Former Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey lauded as expansion of marine sanctuaries celebrated

GUALALA - The expansion of two North Coast marine sanctuaries that provide greater protection from offshore oil drilling and mining was celebrated Sunday along with the former congresswoman credited with making that longtime goal a reality.

While plaudits were given to the environmental activists, fishermen, scientists and community activists who played a critical role in the crusade to more than double the size of the Cordell Bank and the newly named Greater Farallones sanctuaries, all conceded they wouldn’t be at the Gualala Arts Center for the event without the work of former Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.

“It would not have happened if my predecessor, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, had not used the authority of her office to set in motion, to put it motion and to work tirelessly,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. Huffman succeeded Woolsey when she retired in 2013 from her North Coast congressional district.

“When I arrived in Congress, the other members of the California delegation were crystal clear that we all had an obligation to get this over the finish line because of what Lynn started,” Huffman added.

After receiving a standing ovation from the 300 people in attendance, Woolsey said she was going to copy what Vice President Joe Biden said to President Barack Obama after the signing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

“It’s a big deal,” Woolsey said - excluding Biden’s infamous expletive because her grandchildren were in the audience, the 77-year-old noted.

Woolsey said she made coastal protection one of her top priorities after being elected to Congress in 1992, putting a top aide, Tom Roth, on the issue to work with various interest groups.

Environmentalists feared that even with the establishment of the 1,279-square-mile Gulf of Farallones in 1981 and the 529-square-mile Cordell Bank sanctuary in 1989, the coast could still be vulnerable because of new technological advances in deep-sea oil drilling.

“I always knew that saving our coast was one of our very first and most important actions that should happen under my guidance,” Woolsey said.

“We had letters of support virtually from everybody except, however, the oil and gas exploration industry,” she said.

Years of work went into the legislation, and Woolsey found her opportunity when her bill to expand the two sanctuaries passed the U.S. House in 2008. The odds looked good with Democrats controlling the House and Obama in the White House.

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer helped shepherd companion legislation through a Senate committee, but it never reached the Senate floor. Once Republicans took over the U.S. House in 2011, said Woolsey, they wouldn’t take a look at her bill.

But after announcing her retirement in 2011, Woolsey was asked by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi what she wanted for her legacy. Without hesitation, Woolsey said she wanted protection for the Sonoma Coast by expanding the marine sanctuaries.

“She said, ‘OK.’ And when Nancy says, ‘OK,’ she means OK,” Woolsey said.

Supporters mounted a campaign to lobby the executive branch for action, though the city of Santa Rosa was not helpful, Woolsey said.

Lobbying by Biden and former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also proved key, she said.

The administration approved an expansion of the sanctuaries in December 2012 with a timeline to finish the details within two years.

“This control addict up here ... I lost all control over my project,” Woolsey said. But she added that the public’s input, through a process overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, improved the effort.

“You made our project better. That’s pretty hard to say when you’re a retired politician,” she told the audience. “You did it. No one person did it.”

Under the expansion, which was finalized on June 9, the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary grew to 1,286 square miles. The offshore sanctuary protects the Cordell Bank, a rocky undersea reef that contains the 5,200-feet-deep Bodega Canyon, which creates an upwelling of nutrient-rich water for marine mammals.

NOAA also renamed the Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary the Greater Farallones sanctuary and expanded it to 3,295 miles, from north of Point Arena in Mendocino County to Marin County, where it meets the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

The protected area provides a breeding ground for 25 endangered or threatened species as well as 36 marine mammals including blue, gray and humpback whales, harbor seals and elephant seals, according to NOAA. It is also home to more than 250,000 breeding seabirds and one of the most significant white shark populations in the world, the agency says.

In the aftermath of their victory, advocates were in the mood to keep up their fight all the way up the Pacific Coast. Huffman said he would like to expand the protection to the Arctic Circle.

“We get to celebrate today, but our future says, ‘Go north,” Woolsey said.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.