Shut Up or Get Sued: How C4CC Became the Local Voice Against Environmental Tyranny

Publication Date: December 2019
Author: C4CC
Category: Advocacy History

Editor's Note: This article documents C4CC's experience being threatened with legal action and excluded from decision-making processes by powerful environmental organizations in 2019. The events described are based on reporting by Marty Graham in the San Diego Reader article "Surfrider to IB residents: Shut up or get sued" (December 3, 2019), along with C4CC's own published analysis and documentation.

When Speaking Truth Gets You Threatened

In October 2019, Citizens for Coastal Conservancy received a cease and desist letter from one of the nation's most powerful environmental organizations. Our crime? Publishing factual analysis showing that Surfrider Foundation's proposed sewage plan would quadruple the amount of treated wastewater dumped off Imperial Beach—from 25 million gallons per day to over 100 million gallons per day.

We weren't making false claims. We were doing what we've always done: conducting rigorous analysis, publishing transparent findings, and giving voice to the Imperial Beach residents who would bear the consequences of these decisions. But when you challenge institutional power with inconvenient facts, you don't get invited to the conversation—you get threatened with legal action.

As the San Diego Reader reported, "A group of IB locals who have organized opposition to Surfrider's plan to manage sewage and toxic flows from Tijuana's failed infrastructure have received a letter threatening them with legal action if they don't stop taking the Surfrider Foundation name in vain."

This is the story of how C4CC became the local voice standing up to environmental tyranny, fighting for the fundamental right of community members to participate in decisions about their own future.

The Letter: Shut Up or Face Our Lawyers

The cease and desist letter arrived in mid-October 2019, signed by Surfrider Foundation Chief Operations Officer Michelle Kremer. It was sent to three C4CC officers: Executive Director Leon Benham, long-time Imperial Beach resident Dane Crosby, and two past candidates for Imperial Beach city government, Valerie Acevez and Mitch McKay.

According to the San Diego Reader, the letter accused C4CC Executive Director Leon Benham of making statements "that his public statements about their proposed plan to clean up the storm water and sewage flows from the Tijuana River into the US are libelous to the group."

When Surfrider's lawyer Angela Howe was asked for clarification, she provided only a terse written statement:

"Surfrider Foundation sent one Cease and Desist letter to an individual regarding inaccurate statements that have been made. Our legal team will take action to maintain the integrity of our organization and protect the ability of our chapters to do important work in the community."

The message was clear: Shut up, or we'll sue you.

But here's what we actually said—and you can judge for yourself whether it's "inaccurate" or "libelous."

What We Actually Said: The Facts Surfrider Didn't Want Published

In opinion pieces published in the Coronado Times and the Coronado Eagle & Journal, C4CC Executive Director Leon Benham warned that Surfrider's proposed plan "could result in the quadrupling of the amount of treated sewage being dumped off Imperial Beach from the current 25 million gallons a day to more than 100 million gallons a day."

The San Diego Reader confirmed: "Surfrider objects to Benham's statements that the group is 'planning a 400 percent increase in Mexican sewage dumped off Imperial Beach.'"

Let's break down these numbers, because they're not disputed—they're taken directly from Surfrider's own proposal documents:

Current Ocean Outfall Discharge (off Imperial Beach):

• South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant: 25 million gallons/day
• City's South Bay Wastewater Reclamation Plant: 15 million gallons/day
• Total: 40 million gallons/day

Proposed Discharge Under Surfrider's Plan:

• Expand International Plant to 100 million gallons/day capacity
• Continue city plant discharge at 15 million gallons/day
• Total: 115 million gallons/day

As the San Diego Reader reported: "The outfall currently disperses about 25 million gallons of modestly treated sewage from the international plant and 15 million gallons from the city plant each day, and would see an increase to 100 million gallons a day under the proposed scenarios."

So when Surfrider accused us of making "inaccurate statements," they were objecting to basic arithmetic based on their own proposal. The truth was inconvenient, so they tried to silence it with legal threats.

Our Response: Asking for Clarification, Getting Silence

We didn't back down. We responded to Surfrider's cease and desist letter with a simple request: please clarify exactly what statements you want us to "cease and desist" from making, and provide evidence that they are inaccurate.

Surfrider's response? Complete silence.

As C4CC member Dane Crosby told the San Diego Reader:

"It's a scare tactic. We responded with questions of verifying what we're exactly supposed to cease and desist and got no response. The real reason was that Leon put out a letter that detailed how sewage dumped off IB would triple with the blessing of Surfrider and Wildcoast."

The cease and desist letter was never about accuracy—it was about intimidation. Surfrider hoped that threatening a small grassroots nonprofit with the legal resources of a national organization would make us stop asking uncomfortable questions and publishing inconvenient facts.

They were wrong.

