REDWOOD NEEDLES

Presented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter,
The REDWOOD NEEDLES

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Vineyard development is subject to environmental law

By Chris Malan, Napa Group Political Chair

Napa County environmentalists demanded hillside protection in 199l after St. Helena's water supply was fouled. A newly developed vineyard had slipped into Bell Reservoir, raising the turbidity to dangerous levels. Consequently, the county passed a hillside ordinance. Because Napa County used discretion in applying the Hillside Ordinance to hillside projects, by law each and every project must comply with CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act). However, the Hillside Ordinance passed in 1991 was fraught with loopholes and vineyards marched up the hillsides to the ridgetops, decimating wildland habitats. After two years of heavy lobbying of the Napa County Board of Supervisors by environmentalists, it became quite clear that the agricultural industry and the Napa Supervisors would not close the loopholes.

Vineyard development on hillsides makes use of the following destructive actions: clearcutting; deep soil ripping; recontouring; diverting of surface and subsurface water; channeling of water flow; wildlife fencing; deep well drilling; and appropriating large amounts of riparian water. It also increases run-off (caused both by loss of tree canopy which slows rainfall down, and by complex underground piping that is designed to quickly run water off of a hill to an off site location) which increases the flow and velocity in waterways, causing bank erosion and river damage that is beyond repair for centuries to come. Also, when hillside retention and detention ponds overflow, which is common during storm events, large amounts of sediments laden with pesticides, herbicides and industrial fertilizers are dumped into streams. The Sierra Club's Napa Group filed lawsuits to bring some measure of environmental review to these drastic changes in hillside use that have had such extremely damaging effects.

On September 16, 1999, the Napa Group filed two lawsuits simultaneously: one, a Writ of Mandate on property owners (3 of 96 filed in 1999) who illegally graded slopes without proper environmental review under CEQA; and two, against the Napa County Planning Department for abusing their discretionary powers by approving erosion control plans on slopes less than 30% without proper CEQA review. On December 23, 1999, the Napa Group filed a third lawsuit against an additional two property owners who had been approved by the Napa County Planning Department despite our earlier lawsuit (filed in September) claiming erosion control plans were being approved illegally. Three of the property owners that were now being sued, counter sued the County Planning Department for approving their plans without proper environmental review. (Their lawsuit is still pending.)

The County of Napa subsequently agreed that they were indeed approving erosion control plans illegally without proper CEQA review. On April 17, 2000, the County of Napa agreed to comply with CEQA in Judge Champlin's court room without arguing before the court. At first, the agricultural community lashed out at environmentalists in the Sierra Club and claimed, "Agriculture is exempt from CEQA." They were soon to find out that this simply was not the case. All three lawsuits were victorious.

Currently, the county of Napa is not approving erosion control plans until proper CEQA review is in place administratively. This is a significant victory. However, the Sierra Club attorney is now informing the Napa County Planning Department that they must apply CEQA rigorously, and require cumulative impact assessments. These CEQA assessments are imperative for erosion control plans when significant impacts may occur. Expert witnesses, who testified for the Sierra Club, indicated that significant habitat loss and soil erosion are occurring due to hillside vineyard developments. The Napa Group is now watching to see if the Napa County Planning Department will comply with this requirement for these types of projects (not done in the past) since severe watershed damage is going unchecked.

Temperate rainforests and oak woodlands that provide habitat for a rich variety of species are being converted to hillside vineyards throughout the Redwood Chapter. As these lands are converted at record breaking speed, citizens must hold public officials accountable for their failure to protect the public trust and for allowing ongoing violation of the Clean Water Act. Concerned citizens in each county can demand that their Board of Supervisors approve discretionary hillside ordinances, that would then get environmental review under CEQA. Unless this is done, counties will suffer poor water quality, tremendous species loss, and will waste taxpayers' money to try and repair damage to our rivers and municipal water supplies that never should have occurred in the first place.

Although hillside ordinances and CEQA can be used to regulate damaging hillside projects, more needs to be done to prevent these projects from degrading our watersheds. In Napa County we are asking the growers and agribusiness to achieve sustainable levels in their industry and leave our hillsides to trees, wildlife and clean water. Returning our hillsides to strictly watershed zoning (they were re-zoned in the 1970's as agriculture/watershed) is the best way to manage this essential resource for the benefit of everyone. It is clear that hillside ordinances in conjunction with CEQA, while an important first step, cannot stop the devastating march of the vineyards to the ridgetops.

For more information, contact Chris Malan at 255-7434 or your Group Conservation Chair to find out what is happening in your county.

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