California beach city weighs balloon ban to protect coast

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The hilly seaside city known for stunning ocean views and rolling bluffs is weighing a plan to ban the sale and public use of balloons to curtail the risk of devastating wildfires and eliminate a major source of trash floating near the community's scenic shores. “This is the beginning,” said Chad Nelsen, chief executive of the nonprofit environmental organization Surfrider Foundation, adding that he sees momentum to weed out balloons that tangle with turtles and sea lions much like he did with the effort to phase out single-use plastic bags. “Even the balloon advocates and balloon industry was not opposed to banning them on the beach,” Whalen said, adding that the city moved on the issue both to reduce the risk of fires and to protect marine life along the city's roughly six miles of shoreline. “There is going to be some impact on the local distribution of balloons, but as I say, people will still find places to buy balloons.” Treb Heining, who began selling balloons at Disneyland when he was 15 years old and now, more than 50 years later, works internationally in the balloon industry, said balloons bring happiness to the world.