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other businesses in national parks besides Point Reyes. Feinstein defends her action by pointing to this provision of the rider. For Smith, this means very little. “Just because it’s written out doesn’t make it true,� he says. “There’s nothing as far as I can tell that is legally binding in that language.� Sen. Barbara Boxer has also endorsed the measure, but the Save Drakes Bay Coalition hopes to work with Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, who has previously questioned the extension of the fishing permit. They are rallying their supporters to urge the congresswoman’s opposition. However, Woolsey’s support currently lies behind Feinstein and Boxer. “I have always been committed to one simple principle: that I will never support any proposal that would allow oyster harvesting at the cost of harming the local ecosystem,� Woolsey wrote in a recent email to the Bohemian. “This legislation strikes a careful balance that will protect the beauty of Drakes Estero for years to come.� In the House vote, Woolsey supported the bill. When the 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act designated the Drakes Estero area a “potential wilderness area,� Johnson’s Oysters had operated a farm there since 1940 and was given a permit to fish there for an additional 40 years. When Kevin Lunny, a third-generation West Marin rancher, bought the farm in 2005, the land lease still faced expiration in 2012. Though he was not available for interview before press time, Lunny has long asserted the sustainable practices and environmental responsibility of his farm. Feinstein, too, has stated that the presence of an oyster farm actually improves the local ecosystem by restoring a native oyster population that existed prior—a claim to which Smith and the Save Drakes Bay Coalition argue there is little or no supporting evidence. These positions on the environmental impact of the farm come after a long and heated history of debate, allegations and shifty science. A 2008 report conducted by the National Park Service claimed that oyster feces cause a buildup of harmful sediment, which in turn threaten the harbor seal population. That report has been much maligned for using faulty data and poor science. The recent NAS report stated the Park Service greatly overestimated the oyster farm’s effect on the seal population. However, nothing is entirely conclusive. The NAS will continue to carry out investigations on the effect of the farm this fall, and the Marine Mammal Commission will conduct its own independent review on the seal population. The Environmental Appropriations bill also includes a 33 percent budget increase for the Environmental Protection Agency. For any environmentally concerned congressperson, that’s a hard bill to knock down. Other than the actual environmental impact of the farm or the potential benefit of the larger bill, Smith sees Feinstein’s actions as simply bad policy. “Considering that American support for the Wilderness Act is really broad-based across the country, I don’t believe this bill would pass as a standalone bill,� he says. “That they’re using a rider to bypass public process, that’s my key concern.�

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