The Bigger Problem: Stolen Stakeholdership

The cease and desist letter was just one symptom of a much larger problem: outside environmental organizations claiming to represent Imperial Beach while systematically excluding actual Imperial Beach residents from decision-making.

While Surfrider was threatening us with lawsuits, they were simultaneously holding closed-door "stakeholder meetings" to develop their sewage plan. The San Diego Reader documented this exclusion: "Those in the San Ysidro neighborhood just north of the basins proposed by Surfrider were informed of the plan long after Surfrider began presenting it to select 'stakeholders' that did not include the nearby residents or Citizens members."

These meetings included Surfrider Foundation, Wildcoast (run by Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina), U.S. Border Patrol, and select state agencies.

Who was excluded from these "stakeholder" meetings?

• Citizens for Coastal Conservancy — the only local nonprofit in the Tijuana River watershed with technical expertise and a proven alternative solution
• Imperial Beach residents — the people who would live with the consequences
• San Ysidro residents — the community where the proposed "sewage ponds" (as they called them) would be built

Let that sink in. Border Patrol agents—who, according to the San Diego Reader, "sign waivers agreeing that they do not have to enter the river"—were included as "stakeholders." But the residents who live next to the proposed sewage basins? Not invited.

As Dane Crosby observed in the San Diego Reader:

"It's kinda funny the hypocrisy of two nonprofits not wanting input from a local group that actually represents people of IB and how they call themselves stakeholders while limiting who can come to their meetings. These groups are really about stolen stakeholdership while promoting ideas from state policy-makers or the California Coastal Commission for doing so."

Who Are the Real Stakeholders?

This question cuts to the heart of environmental justice and democratic participation. When powerful organizations make decisions that affect local communities, who should have a voice?

Surfrider's answer: National environmental organizations, state agencies, and select officials—even if they don't live in the affected community.

C4CC's answer: The people who actually live here. The people who have been dealing with this crisis for generations. The people who will bear the health, economic, and quality-of-life consequences of these decisions.

As the San Diego Reader noted, "Area residents have been trying to deal with storm water and sewage from Tijuana since at least 1927." That's nearly a century of our community living with contaminated beaches, closed shorelines, destroyed property values, and public health risks.

When San Ysidro residents learned about Surfrider's plan to build large concrete sewage basins in their neighborhood—long after Surfrider had been presenting the plan to their select "stakeholders"—the San Diego Reader reported that they "call the basins sewage ponds and objected strongly."

They learned about the plan from C4CC, because we believe that actual residents deserve to know what's being planned for their neighborhoods. Surfrider apparently believed otherwise.

The Alternative Plan They Didn't Want You to Hear

While Surfrider was holding closed-door meetings and threatening us with lawsuits, C4CC was developing and publishing a transparent alternative plan that addressed both sewage pollution and coastal erosion—the two existential threats facing Imperial Beach.

The San Diego Reader described our approach: "The Citizens plan addresses two IB concerns: the polluted flows and protecting beach sand to protect city homes against sea level rise. The plan is simple: allow the river 'water' to make its way to the ocean through channelization of the flood plain as natural filters and spill into the ocean. Since the flows now leave behind mountains of sediment, in theory, the beach would be naturally replenished with sand."

C4CC's Approach:

• Allow river flows to reach the ocean through channelization of the flood plain
• Use natural filtration processes as water moves through the river valley
• Capture sediment naturally deposited by the river to replenish Imperial Beach beaches
• Provide natural coastal protection against sea level rise
• Cost similar to Surfrider's plan, but with dual benefits

Surfrider's Approach:

• Build large concrete basins to capture river flows
• Pump captured flows to expanded treatment plants
• Treat to PRIMARY level only (not secondary)
• Discharge 100+ million gallons/day of treated sewage off Imperial Beach
• Cost "deep tens of millions of dollars" plus $2.5 million/year maintenance
• No beach replenishment benefit
• Increased sewage dumping off our coast

Both plans cost similar amounts. Both require political will and ongoing maintenance. But only one plan was being presented to decision-makers in closed-door stakeholder meetings, while the organization proposing the alternative was being threatened with lawsuits for publishing factual analysis.

Why This Matters: Environmental Justice and Democratic Rights

The Surfrider cease and desist letter represents something much larger than a dispute between two environmental organizations. It represents a fundamental conflict over who has the right to participate in environmental decision-making.

This is an environmental justice issue. Imperial Beach is a working-class, diverse community that has borne the burden of cross-border pollution for a century. When wealthy coastal environmental organizations make decisions that increase sewage dumping off our beach while excluding our residents from the process, that's environmental injustice.

This is a democratic rights issue. When organizations threaten community advocates with lawsuits for publishing factual analysis, they're trying to silence democratic participation. When they hold closed-door "stakeholder" meetings that exclude actual stakeholders, they're subverting transparent governance.

