The California Coastal Commission has bullied the Mendocino County town of Gualala into canceling today’s annual Independence Day fireworks display, claiming that the display is a “development” within the meaning of the California Coastal Act that could annoy local birds.

We have grown used to the commission’s abuse of power but this latest interference in local government is breathtaking.

The Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation, the nation’s oldest and most successful public interest defender of property rights (and a longtime commission foe), has challenged the commission’s treatment of the once-a-year fireworks show as “development.” It rightfully points out that, “If the commission recognizes no principled limit on what can be classified as ‘development,’ absurd results will follow. Driving a car, camping, picnicking, sunbathing, surfing, swimming, breathing or just being in the Coastal Zone would all require applications for a development permit, or a request for an exemption. The Legislature could not have envisioned such absurd results.”

We can recall many instances over the past 30 years when environmental activists held fund-raising rock concerts and other events in the Coastal Zone. The commission never required development permits for any of these, even though they were loud and involved large numbers of participants and vehicles.

No one at the commission has proven that a Fourth of July celebration affects avian species. But they have proven that it antagonizes commission bureaucrats.

It is a sad day in California when it takes a legal challenge to preserve the peoples’ right to celebrate their nation’s founding.

Shame on the commission.