Drakes Bay Oyster Company: Attorney Who Worked for Koch Brothers Upset with PBS Report, Files Freedom of Information Request

Update: 5/23 - Cause of Action has withdrawn its FOIA request to PBS.
Updated 5/18: From a local Marin County resident - "my they are touchy, aren't they!"
5/17: from Cause of Action web site: "Today, Cause of Action submitted a FOIA request to PBS for the footage of interviews that went into this piece to determine if PBS misled viewers." 




What a tangled web ...

Cause of Action's executive director Dan Epstein, past attorney for a foundation run by one of the conservative Koch brothers, is apparently upset he was described as such by PBS ( “an attorney who once worked for a foundation run by one of the conservative activist Koch brothers”). In reaction Cause of Action has filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for footage of interviews, presumably under his direction as executive director. He is trying to understand why others mentioned (e.g., Tom Strickland and Amy Trainer) were not described with adjectives he sees fit.

Dan Epstein, past attorney

 for conservative Koch Brothers





(Prior to his current position at Cause of Action, and after working for the conservative Koch Brothers foundation, Mr. Epstein became a "Republican counsel for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is chaired by Obama administration critic Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)" (from Cause of Action web site). Representative Issa's reputation stands on its own conservative platform.)

Ms. Phyllis Faber

"Environmental activist" (per Mr. Epstein) is upset

she is now tied to Mr. Epstein's group.

One of the directors of Marin Media Institute

which owns Point Reyes Light newspaper.

MMI was co-founded by Dr. Goodman.

In addition to his being upset with his past job description Mr. Epstein is also upset that Phyllis Faber is not happy with her now being tied to groups such as his Cause of Action who clearly view the Drakes Bay Oyster Company as a means to obtain resource extraction rights from other wilderness areas. In the PBS interview, Ms. Faber states she is:

“not happy to be on the same side as Cause of Action.”  In the May 1, 2013 NewsHour broadcast, Ms. Faber is quoted as stating, “I am very disturbed by that and I don’t agree with it at all. I think what they’re headed for is trying to use a commercial operation in a park – they want to establish that in other public, on other public lands and I think that’s terribly unfortunate.” [regrettably it was something she might have considered before filing a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission for taking action against Drakes Bay Oyster's "egregious" ignoring of violations]  

Note: The CCC has filed suit against Drakes Bay Oyster Company. DBOC's reaction? It's "in retaliation" for all of the law suits filed on our behalf. A "how to respond" lesson learned from Mr. Epstein. (click here for article) 

Like Mr. Epstein being upset with the description of he and his past employers, he also feels Cause of Action was not described to Ms. Faber as it should have been. He claims the only reason Cause of Action became involved was over concerns about the quality of information developed, brought to his attention by Drakes Bay Oyster Company's Kevin Lunny and Dr. Corey Goodman. Apparently he was unaware it was something which shellfish attorney Billy Plauche wrote to the National Park Service about in August of 2007, as requested by the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association. (click here for 2007 letter)

Shellfish attorney Billy Plauche

who wrote to NPS about "information quality"

in 2007 for the PCSGA.

Mr. Epstein is certainly free to describe the reason for his actions however he wishes, but the fact is if this private commercial operation is allowed to operate in the designated wilderness it will set a precedent for how to dismantle the wilderness act and create a new "corporate wilderness" which benefits only private corporations or individuals, such as Mr. Epstein's past employer, the Koch Brothers.

 

Dr. Goodman (r) and Mark Dowie (l)



As an end note, if Mr. Epstein is truly concerned about unbiased press and government transparency he might consider exploring whether the local Point Reyes Light newspaper (owned by the Marin Media Institute which Dr. Goodman co-founded and which Phyllis Faber was also a director of) may be using unbiased adjectives in their reporting on Drakes Bay Oyster Company's problem, or how much money has been spent on water quality testing in Marin County using technology Dr. Goodman helped privatize (click here). More likely Mr. Epstein will continue to complain about the press and government overreach.

Drakes Estero Shoreline Wilderness: The Straw Man Gets Beat Up

Update: Secretary Salazar - “Very simply, a deal is a deal,” Salazar said during an editorial board meeting here[at the San Francisco Chronicle]. "You can debate the science… but at the end of the day, this is a property rights issue.” [click here for article]

If I only had a brain, I too could

argue about things unrelated to the question.

