City to look at ocean plan

June Casagrande

From Corona del Mar to El Morro, as much as 1,000 feet from the

shore, dolphins frolic and breed.

The California Ocean Plan protects this area and other sensitive

marine habitats throughout the state. But changes to that plan could

ease its standards, sending more pollution into these areas.

Some cities, however, worry that fine print of the proposed

changes would at the same time bring tough new runoff standards so

high that even Newport leaders label them impossible.

That’s why Garry Brown, director of Orange County CoastKeeper, an

environmental group opposing the changes, and a member of the city’s

water quality committee, will give a presentation on the alternations

at today’s committee meeting.

“This is a way to let the committee and others know what’s going

on with the Ocean Plan,” Brown said.

CoastKeeper and a long list of other environmental groups have

opposed the amendments to the ocean plan proposed by the State Water

Resources Control Board.

The plan lists more than 1,600 environmentally sensitive areas

along the California coast that it labels as “areas of special

biological significance,” usually because they support marine life.

The plan says it’s illegal to dump potentially harmful wastewater

into these areas, but in the 30 years since the plan was written, it

hasn’t been enforced, Brown said.

In 2000, CoastKeeper successfully sued to make the board enforce

the rules. In the wake of that lawsuit, the board is looking for ways

to make compliance more realistic.

Brown will give the presentation today on why he and other

environmentalists think those changes are a bad idea.

Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said that committee members might

decide to send the matter to the City Council for consideration. The

council could decide to examine the changes and send its comments to

the state board in hopes of influencing its final decision.

“It’s very possible the council will want to take a position,”

Kiff said.