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Salton Sea Coalition
Full Court Press was asked by the Pacific Institute to assist with the release of HAZARD: The Future of the Salton Sea with No Restoration. The report was to set the stage for a critical environmental policy choice facing California. If the report did not make an impact, development of this region would take precedence over significant public health and environmental preservation concerns.
The Institute, as part of a coalition that included Defenders of Wildlife, Audubon California, and the Sierra Club, had a goal of advocating full restoration of the Salton Sea and demonstrating the effects of inaction to human health and the regional ecology.
Drawing on its science and health policy communications experience, Full Court Press launched message development process and a two-phase media outreach campaign to local, regional, state and national reporters. More than 15 news outlets participated in a teleconference, including Nature magazine, Greenwire, the Los Angeles Times, the Desert Sun (Palm Springs), the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Associated Press.
Coverage included an Associated Press piece that appeared in the online editions of more than 100 newspapers nationwide, and yielded print pickup in the Sacramento Bee, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News.
For the second phase of the campaign Full Court Press handled the planning, development and distribution of the Coalition's Restoration Plan "Report Card," which assessed the state's 10 potential plans, as well as its call for the creation of a "mix-and-match" plan.
Environmental advocates rallied around HAZARD, which quickly became the Bible of Salton Sea restoration. Local, regional and state governments referenced its findings in their communications, and Coalition messages dominated public discussion. The Report Card has informed the debate since its release, with opinion pieces targeting legislators (San Francisco Chronicle) and local constituents (Imperial Valley Press) have either run since its release or have been requested and are in development.
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