In the ongoing attempt to create a straw man argument to justify preventing Drakes Estero from becoming the wilderness shoreline congress intended 40 years ago, Dr. Corey Goodman continues to expend time and energy on something irrelevant to the decision not to extend Drakes Bay Oyster Company's lease. As co-founder of a number of pharmaceutical companies, Dr. Goodman understands well the importance of science as it applies to the creation and production of therapeutic pharmaceuticals and in the success of companies. No doubt he also understands that when a lease ends the property owner also has the option to not renew that lease. They are two separate and distinct issues.

Dr. Corey Goodman

Scientist and Entrepreneur

PhyloChip>PhyloTech>Second Genome
This focus on the scientific method and Dr. Goodman's later entrepreneurial drive is found in one of the companies Dr. Goodman helped fund and found, PhyloTech (now called Second Genome, whose Board Chair is Dr. Goodman). In November of 2007, Marin County Supervisor Kinsey and others authorized the acceptance of an $848,000 grant from the State Water Resources Control Board which would use a technology incorporated in "PhyloChip" for water quality testing in Marin County. Included was to determine its ability to detect pathogens which impact shellfish farming and to determine the source of those pathogens at a genetic level. At that November 2007 meeting John Hulls spoke of the unique capabilities this chip and product possessed.
[click here for a video of that meeting] *click on #10, "Beach Monitoring PhyloChip Project"
[click here for the first annual update]
[click here for the final report]
[click here for a brief discussion]

Berkeley Lab’s DNA Microarray

for Rapid Profiling of Microbial Populations,

also called PhyloChip.



It's not cattle and it's not septics.
John Hulls became acquainted with Dr. Goodman years earlier over concerns about what the sources of pollution in Tomales Bay were. [click here for a 2006 email from Mr. Hulls] Dr. Goodman had "been appalled by the antiquated state of bacteria testing." [click here for their history] As the owner of a ranch, or perhaps through an opportunity to use his ranch for the East Shore community septic system, it would be important to know what the sources of fecal coliform are. It is an ongoing issue in many bodies of water.

In 2009, Mr. Hulls, having experienced first hand the capabilities of the PhyloChip technology, phoned Dr. Goodman. Shortly thereafter Dr. Goodman had arranged funding and PhyloTech was started with Dr. Goodman as the Chairman. Since that time PhyloTech has changed its name to Second Genome [click here for company information] It is unclear what happened to the PhyloChip product and in a recent note, CEO Peter DiLaura told BioArray News, Second Genome "is focused more on opportunities in the pharmaceutical arena and conducting human health studies than on environmental monitoring as part of public health initiatives."

The Hulls/Goodman Tag Team Beat Up the Straw Man
In addition to John Hull's involvement with Marin County through the $848,000 grant, and over concerns of what pathogen sources really were, Mr. Hulls also became involved in the Drakes Estero shoreline wilderness issue. In September of 2008, Mr. Hulls wrote a letter to the National Academy of Sciences hypothesizing that there was "some other effect" impacting the seal pup population, not Drakes Bay Oyster Company's commercial operations. [click here for Mr. Hulls letter] About the same time, Dr. Goodman also began expressing concerns over the quality of science. To that end, both have devoted a great deal of time and effort in discussing just what it all means, or doesn't. So too has the shellfish industry through attorneys and environmental firms.

I've been renting this house for 5 years. I don't care if you own it, it's mine.
Unfortunately, their concerns are nothing more than beating up on a straw man which means little. The conclusions reached had nothing to do with deciding whether the lease signed 40 years ago should be renewed or not. The conclusions reached have nothing to do with whether the owners of Drakes Estero - the public - should be allowed to enjoy the Estero as Congress intended, 40 years ago. The issue is whether a commercial operation should be allowed to operate in a designated wilderness area. It should not.

Dr. Goodman's opinion on what is good science is irrelevant to whether a minuscule percentage of land in the United States should become wilderness or not. The shellfish industry may not like the conclusions. The oil industry may not like the conclusions. Cause of Action may not like the conclusions. Whether they choose to fund a legal challenge to that decision is their choice, but they will, in the end, lose.

Drakes Bay Oyster Company is not Natural
Drakes Bay Oyster Company's commercial operation is not "natural" in any sense of the word. Shellfish grown are not native. Structures used are not natural. Upland buildings used are unpermitted. This commercial operation is the only thing preventing the creation of a wilderness shoreline, the only one proposed which will be the only one on the West Coast.