Resident continues crusade against coastal commission

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Rodolphe Streichenberger has taken his crusade

against the California Coastal Commission to the federal level.

Streichenberger, founder of the Marine Forests Society, has been

lobbying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to revoke

its financial assistance to the coastal commission.

In comments at a June 11 public hearing, Streichenberger called the

commission “incompetent and dishonest.” The Newport Beach resident, who

sued the commission, won a major victory in April when a Sacramento

County judge declared the agency unconstitutional.

The commission “is a living example of bureaucratic blunder to be

studied by academics and scholars,” Streichenberger said at the hearing.

The administration is in the midst of a review of the commission’s

practices. That review won’t include an evaluation of the

constitutionality of the coastal commission, according to Keelin Kuipers,

one of a team of administration officials reviewing the state coastal

regulator.

“That court case is not something we look at in evaluating the

effectiveness” of the commission, Kuipers said.

The federal agency provided $2.76 million to the commission and two

sister agencies during the 2000-01 fiscal year. For the coming year, the

administration will hand out $3.07 million.

Kuipers said the agency, as a part of its review, would formally

respond to Streichenberger’s pointed criticism. The results of the review

are expected to be made available in the fall, Kuipers said.

The administration falls under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of

Commerce.

Streichenberger began his public crusade against the commission after

it ordered him to remove a man-made reef off Newport Beach.

In the ruling, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Charles

Kobayashi said the agency operates improperly because it isn’t

accountable to other branches of government -- a violation of the

separation of powers clause in the state constitution.