Court Hearing
Thursday October 29 at 9am
SLO Courthouse – Department 4
1050 Monterey Street – SLO
Click to attend via Zoom – then scroll down for the “Department 4” link
Here is the Writ of Mandamus filed September 6, 2024 by Attorney William S. Walter on behalf of the Morro Bay and Port San Luis commercial fishermen against California Coastal Commission (CCC) and Atlas Wind llc.
The commercial fishermen are suing because there was not a fair and legal process when the CCC issued Atlas Wind a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) on July 12, 2024 to do site assessment surveys inside State Waters.
Problems with the permit include:
- There was less than 30 days notice.
- CCC didn’t review the best available new science presented by Rand Acoustics regarding the need for a 1800 meter Zone of Influence instead of 500 meters for endangered species.
- Noise emitted from the positioning system was not calculated into total noise emissions.
- The equipment used in Atlas Wind’s application has the capability to be louder and a wider beam width than is permitted.
- They didn’t address the 10 unmet legal conditions spelled out in a letter by Mr. Walter.
- They didn’t address the 125 opposition letters from the public including the one from MBCFO.
- The CCC used old science or quoted newspaper articles to conclude there will be no impacts in a less-than-comprehensive 32-page rushed report done in three weeks (For comparison, the CCC’s PG&E Seismic testing CDP was almost 400 pages and took several months to complete.)
- They are not requiring comprehensive biological and acoustic monitoring that the fishermen have requested and should be required with this size of a project.
- CCC also showed obvious bias when the CCC deputy director Cassidy Teufel gave a thumbs up and a smile to the Atlas Wind folks when it was approved.
Click the links to view letters to the CCC regarding issuance of a CDP to Atlas Wind from MBCFO, Attorney Bill Walter, and Rand Acoustics that were ignored.
Anyone interested in showing support is welcome to come to the SLO Superior Court on October 24 at 9am in Judge Tana Coates – Department 4
Case number – 24CV-0550.
OR
Click to attend virtually – then scroll down for the link indicated for Department 4.