Sewage dumping bill revives fight

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- A federal bill that would give boaters the green

light to dump partially treated sewage into Newport Harbor has come back

to life after it died in a subcommittee last year.

Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) has reintroduced a bill, known as the

Recreational Waters Protection Act, that would amend the Clean Water Act

to do two things: revise the standards for bacteria levels and allow

boats equipped with a “marine sanitation device” to unload their waste in

protected water bodies.

The devices disinfect sewage by killing bacteria but not viruses.

Saxton reintroduced the bill Feb. 5, and Newport Beach Mayor Tod

Ridgeway opposed it in a May 22 letter to Rep. Chris Cox (R-Newport

Beach).

“It keeps resurrecting itself,” environmentalist Jack Skinner said.

“But we have the same concerns. . . . We should never let sewage into the

bay.”

A direct result of the bill’s passage would be the loss of the

harbor’s federal distinction as a “no-discharge harbor.”

The Environmental Protection Agency granted the harbor that

designation in 1976 to prevent boaters from discharging their waste.

As the law now stands, boaters must use any one of a handful of “pump

out” stations to release their sewage.

City leaders have been fighting the bill, which would affect Newport

Harbor and Upper Newport Bay. Ridgeway voiced his opposition to the bill

in a letter sent last week to Cox.

“I urge you to contact Rep. Saxton and ask him to reconsider his

authorship of this measure,” Ridgeway wrote.

The bill is the second incarnation of a Saxton proposal. The New

Jersey congressman, who lists boating as a hobby on his Web site,

introduced a similar bill on May 3, 2001. That bill never left its

committee for a floor vote.

The new bill has been referred to the water resources and environment

subcommittee.

On Wednesday, Cox said he would rise up to quash the offending

legislation if it gathers any political traction.

“If the embers were ever stoked, our local delegation would stamp it

out immediately,” Cox said. “There’s no reason to worry about it becoming

law. . . . I am very concerned with whether the bill has any prospects.

And it does not.”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who represents Costa Mesa, was traveling and

could not be reached, but press secretary Aaron Lewis said the bill isn’t

the right approach to protecting the nation’s harbors.

“Its intentions are good, but it’s pretty unrealistic,” Lewis said.

“There are better ways to go about ensuring water quality.”

Other environmentalists have joined Skinner in voicing their

displeasure about the bill.

Garry Brown, the executive director of Orange County CoastKeeper,

blasted the bill as a way to “totally diffuse” important environmental

legislation.

“It would be counterproductive,” Brown said. “[The Clean Water Act]

gives government the tools to clean up the problems.”

Leaders in nearby Huntington Beach have also mobilized against the

bill.

When told about the bill, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook said the

proposal is an absurd way to try to clean up Huntington Harbour.

“Has [Saxton] ever taken a swim in the harbor?” Cook asked

rhetorically. “Why would anybody support such a thing.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .