Focus
The San Mateo Daily Journal – February 19
Nearly 60 Bay Area political leaders and organizations last Tuesday asked the Biden administration to protect Redwood City’s salt ponds, owned by Cargill, Inc., from future development by withdrawing a Trump era appeal of a court ruling deeming them federally protected “waters of the United States.” On October 5, 2020, Judge William Alsup, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled that the 1,400 acres fell under the protection of the federal Clean Water Act, overturning a 2019 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision finding the salt ponds exempt from the Act as “fast lands.” Cargill, and its developer partner, DMB Pacific Ventures, which hope to develop the property, intend to pursue an appeal of Judge Alsup’s ruling regardless of whether EPA’s appeal moves forward.