Stanford Law School lecturer Meg Caldwell was unanimously elected chairwoman of the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday by her fellow commissioners, strengthening Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's potential influence over the highly independent political body.
Soon after Caldwell took the gavel, the commission approved a new storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the Diablo Canyon power plant, near San Luis Obispo, in exchange for Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s agreement to open to the public more than three miles of coastal trails just north of the nuclear plant's security zone.
Caldwell was one of four people appointed earlier this year by Schwarzenegger to the 12-member commission. The other eight are appointed by the Assembly speaker and Senate Rules Committee -- a three-way split intended to shield the commission from political pressure as it decides on development projects along the state's 1,100-mile coastline.
"The governor has an incredible strong ocean- and coastal-protection vision," Caldwell said in an interview Wednesday after her election. "It's completely compatible with the Coastal Act. I view the obligation of a coastal commissioner and his vision as synergistic."
Caldwell, 44, director of Stanford's Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program for the past decade, is a university lecturer and an expert in land-use policies to manage growth.
As chairwoman of the commission, Caldwell will hold a seat on the state Coastal Conservancy, a sister agency to the commission that doles out millions of dollars a year to preserve the coast and public access.
The vote came shortly after two commissioners were sworn into office: Dr. Dan Secord, a Santa Barbara city councilman, and Mary K. Shallenberger, a longtime environmental staff member of former Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco).
Under rules adopted by the Legislature last year to shield the commission from politicking, Shallenberger will serve a four-year term. That means her tenure will long outlast that of Burton, who must leave office this month due to term limits.
Secord, a physician, was appointed by Schwarzenegger and can be removed by the governor at any time.
The commission, initially established by voters in 1972 and then by the Legislature's passage of the Coastal Act in 1974, has bedeviled previous California governors, who have tried to control the powerful body as it ruled on proposed developments of well-connected individuals and federal projects, and even weighed in on foreign policies.
