yards was dumped here from dredging Upper Newport Bay. EPA says it would be too expensive to dredge Newport Bay if the dump site was moved farther away, amounting to millions of dollars in extra expense, and money is hard to come by.

LA-2 is a site 5 miles off the Los Angeles, Long Beach Harbor, at the edge of the San Pedro Sea Valley, 450 feet deep. Over the past 25 years, over 6 million cubic yards of dredged material from the ports have been dumped at this site, as the ports are undergoing continual expansion, amounting to double the material at LA-3. However, the ports don't like the LA-2 site, because it is adjacent to shipping lanes. EPA indicated the ports would have the funds to ship its dredged material south to LA-3. Therefore, they are studying this option, as Alternative 4, to maximize the use of LA-3 to handle the dredged dump material from the LA and Long Beach port expansion.

By comparison, the ocean dredged material disposal site off San Francisco Bay is 50 miles out to sea.

I encourage people, the City of Newport Beach, and Crystal Cove activists, to put themselves on the mailing list for this project. Public comments are due by August 18, 2003.

Address to:

Mr. Allan Ota
US EPA, Region 9
Dredging and Management Team (WTR-8)
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

Phone: (415) 972-3476
FAX: (9415) 947-3537

email: R9_LA3LA2disposalsites_scoping@epa.gov

Suggested comment letter by email:

Email Address: R9_LA3LA2disposalsites_scoping@epa.gov

Subject Line: Scoping Session, comments for LA-3 ocean dump site

Body of email:

Dear Mr. Ota,

Please put me on your mailing list for notices concerning the EIS being prepared to designate LA-3 as a permanent ODMDS (Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site) off Newport Bay, California.

I am opposed to designating LA-3 as a permanent disposal (dump) site. It is too close to the shore, being only 3.5 miles away. The dump site may increase turbidity and pollution at the ocean and the beaches of Newport Beach and Corona del Mar. The state designated Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) are too close at Newport Beach and Crystal Cove.

Other dump sites, like off San Francisco, are 50 miles off shore. The site at Newport Beach was chosen only to avoid state regulations, being just outside state jurisdiction at 3 miles. A better site, farther away, would be more environmentally sound. The Newport submarine canyon has already been shown to carry pollution towards shore from the Orange County Sanitation District's outfall pipe 4.5 miles off shore. We don't need another pollution source in Newport canyon.

I am further opposed to transporting dump material from locations such as the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Bolsa Chica to Newport Beach's LA-3. We don't need the ocean pollution, let alone the air pollution, from barges streaming down the coast to dump off Newport Bay.

Thank you for putting me on the notice list and registering my comments.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
Phone Number
email address

Note: in the past 25 years (1976-2001) LA-2 had double the amount of dump material than LA-3. If LA-3 is designated a permanent dump site, expect more dump material to be deposited at LA-3, as the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers seek a "balance."

Jan Vandersloot (949) 548-6326

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