Back Bay dredging cries heard in D.C.

June Casagrande

Mayor Tod Ridgeway’s warm reception in Washington, D.C., last week

has him hopeful that the federal government will set aside cash for

dredging the Back Bay.

“People in Washington and many in Congress understand our

dilemma,” Ridgeway said. “They know our Back Bay ecological preserve

project and know why it’s so important.”

Ridgeway was in the nation’s capital wearing two distinctly

different hats. He had planned the trip as a representative of the

Orange County Sanitation District to attend a meeting with water and

sanitation officials.

At that meeting, members of a California delegation met with

congressional leaders to push for $10 million in funding for the

sanitation district to put wastewater through a higher level of

treatment before discharging it. Capitalizing on his presence in

Washington, D.C., Ridgeway arranged meetings with U.S. Reps.

Christopher Cox, Dana Rohrabacher and Loretta Sanchez (D-Anaheim) and

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

In separate meetings, he delivered to the representatives copies

of a letter signed by seven local leaders imploring congressional

leaders to follow through on funding for Back Bay dredging. The

mayors of Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Tustin, Irvine and Lake Forest, as

well as county Supervisors Jim Silva and Tom Wilson supported

Newport’s cause by signing the letter.

Their hope is to get the Army Corps of Engineers to budget about

$15 million this year for dredging the Back Bay, part of a

$24.5-million project the city has been counting on the federal

government to fund. Local leaders were alarmed recently when they

learned that the president’s proposed budget did not contain money

for the dredging in the Army Corps of Engineers budget. They

expected the funding to be in the budget because the Army Corps had

already approved and begun funding the project last year. Now the

city is banking on the appropriations process to get the money.

“Without dredging, the Upper Newport Bay would turn into a muddy

marshland and lose all its open water habitat value,” said Assistant

City Manager Dave Kiff, who explained that the open water areas of

the Back Bay provide rare and vital habitat for endangered species

such as the bird known as the clapper rail. The Back Bay is the only

known nesting ground for this endangered bird, Kiff said.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.