Special Interest Groups Hijack House Armed Services Committee Markup to Thwart the Foothill-South Toll Road

Press Release

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS HIJACK HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE MARKUP TO THWART THE FOOTHILL-SOUTH TOLL ROAD

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (R-Corona) was outraged by the passage of an amendment introduced by Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) to repeal federal law that allowed the Department of the Navy to grant an easement at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. The passage of the amendment represents a serious blow to two decades of work to develop a locally-preferred and environmentally sensitive route for the Foothill-South toll road.

"I am appalled by the fact that a member of Congress, who's not from Orange County, is trying to stop a key regional transportation project at the behest of special interest groups and in spite the project's strong support among local elected officials," said Rep. Calvert. "Rep. Davis and her cadre of special interest groups are weakening the Marine Corps' authority and rights to manage its own land at Camp Pendleton."

"The language in existing law simply reaffirms the Marine Corps' right to grant an easement over the land they own and have leased to the State. Any contention that the Foothill-South has been granted special environmental exemptions is flat out false and I've got about 50 pounds worth of environmental documents in my office to back that up."

In 1971, the State of California and the Dept. of the Navy entered into a 50 year lease that allowed for the northern-most end of Camp Pendleton to be used as a State Park. In the lease, both parties signed and acknowledged the right of the Department of the Navy to grant current and future easements on the leased property.

For almost two decades, federal and state transportation and environmental agencies, as well as the Marine Corps have worked to identify the most environmentally prudent alternative for the Foothill-South. After following both California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes, the preferred alternative route has been chosen and the environmental process is in the Final Environmental Impact Statement phase.

The amendment introduced by Rep. Davis to the National Defense Authorization Act during the House Armed Services Committee mark-up repealed Section 2851of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 1999, which reaffirms the Department of the Navy's authority to grant an easement on the Camp Pendleton property leased to the State of California for the Foothill-South.

"I'm disappointed that my Orange County colleague, Rep. Sanchez, spoke in favor of the Davis amendment to kill the toll road and falsely asserted that the project is not subject to State law when in fact it is subject and has complied with CEQA," stated Rep. Calvert.

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