Letters to the Editor: There’s nothing self-enriching about protecting the Ballona Wetlands

To the editor: The Times has been printing misleading letters to the editor from reader David Kay for years about the Ballona Wetlands.

In a letter published soon after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Kay likened environmental advocates seeking to protect the Ballona Wetlands to the 9/11 terrorists. In his most recent letter, he accused many of the same advocates of using California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) litigation for self-enrichment, singling out the organization I lead, the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust.

The Times is not obliged to publish every defamatory accusation that Kay submits.

I have been volunteering my time to the protection of the Ballona Wetlands for more than 20 years, and currently I volunteer on a full-time basis. I am also one of top donors to our nonprofit organization. There is no self-enrichment. Kay knows that, but he made the accusation anyway.

Further, Kay’s characterization of our successful litigation is entirely without merit. The court agreed with us that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife had designed its project using the wrong flood control metrics, hardly a trivial technicality.

Walter Lamb, Culver City

The writer is president of the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust.