Environment

Groups Say Calif. Not Spending Enough To Reduce Marine Debris

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published March 15, 2010 at 3:20 AM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

Specimens collected by the SEAPLEX expedition. Garbage is being studied for its effects on marine life.

Groups Say Calif. Not Spending Enough To Reduce Marine Debris

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill earlier this month to restore funding for a variety of programs. One of those programs provides grants to local governments for anti-litter programs. But environmental groups say there isn't enough money to keep trash out of the ocean.

The bill signed by Schwarzenegger restores funding that was suspended during California's most recent budget crisis.

Payments will now resume to various programs that are intended to reduce marine debris.

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The funding includes grants for local governments to pay for anti-litter programs.

Steve Aceti is the executive director of the non-profit California Coastal Coalition, which works on efforts to reduce marine litter and other issues.

Aceti says providing $10 million for local governments around the state to share for litter programs is a joke.

"There's $10.5 million in a grant fund for communities," said Aceti. "And probably one community itself could spend that in storm drain filters and other work that should be done to keep litter and debris from getting into the ocean and onto the beaches."

Aceti says what's needed is a comprehensive, statewide anti-litter program.

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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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