Hensley to SewerWatch: "No preference for the location"

"The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde."
-- Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I thought it would be an interesting question for Gordon Hensley, and, as usual, I was right.

After all, Hensley is THE "San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper," a local, "environmental" "group." (To clarify, according to the SLO Coastkeeper web site, the entire "organization" is just Hensley, so that's why I always have to add quotes around the word "group," or "organization," when referring to SLO Coastkeeper.) And, Hensley was also a member of the Los Osos Community Services District Board of Directors from 1998 - 2005, when he was recalled from office.

He was recalled from office, along with two other like-minded Directors, for his role in developing an extremely unpopular sewer plant, that was to be constructed in the middle of town... directly across the town's main street from homes. After he was recalled, that project, reasonably, was stopped.

Recent county analysis has shown that there are several other locations available for the facility that are downwind, out of town, and much cheaper to build on, and to operate a treatment facility.

Shortly after he was recalled from office, Hensley, through SLO Coastkeeper (and another one of his "groups," Taxpayers Watch), officially supported State legislation, eventually signed by the Governor, that transferred authority of the sewer project, from the LOCSD (that Hensley was recalled from), to the County of San Luis Obispo, in 2006.

As I first reported here on SewerWatch, that legislation -- AB 2701 -- was officially "supported" by seven "groups." Hensley's SLO Coastkeeper, and Taxpayers Watch were two of them.

Additionally, immediately after he was recalled from office, Hensley used his Taxpayers Watch "group" in a "four hearings over nine months" attempt to officially "dissolve" the very government agency that he was recently recalled from, the Los Osos Community Services District. That unsuccessful dissolution effort would wind up costing Taxpayers Watch over $40,000.

However -- and this is flat-out great -- since the release of the Los Osos wastewater project's draft Environmental Impact Report a few months back by county officials, I began to notice how, expectedly, nearly every local environmental agency in the county -- Surf Rider, Green Build, ECOSLO, The Sierra Club, just on and on, even the Farm Bureau -- was chiming in on where the treatment facility should be located. And, not one of those real environmental groups (you know, with, like, staffs) is in support of building the treatment facility at the location where CSD Director/SLO Coastkeeper Hensley spent some $25 million, and over five years prepping for a sewer plant.

Furthermore, while all of those real environmental groups were officially submitting their comments earlier this year, I also noticed how another certain "SLO" County environmental "group," that supposedly "keep"s the "Coast," and is "a program of Environment in the Public Interest" (whatever that means), was remaining conspicuously silent on the matter.

So, as you can understand, it occurred to me that it'd be very interesting to hear if SLO Coastkeeper's views regarding the location of the Los Osos wastewater treatment facility, aligned more closely with "their" fellow environmentalists, or with recalled CSD Director, Gordon Hensley.

"We...," (again, with the "We"), "We (SLO Coastkeeper) have no preference for the location, collection system, or disposal method the County ultimately chooses provided that the current water pollution comes to an end," Hensley wrote in an e-mail to SewerWatch.

(Did I mention that Hensley, as a Los Osos CSD Director, spent some $25 million, and over five years on an intensely controversial "location?")

Linda Sheehan, executive director of The California Coastkeeper Alliance (that works "on behalf of" SLO Coastkeeper, however, to be clear, SLO Coastkeeper, specifically, is just Hensley, according to his... errr... "their" web site), when contacted by SewerWatch, wrote, "I would not be familiar with the details of all the Keepers' work, as I focus on statewide issues on behalf of the Waterkeepers."

When asked if her organization is aware that Hensley was a former Los Osos CSD Director, recalled in 2005, Sheehan wrote, "Yes, we do know about that."

No word yet on whether recalled District Director Hensley shares the same indifference on the treatment facility location as SLO Coastkeeper Hensley.

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[On a related note, I recently came across an excellent web site from Nipomo attorney, Guy Murray, that asks many of the same questions of SLO Coastkeeper, as SewerWatch -- i.e.: "You claim your group (SLO Coastkeeper) is essentially a watch dog group for government; but, who watches you?" Murray's excellent web site is linked here.]