Development along SMART and Desalination in Marin

Today there is a David versus Goliath struggle being waged in Marin. It is an extension of one that is underway throughout our state. It is an extension of our regional drive for sustainable development and greenhouse gas reduction. Marin’s Measure T was put on the ballot by over 18,000 signatures because the Marin Municipal Water District board refused to listen to its constituents. The local Democratic, Republican, and Green Parties of Marin have each endorsed T and oppose the dirty trick Measure S. Be assured that politicians who have supported the 2009 California Water Bill and the recently removed Proposition 18 are fighting this grassroots effort with all of their political and monetary clout. There is now a lobbing group, CalDesal, comprised of water agencies across the State to affect the public’s right to vote on water desalination and streamline regulatory control over this technology.

Measure T needs your support to assure its passage. We need $6,500 for leaflets and yard signs. We need $20,500 for mailers to contact targeted likely voters. As Marin and Sonoma Counties are poised for new development, we need to be cautious of what problems we create for the future. It has only been the economic crash of these past few years that has prevented the rush.

The fight over MMWD’s plan to build a desalination plant is in contrast to the sustainable planning now occurring in Sonoma County, as exemplified by Sonoma Mountain Village. Creating development plans that include proximity to transportation, employment, housing and living amenities is essential to sustainable planning, as are the components of the buildings and their planned energy and water use. Two years ago the voters agreed to create a sustainable mode of transportation that will link Southern Marin to Northern Sonoma. The seventy-two mile SMART corridor will provide the skeletal structure upon which we will make development decisions. This will provide the economic engine for the twenty-first century on Northern California’s coast. If our development plans build into them the doubling or quadrupling of energy use for the already largest user of energy in Marin County then we will have failed our future.

There are many environmental and economic reasons for not building the bay water desalination plant. We cannot let this water manufacturing plant go forward. But for me the most important reason is that it will subvert our efforts to promote Green Building Standards that the world can live with. Marin should be reducing our greenhouse gas emissions not planning to increase them. This is why I am devoting my efforts this election for Measure T and candidates that support it. Please visit the website below and give generously to our collective future,

Thank you, Dan Monte
to contribute to the Measure T campaign and our sustainable future:
[ https://www.completecampaigns.com/FR/contribute.asp?campaignid=PRTVAS ]