Federal Agency Warns Tollway Officials Not to Begin Grading : Transportation: Prompted by concerned environmentalists, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cautions that special permit conditions must first be met.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has warned Orange County transportation officials not to begin grading a path for the San Joaquin Hills tollway until the project has fully complied with federal rules protecting wetlands.

John Gill, chief of the corps’ regulatory branch in Los Angeles, told the Transportation Corridor Agencies that even though the tollway project was granted a federal wetlands permit last month, the bulldozers must wait until all special conditions in the permit have been met.

Most notably, the corps, which enforces laws protecting wetlands, is requiring the tollway agency to develop a plan to control runoff and sediments from construction that could clog streams in the area.

“Any violations of the special conditions will be taken very seriously,” Gill warned the tollway agency in a letter dated Friday.

Environmentalists with the Natural Resources Defense Council contacted the Army Corps of Engineers last week because they fear the TCA will begin grading the road’s path in the next few weeks, before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decides whether to declare the California gnatcatcher an endangered species. The corps responded by issuing the warning.

Construction of the six-lane tollway would destroy 150 acres of coastal sage scrub that is considered prime habitat for the gnatcatcher, a small songbird.

Mike Stockstill, a spokesman for the TCA, said late Monday that the corps’ letter had just arrived so officials could not immediately comment.

“It goes without saying we’re working with the resource agencies, and whatever rules and regulations apply, we will comply with,” he said.

The letter from the corps is the latest salvo in a long battle between environmentalists, who are trying to stop construction of the tollway, and the TCA.

The decision on whether the gnatcatcher is endangered is due March 17. But last week, environmentalists asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant immediate emergency protection for the bird because they fear the tollway work will begin before then. If the request is granted, destruction of the gnatcatcher habitat would be halted for at least eight months, or until the bird is listed as endangered.

The TCA has declined to say when the grading will occur, stating only that it is scheduled to begin by the end of March.

Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that environmentalists are relieved by the corps’ warning because it may stop the bulldozers at least through March 17.

The 17.5-mile tollway, planned since the mid-1970s, would provide a link between the Corona del Mar Freeway and Interstate 5 to alleviate congestion on the San Diego Freeway. The project has already been approved by local, state and federal agencies, and the TCA will spend $21 million on new wetlands and other ecological improvements to try to compensate for the damage.

The most controversial part of the tollway would cut through the coastal hills and canyons of Laguna Beach, Irvine and Newport Beach, an area known as the Laguna Greenbelt. The area, except for the tollway path, is being protected as the county’s Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

In a statement last week, Stockstill called the environmentalists’ fears “hysterical” and said his agency “has the necessary permits for construction” so the work can begin anytime.

Local environmentalists have filed three lawsuits trying to stop the road construction and have threatened to get a restraining order if the work begins.

Reynolds said it is unnecessary for the TCA to begin grading so soon, when the $1-billion tollway project has not yet been financed. He said that trying to beat the gnatcatcher decision “would be an inexplicable and outrageous abuse of authority by a public agency such as the TCA.”

Environmental attorneys are negotiating with the TCA to notify them of the grading at least 10 days before it begins. In exchange, the TCA’s attorneys want environmentalists to give them some advance notice before seeking a court order trying to block the construction.