This is a transparency issue. C4CC publishes detailed analysis, cost estimates, and alternative proposals for public review. We invite scrutiny, debate, and improvement of our ideas. When organizations respond to transparency with legal threats and closed-door meetings, they reveal that their priority is control, not collaboration.

Standing Up to Institutional Power

C4CC was founded in 2019 when Imperial Beach residents came together to reject flawed sea level rise policies being imposed by outside consultants and environmental organizations. From the beginning, our mission has been to empower local voices, demand rigorous science, and fight for transparent decision-making.

The Surfrider cease and desist letter tested that mission. Would we back down when threatened by a powerful national organization with deep pockets and legal resources? Would we stop publishing factual analysis to avoid conflict?

The answer was no.

We responded professionally, asking for clarification and evidence. When we received only silence, we continued our work. We continued publishing analysis. We continued developing alternative solutions. We continued informing residents who were being excluded from closed-door meetings. We continued fighting for the fundamental right of community members to participate in decisions about their own future.

This is what it means to be a local voice against tyranny—not the dramatic tyranny of authoritarian governments, but the insidious tyranny of institutional power that excludes, silences, and threatens those who dare to question.

The Vindication: We Were Right

Five years later, the sewage crisis has only worsened. The expensive infrastructure projects that excluded community input have failed to solve the problem. Imperial Beach continues to suffer from contaminated beaches, closed shorelines, and destroyed property values.

Meanwhile, C4CC has become a recognized voice in environmental advocacy, conducting original research that exposed faulty water quality testing methods, analyzing federal infrastructure plans that would increase sewage dumping, and documenting how international agreements have systematically failed to protect our community.

We were right to question Surfrider's plan. We were right to demand transparency. We were right to insist that actual residents deserve a voice in decisions about their own community.

And we were right to refuse to be silenced.

Lessons for Community Advocacy

The Surfrider cease and desist letter taught us valuable lessons that continue to guide our work:

Don't be intimidated by institutional power. Large organizations count on small community groups backing down when threatened. Stand your ground, respond professionally, and continue your work.

Transparency is your greatest weapon. When organizations operate in closed-door meetings, shine a light on their processes. Publish your analysis. Share information with affected communities. Make exclusion visible.

Facts are your foundation. Base your advocacy on rigorous research, accurate data, and transparent methodology. When organizations accuse you of "inaccurate statements," you can point to the evidence.

Community is your strength. C4CC wasn't just Leon Benham receiving a letter—it was a network of Imperial Beach residents, past city council candidates, technical experts, and concerned citizens standing together. Collective action is harder to silence than individual voices.

Persistence pays off. The cease and desist letter was designed to make us stop. We didn't. Five years later, we're still here, still fighting, and still giving voice to the community that powerful organizations tried to exclude.

The Fight Continues

Today, Citizens for Coastal Conservancy continues to be the local voice standing up to institutional power. We're fighting against:

• Faulty water quality testing that closes beaches 56% of the time when water is actually safe
• Federal infrastructure plans that would discharge 600% more sewage off Imperial Beach
• Broken international agreements that shift the burden of Mexico's sewage to U.S. taxpayers
• Exclusionary decision-making that sidelines the communities most affected by pollution

We're fighting for:

• Science-based solutions grounded in rigorous research and transparent analysis
• Community empowerment that gives voice to residents who have been ignored for too long
• Cost-effective approaches that solve problems rather than enriching consultants
• Environmental justice that protects working-class communities from bearing disproportionate burdens

Join the Fight Against Environmental Tyranny

The Surfrider cease and desist letter was meant to silence us. Instead, it clarified our mission. We are the local voice that refuses to be silenced. We are the community advocates who demand transparency. We are the residents who insist on participating in decisions about our own future.

If you believe that environmental decisions should be made with community input, not in closed-door meetings that exclude affected residents...

If you believe that factual analysis should be welcomed, not threatened with lawsuits...

If you believe that local voices matter more than institutional power...

Then join us.

Citizens for Coastal Conservancy started with concerned residents standing up to flawed policies and powerful organizations. Today, we're a recognized voice in environmental advocacy, conducting original research, publishing investigative journalism, and fighting for the coastal communities that have been ignored for too long.

Whether the issue is sewage pollution, water quality testing, federal infrastructure plans, or exclusionary decision-making, our mission remains the same: protect our coast, empower our communities, and stand up to institutional tyranny.

Together, we can continue the work we started in 2019—refusing to be silenced, demanding transparency, and fighting for the environmental protection our community deserves.

Citizens for Coastal Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Southern California's coastal environments through education, research, and science-based advocacy. Learn more at citizensforcoastalconservancy.org or contact us at [email protected].

Read the Full Story

This article is based on investigative reporting by Marty Graham published in the San Diego Reader on December 3, 2019:

"Surfrider to IB residents: Shut up or get sued"

We encourage you to read the full San Diego Reader article to understand the complete context of these events and the broader pattern of exclusion that Imperial Beach residents have faced in environmental decision-making.