In several news reports, EHL staff spoke out against the devastation of San Onofre State Beach by the proposed Foothill tollroad. Also, EHL Board Member Jane Block was extensively profiled in the Riverside Press Enterprise.



In the December 7, 2005 Orange County Register (“Agency picks route for 241 tollway extension”), EHL Executive Director Dan Silver stated, “We're really concerned with the catastrophic impact on the state park, plus all the other affected habitat to the north. To say they picked the least damaging is kind of like saying, ‘Which of my four arms and legs do I want to remove?’”

EHL Staff Attorney Michael Fitts explained to readers of the San Diego Union Tribune (“Toll road extension vote delayed a week,” January 13, 2006) that the tollroad agency’s data on impacted structures – cited as the reason for rejecting the alternative of widening Interstate 5 – was, according to an engineering study, grossly exaggerated.

In the Los Angeles Times (“With a State Park at Stake, Opponents of O.C. Tollway Extension Offer Directions,” January 13, 2006) Fitts was quoted: “Feasible non-toll-road alternatives exist. Our results shatter the TCA's numbers.”

Similar comments were made in the North County Times of Jan. 18, 2006 (“Toll road studies challenge Orange County agency findings”). “We believe the (Transportation Corridor Agencies’) numbers simply can't be trusted,” said Michael Fitts, an attorney with the Endangered Habitat League. “In fact we believe they’re wrong.”

On January 12, 2005, the Riverside Press Enterprise ran a major profile of EHL Board Member Jane Block – “A fight for Box Springs Canyon led Jane Block to activism” – along with a half page color photo of Jane overlooking one of her conservation projects in San Timoteo Canyon. The article detailed Jane’s extraordinary range of accomplishments, from environmental protection at the Santa Rosa Plateau to women’s health and childcare to local political campaigns. Her collaboration, community engagement, and tenacity are a model for us all.