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Member Update | ![]() |
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Greetings! This month's e-news is about the success of local groups in the Chuckwalla Valley, Caochella Valley and Morongo Basin outside LA in fighting a huge landfill. Our thanks go out to committed citizens like them. Joanne Hedou, Program Coordinator ![]() Cartoon by Buzz Gambill
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We recently got great news from two cohorts in
California. Donna and Larry Charpied, jojoba farmers
in the Chuckwalla Valley, have been fighting the
Eagle Mountain Landfill for 18 years. The creation of
this dump—enfolded by land in the Joshua Tree
National Park—would be facilitated by a land
swap
between Kaiser Ventures’ Mine Reclamation
Corporation and the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM). At risk are 3,481 acres of BLM land
surrounding an old Kaiser Mine site. (Photo on
right shows land to be swapped in red. Courtesy of
Howard Gross/NPCA) (Map below courtesy of Give it
Back)
Donna and Larry have lived in the area since the 1980's and have spent a large amount of their personal funds to fight the exchange and landfill. They led other locals in forming the Citizens for Chuckwalla Valley (link below) to fight the landfill. (For some insight into the local response, see our quick link below to the song "Raw Trash Cannonball" by Eric Neil) If the deal goes through, the Charpieds and their neighbors will see the dump nestled among the mountains from their front yards. The dust created by the landfill will degrade the air quality in an area that has been identified as the last remaining Class I Airshed in the continental United States. This is the third lawsuit that has been brought against the landfill. Concerns about the land exchange, dust, impacts on an elementary school across from the site and groundwater contamination are all issues that the Charpieds and others have brought before the court. Judge Robert Trimlin, of the Central District Federal Court in Riverside, determined in late September that the public’s interest had not been well served by the uneven valuation of the lands involved. In addition, he noted that the project proponents had not demonstrated satisfactory plans to mitigate environmental impacts on the park land. Hi Desert Sun article on the victory. Kaiser Ventures has 60 days to file an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco. Donna and Larry, working with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), in Riverside, the Palm Springs based Desert Protection Society, and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) will continue their fight and we will support them in responding to any appeals. ![]()
The Eagle Mountain Landfill project is typical of our work to protect the public lands system against privatization and disposal efforts. Donna and Larry Charpied recognized the significance of the Eagle Mountain proposal both to their local community and for its broader implications for public lands. For their persistence in fighting the Eagle Mountain Landfill, they have been called “Jojoba’s Witnesses.” But their commitment has paid off and the success of the lawsuit affirms the interest of all US citizens while at the same time bolstering the protection of their local community. This case broaches a question that Western Lands faces every day in its work: Will the needs of the increasing population in the US supersede the policy of retaining large amounts of land in the public domain? Most citizens until now have taken this public trust as a given but the efforts of private interests like Kaiser, combined with public servants who accommodate them, threaten to eviscerate the public domain. Elements of these projects that this one includes are:
Each individual parcel that is taken out of the public domain or on which habitat or natural resources are destroyed is a loss not only to the local community but to the entire country. Projects like the one at Eagle Mountain are part of an overall crusade to take over public lands for the short-term development and profit of a few people. We are working nationwide to alert people of this trend. ![]()
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email:
e-news@westernlands.org
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