Two days before Collins died unexpectedly in 2021, he asked his daughter to help him realize his dream of creating a #sanctuary.
“I feel complete,” Walker said, “like I’ve fulfilled a promise and an obligation to my family, to the earth.
It’s something that has been on my mind for a long time, and something we’ve always been worried about.
Now we can stop worrying so much and move onto the other things we have to deal with.”
The sanctuary’s boundaries will come into effect on 15 December,
following a statutory 45 day final review by US Congress and the state of California.
One of the main points of contention was an #offshore #wind #farm that the California Energy Commission approved earlier this year.
The farm will see hundreds of giant turbines floating in the ocean 20 miles off #Morro #Bay,
a small city in central California, that could bring up to 3 gigawatts of clean energy to the grid
– enough to power more than 1 million homes.
The tribe was concerned about the impact that the increase in ocean #noise would have on whales, fish and other marine species, as well as the proposed #port that would need to be built to transport the energy.
Morro Bay is home to one of the last remaining southern sea otter populations, and environmental campaigners raised concerns about increased boat traffic through the proposed port.
“We’re protecting what we can now, and this is the biggest success, but there’s still more work to be done,” Walker said.
The plan that has been approved is significantly smaller than what the tribe initially proposed,
which was 7,670 sq miles of ocean.
Morro Bay, which was also included in the tribe’s original plan, has been excluded from the sanctuary.
In 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) conducted an environmental review of potential impacts of offshore wind activity in the central California coast region and found “no significant impacts to environmental resources”.
The sanctuary had widespread support from senators and members of US Congress.
#Salud #Carbajal, a Democratic representative, whose district includes parts of San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, areas alongside the sanctuary’s boundaries, said he is “grateful” to the Indigenous leaders who helped advocate for these protections.
“The historic designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary comes not a moment too soon,” he told the Guardian in an email. “As our oceans and communities [face] unprecedented challenges from a changing marine environment, this new sanctuary comes at a critical time for our region.”
Carbajal was part of the negotiations between the tribe, local communities and federal and state entities to reach a compromise that would allow offshore wind development off the Morro Bay coast.
Although the tribe won’t manage the sanctuary, Paul Michel, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s sanctuaries, west coast region, adds that
Noaa will “establish a collaborative co-stewardship management structure for the sanctuary to provide for respectful and meaningful involvement of representatives and partners from multiple local tribes and Indigenous communities”.
As for Walker, who has spent the past three years fighting for the sanctuary’s designation,
she says she’ll be taking some much needed time off.
“I just want to relish in the moment,” she said.
“And so I’m going to ride my horses and try to relax before I start on our next campaign.”
oder den Geschirrpüler 
während der Zeiten mit viel Wind in Betrieb nehmen. Oder uns (elektrifizierten) Rückenwind in das eBike packen! 
Das Foto wurde von 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗼 𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 ( @quattro.pilot auf Instagram) in 
𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲: Berechnungen auf Basis von Daten der Transparenzplattform des Verbandes Europäischer Übertragungsnetzbetreiber ENTSO-E (www.entsoe.eu)
without Coastal Commission approval and ignoring the commission’s repeated demands to stop its work, officials say.
“This is the first time in the agency’s history that we’ve had a party blatantly ignore a cease and desist order like this and refuse to submit a permit application,” 
Greg Cocks 
Die 
Offshore-
Das internationale Verbundprojekt „Ngā Punga o te Moana – Anchoring Our Open Ocean Future“, an dem die 
February 2023 
