[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5284]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    IN RECOGNITION OF PETER DOUGLAS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 19, 2012

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Peter Douglas on the 
occasion of his retirement on October 31, 2011 as Executive Director of 
the California Coastal Commission for 26 years.
  Mr. Douglas' great legacy is the lack of something--the lack of 
development on the spectacular 1,100 miles of California coastline. For 
over four decades he has worked to guarantee public access to the coast 
and to keep coastal bluffs pristine.
  Mr. Douglas is the third executive director, appointed in 1985 after 
having served as the Coastal Commission's Chief Deputy Director for 
seven years. Before joining the commission, he worked as a legislative 
aide to Assemblyman Alan Sieroty of Beverly Hills. In that capacity he 
co-authored Proposition 20 in 1972 which created the Coastal 
Commission. He went to work for the Assembly Natural Resource Committee 
and the Select Committee on Coastal Protection where he co-drafted the 
California Coastal Act which was made permanent by the legislature in 
1976. The law gives priority to public recreation over private 
development and gives the commission authority to enforce the law. Mr. 
Douglas deserves credit for turning a start-up panel into one of the 
country's most powerful land-use authorities.
  Thanks to his work, millions of Californians and visitors are able to 
enjoy one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. Had it not 
been for Mr. Douglas, Hearst Ranch would be a golf resort, Monterey Bay 
would be lined by condominiums and San Onofre State Park would be a 
paved toll road.
  Mr. Douglas is one of the fiercest defenders of open space and he is 
not afraid to speak truth to power. For example, this year some 
landowners wanted to build ``environmentally friendly'' mansions along 
a bluff overlooking Malibu. Speculation persisted that the commission 
would approve the project until Peter Douglas stated he had ``never 
seen a project as environmentally devastating as this.'' The commission 
voted against it.
  Mr. Douglas took on the Jonathan Club and the Olympic Club, private 
men's clubs in Santa Monica and San Francisco respectively. He urged 
the commission to vote against their expansion arguing that it would be 
a travesty if a state agency gave its good housekeeping seal to a club 
on public land that discriminates against Jews, African Americans, 
Latinos, Asians and women. He ignored the advice of the Attorney 
General's office, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court and 
the commission won. Mr. Douglas succeeded in righting a grievous 
constitutional wrong with the Coastal Act.
  In 1987 he refused an order by Governor Deukmejian to close the 
commission offices in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. He argued the 
commission could not implement the Coastal Act without offices in those 
critical areas. The commission backed him on the basis that the 
Governor did not have authority over an independent commission and the 
offices remained open.
  His upbringing gave him the tools and mindset to deal with adversity 
and conflict. Peter Douglas was born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 
1942. They immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the early 
'50s. He received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from 
UCLA.
  Among a long list of additional professional accomplishments, Mr. 
Douglas is one of the original members of the NOAA Science Advisory 
Board, was appointed by President Clinton of the U.S. Panel on Ocean 
Exploration, and is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
  As Mr. Douglas is handing over his Coastal Commission 
responsibilities to Senior Deputy Director Charles Lester, he is 
looking forward to spending more time with his family and friends, 
especially his grandchildren, on his beloved coast. To quote him, ``If 
we want it to be there for our children, we have to keep fighting to 
protect it. In that way, the coast is never saved, it's always being 
saved.''
  Mr. Speaker, I ask this body to rise with me to honor the life's work 
of Peter Douglas who has preserved the natural beauty of the California 
coast and my belief that an individual can change the world.

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