Sierra Club loses bid to save shrimp
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
By NATHAN CRABBE
Register Staff Writer
Construction will begin this spring or summer on Beringer Blass Wine Estate's giant winery complex in south Napa County, the company's president said following a court decision last week.
A Napa superior court judge on Jan. 6 rejected the Napa Sierra Club's lawsuit over the county's approval of the project. Beringer President Jim Watkins said the company will now follow through with the final permitting process.
After that process is complete, Watkins said, construction should last a little more than one year. The complex would be the county's largest structure at 1.4 million-square-feet, though a smaller structure might initially be built given the weak economy.
Judge Stephen Kroyer ruled last week against the Sierra Club in its lawsuit over the project, despite the club's concerns over threatened fairy shrimp. Kroyer found the county followed the state Environmental Quality Act in approving the project.
Napa Club President John Stephens said the decision could spell doom for the shrimp, which are listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
"God help the fairy shrimp now," Stephens said.
Kroyer found the project includes significant wetland protection and might even increase fairy shrimp protection in the area. The project might improve a site bordered by industrial uses "not in pristine condition now," he found.
"It is essentially denuded, has no trees, has been overgrazed by cattle for over a century, contains a monocrop of non-native grasses, and is littered with cow pies," he wrote in the decision.
Watkins said the company believes the project will be environmentally sensitive, while economically beneficial for the county.
The complex would bring under one roof winemaking and bottling now done in St. Helena and distribution handled in Fairfield. The facility would have the capacity for up to 36 million gallons of wine each year.
The county Board of Supervisors rejected the club's appeal of the project last February, leading to the lawsuit. Supervisor Bill Dodd, who was board chairman at the time, said the complex would reduce traffic that is now "just choking up the valley."
The company maintains the complex, by consolidating operations, would eliminate about 8,000 truck trips each year on Highway 29. Watkins said the complex makes economic and ecological sense.
"It's better for us, it's better for the county, it's better for our employees," he said.
Stephens said the project might cause more accidents on Jamieson Canyon Road by increasing truck trips on the narrow roadway.
Dodd said the board supported the project in part because it would build 75 times more wetland than it takes away. The company would eliminate less than half an acre of wetlands, construct 30 acres of new wetlands and restore No-Name Creek.
Stephens said a National Academy of Sciences report found 60 percent of constructed wetlands don't work as intended. He also questioned whether new ponds won't attract waterfowl, creating a hazard for the nearby airport.
The building is permitted to fill the equivalent of more than 26 football fields on the 218-acre property just south of the airport. Another 120 acres would be planted in vineyards.
The lawsuit was the second by the Sierra Club against Napa County in recent years. In 1999, the club sued the county over its approval of vineyard projects. The county settled that suit in 2000, leading to changes in the ways the county approves such projects.
Both suits were funded by the St. Helena-based Mennen Environmental Foundation, which is led by environmental activist and shaving fortune heir Peter Mennen.
Stephens said he didn't know if the recent decision would be appealed. The judge's ruling won't sway the club from suing over similar issues in the future, he said.
"We'll strongly defend wildlife in any case," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 256-2260 or ncrabbe@napanews.com