This letter was sent today (Monday, January 13, 2020) to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors

Re: Agenda Item A-33 - California Unions for Reliable Energy Appeal of Planning Commission Approval of the Strauss Wind Energy Project

Dear Santa Barbara County Supervisors:

Tomorrow (Tuesday, January 14) you will have the opportunity to reject and condemn how private organizations abuse the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as leverage to win economic concessions from developers.

The group doing it has friendly relationships with some of you. You have an opportunity to be a leader in your community - and your state - by asking your political allies to stand down with their CEQA abuse.

A group called “Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy” has allegedly identified numerous deficiencies with environmental review for the Strauss Wind Energy Project. This is a front group for California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE) - a coalition of construction unions that for 25 years has interfered with the permitting process for proposed California energy projects.

As shown last month during consideration of the Humboldt Wind Energy Project in Humboldt County, Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy aka California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE) will become supporters of a project once the developer agrees to give unions monopoly control of the construction workforce that builds the project.

When representatives of CURE (including union officials and lawyers with the law firm of Adams, Broadwell, Joseph & Cardozo) speak during public comment against the Strauss Wind Energy Project, ask them if a developer commitment to a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) is needed in order to end their objections to environmental review. And when they evade the question, press them to answer it.

Be a leader in exposing and condemning CEQA abuse.

The website Phony Union Tree Huggers has a record of construction union CEQA abuse since 2014, including more than 500 submitted letters, and it currently has links to five letters submitted by California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE) related to this project. Please read them and ask your staff if their claims are valid or a pressure tactic for a Project Labor Agreement. See the links to the letters, below.

Sincerely,

Eric Christen
Executive Director
Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction 
www.opencompca.com

October 3, 2018
California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE)
Public Records Request

December 2, 2019
Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy aka California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE)
Appeal to Board of Supervisors of SEIR Approved by Planning Commission

December 12, 2019
Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy aka California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE)
Request to Central Board of Architectural Review for Continuance of Hearing

December 23, 2019
Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy aka California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE)
Appeal to Planning Commission of Approval by Central Board of Architectural Review

January 9, 2020
Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy aka California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE)
Request to Board of Supervisors for Continuance of Appeal Hearing