Huntington Beach Events

Mayor Debbie Cook pictured above spends much time at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, California.

An environmental activist, Cook serves on the board of directors for the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO-USA) and Post Carbon Institute. Prior to her election to Huntington Beach City Council, she served on the Bolsa Chica Land Trust legal team that set precedent in protecting coastal habitat. She helped create a Charter Amendment that protects public beach and parkland from sale, lease, or commercialization without voter approval.

The attorney attended high school in Newport Beach where she was runner-up in the Miss Newport Beach contest. She also earned a student pilot’s license, completed an Outward Bound course and successfully climbed Mount Whitney.


In 1989, Debbie began a quest to save Huntington Beach’s natural resources from development, filing a lawsuit against the Coastal Commission. A settlement saved beaches and parks from development.

In 1996, the California Coastal Commission approved a plan to construct thousands of houses in the Bolsa Chica wetlands. The Bolsa Chica Land Trust sued the Coastal Commission in an effort to protect the 1,700 acres of wetlands, at the time the largest unprotected wetlands south of San Francisco.

The suit challenged the commission’s approval of the construction of housing on coastal wetlands. The suit was successful at both at the local and appellate court level and resulted in a published opinion that protects coastal wetlands throughout California.