Does Surfrider Foundation think nuclear waste is good for surfing? Let's wonder!
A month ago I drove the thirty minutes north from my bucolic north county San Diego home to San Clemente’s city hall. Traffic was unexpectedly light. There was set to be a vote or discussion, I cannot quite recall, on the mostly approved plan to store millions of tons of nuclear waste in the sand just yards from San Onofre.
Literal yards.
Now, I am neither a lefty nor an activist and am skeptical of those who put their faith in politicians but was implored to come by the great Ian Cairns. He and I had traded blows over Facebook. He called me a gutter writer. I made fun of his SUP camp. Then he said, “It’s a fine Australian tradition to joust but this nuclear thing is serious. There’s a gathering at City Hall this evening. Come.”
So I went.
The sun was setting when I arrived, casting a golden tone over the little crowd. A lawyer spoke of the horrors of the plan. Nuclear waste right there in the sand with no real plan on what to do with it next and no contingencies if things went sideways. Earthquakes, storms, surges, etc.
Partisan politics, feelings on the value of nuclear energy, belief on why/if the globe is warming not withstanding, it seems like not burying nuclear waste in a spot that could potentially destroy surfing from Huntington Beach down through San Diego would be an issue all surfers could back.
And a few surfers were at the gathering. Greg Long, Mr. Gudauskas, father of the famed brothers.
Surfrider Foundation, though, was entirely absent.
In case you are unaware, Surfrider Foundation is the biggest, most powerful non-profit that deals with surf-based environmental issues. Its website reads:
Our ocean faces growing challenges from pollution, offshore development and climate change. At the same time, expanding industries, such as offshore oil drilling, threaten to crowd our ocean and degrade its health (and those who call it home!).
Every day poses new threats to our oceans and beaches. Our ocean and special places must be proactively protected before they are threatened and stem the tide before further damage is done to the ocean’s health.
There are 25 active campaigns the Foundation is engaged on in California from trying to preserve the Gaviota coast up near Santa Barbara to saving the wave at Surfside Jetty. You can read about them here.
The one thing there is not a campaign to counter, and/or any mention of on Surfrider’s website, is burying nuclear waste in the sand at San Onofre.
Doesn’t this strike you as the oddest? What, do you think, is the reasoning for the foundation’s invisibility on this issue? You think the board of directors is pro-nuclear sand? Anti-Lowers? I am going to call the offices next week to find out but in the meantime let’s speculate!
It’s the BeachGrit way.
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Fck it, maybe old mans and trails will turn into pipe and backdoor, Godzilla came from nuclear waste.. And she was only a lizard.
The rumor here in S.C. is that it has something to do with the huge 30+ million dollar lawsuit settlement against the toll roads. They have thrown their adopted city unde r the bus protecting there own bit of surf and now have thrown the rest of us under the bus…500-600 homes in D.C. will be taken where the toll road could now be. It is a requirement of the deal that they have support any alternative the toll road tries to do else no money for them. Most locals are passed at them. And on top of that, they are not supplying a single bit of pressure or leading protests like they did to “save trestles” and it is a MUCH BIGGER environmental problem than the toll road was ever. I guess the key here is who pays you.
Me thinking this was simply a ploy to get all of us over to the Surfrider site, to see if Chas was indeed correct. Worked for one guy anyway.
Australians do not joust. Shame on you Kanga!
Tell him he’s dreaming.
I doubt Kanga shuts up long enough to dream.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Well I should admit Australians may occasionally profit from the sale of jousting sticks but did you ever see Dale use them in combat?
Who are these Australians profiting from jousting sticks? Is there a black market?
Dale Kerrigan and his family. He’s a harmless enough fuck.
Nah, they’re not jousting stick dealers. They’re the jousting stick junkies.
The goal of Surfrider, like any non-profit group, is to put itself out of business. Clean earth = no Surfrider.
Yet, I’ve never heard about ONE of these groups WINNING it all. Will one non profit please step forth and say, “We did it! We eradicated this bad shit! You can all go home safe now. Good night and good luck.”
Gotta keep cashing them checks I guess.
No need to store anything. Makes a fine armor penetrating munition.
We live in the future. If you have to scroll more than once it ain’t there.
we also live in a age of chronologically-oriented homepages
The Surfrider Foundation’s work to pressure Congress and urge local governments to remove spent nuclear waste fuel rods at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is available at: http://go.surfrider.org/nuc…. Take action and tell Congress to get nuclear waste off California’s coast at: http://go.surfrider.org/nuc….
It does seem that Surfrider does some activism to advocate for a positive change in California, but where I live (east coast) the Surfrider chapter holds huge parties with great bands and sells out of beer but when I contacted them about water quality issues at my local break they did nothing. The most that they have done for the local environment is to organize the annual beach sweep. Big deal. Where does all of the money from the fundraiser parties go? Is it sent to California?
Love Surfrider’s actions and ideals, and still throw the annual donation. Got involved with my local branch some years back, did some beach cleanups but very few other volunteers would ever show up. At the meetings it looked like it was mainly University students adding to their resumes. Hopefully Surfrider are keeping some bastards honest
Yep, we do the Double Island Clean Up twice a year and whatever else we can make it to. Talking with the blokes in charge, it’s hard to get ‘surfers’ involved in something that should be fucking mandatory to claim the name. The main contributors to the DI clean up are now 4WD drive clubs who recognise and do more for the environment than surfers.
Think about that for a second…
Sounds like not much as changed
Yes, it does appear that Chas is full of shit again, as usual, with yet another 2/10 attempt at stirring the pot. Beach grit is becoming the National Enquirer of the surfing world.
Perhaps the hope is that the radioactivity will create a mutant wave to pull the fame from the North Shore?
We’re very much involved. See this and prior blogs and the linked action alert.
http://www.surfrider.org/co…
But this post is a deep dive into the website. So deep that I spent a few hours and didn’t even find. How is it not front page and/or one of California’s “campaigns?”
Hi, Chas — Jen Savage, California Policy Manager here. We’ve been engaged on this for years and have a current action alert in fact, as Rick pointed out, and info on our site. Not sure why it was hard to find, but will see what can be done to make it easier. I’ll also update the campaign database; clearly it should be listed, so thanks for that heads up. I’m on the road today, but generally reachable at [email protected]. Feel free to email me. Happy to hop on the phone, too. EDITED to include campaign page (thanks again for pointing out it wasn’t working, fixed now): http://www.surfrider.org/ca…
Perfect! I’ll call Monday if that works for you! The BeachGrit way!
Am in an all-day oil spill emergency spill response training Monday, but can talk after 5. Email me and I’ll send you my cell number. Thanks!
Tricky situation Chas. I reckon your best bet is to pretend that no one has responded and publish something more inflammatory.
Or blame Mikey!
No way! The issue appears nowhere on their homepage or California section. It is not referred to in the OC chapter page and there was grumbling at the thing I went to about Surfrider’s lack of engagement. I’m happy to chat and then flame if needs be!
Well, San Onofre is in San Diego County, not Orange County.
Ze Flame! Flame first! Questions later. Don’t go all fricken old school real journalismist on me!
Conflict resolution. It would be nice if everyone who fucked up could man up and at least talk about it publicly. Let’s see what happens
they like to bury the Lead (pb).
Gold! (au)
This does seem rather odd
bumble grit?