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Article Number 1: EPA may retain offshore dump The site now holds an interim designation, but the federal environmental agency will consider keeping it in operation Los
Angeles Times NEWPORT BEACH — The Environmental Protection Agency launched an effort to continue using an underwater dump site about four miles off the city's coastline. The site, known as "LA-3," would be set up as a permanent dumping area for sediment, mostly from Back Bay dredging, agency oceanographer Allan Ota said. It has been used on an interim basis since the late 1970s. Under one proposal still on the table, the site could become a regional dump site for L.A. projects, as well. "We're trying to minimize ocean disposal overall," Ota said. "We don't want to spread [the waste] around." The federal agency held a public hearing on Monday at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center in Newport Beach. At that meeting, the EPA solicited public input on four possible uses for the site. The agency is expected to release a full-scale environmental review of each proposal in February. City leaders support the establishment of the permanent designation so they could use the site during a $38-million dredging project set for October 2004. "Our position has been that we want to use LA-3 permanently for sediment," Asst. City Manager Dave Kiff said. "If we have to go to [a Long Beach site], it's much more expensive." On July 3, the EPA published its four proposals in the Federal Register. The agency, at the urging of officials with Orange County and the Army Corps of Engineers, is proposing three lead plans for the site. Under one scenario, the project would split the amount of sediment it could receive with a similar site off the shore of Long Beach. It would receive sediment only from Orange County projects. A second scenario proposes using it as the primary deep-water dump site in Southern California. A third proposal would designate the Los Angeles site as the primary regional dump. A fourth proposal would leave the site as is. Four miles offshore from Newport Harbor near the underwater channel Newport Canyon, the site has been used since the late 1970s. It has held an interim designation, as had a number of other underwater sites along U.S. shorelines, Ota said. It was the main collection site for a large-scale dredging project in the late 1980s. The interim designations expired in the mid-1990s, except for "LA-3," which was granted an extension to accommodate a Back Bay dredging project in 2000, Ota said. The agency has also found some pollutants at the site. "There is some contamination," Ota said. "There might be some elevations [in the levels of toxic contaminants], but there aren't any hot spots." Copyright 1999-2003, California Coastal Coalition E-mail: steveaceti@calcoast.org Phone: (760) 944-3564 Article Number 2: Letter by Da King, Greg Jewell of Surfrider Foundation: Mr.
Allan Ota Mr. Ota: Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the LA-3 Scoping Session held in Newport Beach on July 21. EPA representative and Scoping Session host, Brian Ross, suggested that contaminated sediments can not be dumped into the ocean. Since its unlikely that dredged sediment from harbors, channels, wetlands, and lagoons are contaminant-free, its difficult to see the need to designate LA-3 as a permanent "Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site". Inland repositories would be better utilized for the management of contaminated dredged materials. It also appears that LA-3 enjoys its current location as a matter of expediency, rather than as the result of scientific analysis. LA-3 has operated as an historical dump site over the past 25 years, conveniently selected for its relationship to the three mile limit, and easy access from Newport Harbor. Instead, the application of the latest oceanographic mapping and modeling technologies should be incorporated to identify strategic and environmentally neutral disposal locations. The latest research from the Orange County Sanitation District reveals we understand little about the integration of ocean bottom topography, currents, wind, thermoclines, upwelling, El Nino cycles, atmospheric pressure (at depth), etc. And its already been documented that the Newport submarine canyon, under the proper mix of conditions, delivers ocean pollution towards shore. The beaches of Newport and Huntington are frequently posted due to shallow water contamination, and local academics struggle to identify the source of this pollution mystery. We don't need another beach contamination impact source located 3.5 miles off the Newport Bay Harbor entrance. If the Army Corps of Engineers' 2004 Bolsa Chica Wetland restoration project has anything to do with the need for LA-3's permanent designation, you have another problem. Bolsa Chica Wetland substratum has been the unfortunate beneficiary of 80 years of oil well and industrial contamination. Neither the EPA, the Coastal Commission or any other responsible regulatory body should authorize the dumping of Bolsa Chica wetland dredged material in any ocean disposal site on the west coast. Respectfully, Greg
Jewell Back to T.O.C. 3
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