September 5, 2020

Democratic Women of Monterey County to California Coastal Commission:

As Democrats, we support sustainably planned communities. Our Party Platform promotes environmental justice. Peninsula residents need water that is more affordable – not more expensive. New affordable housing projects need water that is more affordable – not more expensive. Small business owners need water that is more affordable – not more expensive. The Monterey Peninsula needs water it can afford!

On September 17, the California Coastal Commission will decide whether to grant Cal Am a permit for a desalination plant in Marina – the only community on the Monterey Peninsula that would get nothing from this project and whose environment, as Coastal Commission staff has determined, would be damaged by it.  Yet again, a diverse, working-class community is asked to bear the brunt of industrial development and environmental degradation. And in return, Marina will not receive a single drop of desalinated water.

Discriminatory land use policies have burdened marginalized communities along the California Coast for generations. We cannot let this happen to the City of Marina. There is an immediate solution to the Monterey Peninsula’s water needs – an expansion of Pure Water Monterey.

Future water supply projects on the Monterey Peninsula must be designed with equity and justice for all!

Please write to the Coastal Commissioners 
Email your letter to CalAmMonterey@coastal.ca.gov
Subject: Cal-Am Project