New Toll Road Hearing Still in Question

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 15, 2008 at 9:33 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Environmental groups are waiting to hear whether the Commerce Department will reschedule a public hearing on a controversial six-lane toll road. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

Environmental groups are waiting to hear whether the Commerce Department will reschedule a public hearing on a controversial six-lane toll road. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

UC Irvine was the site for the public hearing on the proposed toll road project.

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But when it appeared as many as 10,000 people would show up, the school pulled out, saying its 5,000 seat Bren Center would be overwhelmed.

Without a location the Commerce Department cancelled the hearing but hasn't decided whether to reschedule it.

Stefanie Sekich is with the Surfrider Foundation's Save Trestles Campaign .

She says a coalition has asked the Commerce Department to reschedule the hearing.

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Sekich: We're really just kind of on pins and needles waiting to hear back and be reaffirmed that this public hearing is going to happen.

The Commerce Department, in response to a request from Surfrider Foundation and seven other environmental groups, agreed to hold a hearing in Southern California.

It's under no legal obligation to have a public hearing.

The California Coastal Commission rejected the toll road plan last February.

The group that wants to build the road, Transportation Corridor Agencies appealed that rejection to the Commerce Department.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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