ARNOLD Schwarzenegger promised to bring an end to business as usual in Sacramento and deliver a greener California. Now those promises are being tested as the governor considers how to respond to a proposal by Orange County's Transportation Corridor Agency to build a major toll road through the heart of the state park at San Onofre State Beach.
There is no denying the proposed road's extraordinary cost to the park, to the millions of visitors each year and to the surrounding San Mateo Creek watershed. And Schwarzenegger's opposition, in the courts or on the evening news, could be a significant obstacle for the project. The Orange County agency and its Sacramento lobbyists are hoping his belief in privately funded toll roads in general, and his need to solidify his base among county Republicans, will persuade him to support the toll road or at least to stand quietly on the sidelines.
But this isn't just any toll road, and Schwarzenegger is no shrinking violet when it comes to the environment.
The proposed Foothill South toll road would eviscerate an irreplaceable state resource -- one of the five most popular state parks in California -- along the park-deprived Southern California coast. Established in 1971 by Gov. Ronald Reagan as a "great legacy" of unspoiled land for future generations, it has been maintained or defended by every administration since, Republican and Democrat.
The agency now proposes to bisect Reagan's legacy from top to bottom, closing 60% of the park, destroying its most popular campground, polluting its world-class surfing beaches and degrading critical habitat for 11 endangered or threatened species. The peace and quiet enjoyed by 2.5 million visitors each year will be gone.
Beyond lost parkland, the toll road is irreconcilable with Schwarzenegger's commitment to smart growth and curbing global warming. He has put California on the cutting edge in implementing strategies to control greenhouse gas emissions. But the toll road would pave over scarce open space and accelerate the urban sprawl that has diminished our quality of life and kept us addicted to oil. If traffic demand from future growth is the problem, as the agency claims, this project is a solution we can no longer afford.
