, click on the link below:
Feinstein letter to Salazar letter 09-02-11
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08/11/11 Pete McCloskey, Bagley, Burton letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
Pete McCloskey is a former Republican Congressman, now Democrat, Co-Founder of Earth Day, Author of Endangered Species Act, 2006 Recipient of Sierra Club Edgar Wayburn Award, 2010 Recipient of Sierra Club Environmental Hero Award, and co-author of 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act.
William T. Bagley is a former Assemblyman, and co-author of 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act.
John L. Burton is a former Congressman co-author of 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act.
on August 11, 2011, wrote a letter explaining the original intent of the 1976 Wilderness Act was to protect and preserve the ranches, dairies and oyster farm when designing the Point Reyes Wilderness Area. Also:
“It seems highly possible to us that there are elements in the Park Service Administration, which have had a secret agenda for some years to drive out not only the oyster farm, but the privately leased ranches as well. There have been a whole series of small impositions on the ranchers which serve to make their operations more difficult. As of last weekend, for example, the Park Service had made no attempt to keep the wild tulle elk herds in the northern wilderness section of the Seashore from breaking out onto the cattle ranches in the pastoral zone.
We think it might go a long way to restore public confidence in the Park Service to hold appropriate congressional committee hearings to ascertain why the Service seems dedicated setting aside the words of Director Wirth of fifty years ago, and the testimony of Congressman Burton and Senator Tunney and the words of former Assistant Secretary Nat Reed regarding the 1976 Wilderness Act.”
For the full text of the letter, click on the link below:
Pete McCloskey Letter to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar re DBOC 08-11-11
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08-11/11 Exhibits accompanying McCloskey letter to Salazar of 08/11/11
For the full text of the exhibits, click on the link below:
McCloskey to Salazar re DBOC 08-11-11 Exhibits accompanying letter to Salazar
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Drakes Bay Oyster Company & the National Park Service. Watch the video, "THE FRAMING OF AN OYSTER FARM" at http://vimeo.com/52331881 