Plans to dredge the Back Bay advance

If all goes according to plan, a company could be hired by the end of

September to dredge Upper Newport Bay.

Dredging plans moved one step forward Tuesday when the Orange

County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of an

agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers and California Department

of Fish and Game.

Under the plan, the federal government would pay for more than

two-thirds of the project’s cost, though Washington has not yet

budgeted all of that money. The total cost is projected to be $39.2

million.

Without dredging, sediments flowing into the bay via San Diego

Creek “threaten to change the habitat from what it is to a meadow,”

Orange County Watershed and Coastal Resources Division manager Larry

McKenney told supervisors before their vote.

Once work begins, dredging is expected to be a three-year

endeavor. In addition to deepening the bay to preserve its longevity,

plans call for wetland restoration along North Star Beach, Shellmaker

Island and the edge of the bay’s upper basin. Skimmer Island, a

habitat for least terns, is set to be removed and replaced with a new

island.

“This is going to be a truly remarkable project,” Supervisor Tom

Wilson said.

Supervisors approved an agreement that calls for the federal

government, through the corps, to contribute more than $25 million to

the project. After the supervisors’ meeting, McKenney said the county

would likely have to lobby Congress for about $20 million to complete

the project.

The corps of engineers and fish and game department must sign on

to the agreement before a contractor can be hired, McKenney said. It

will be the corps’ responsibility to hire a contractor to dig silt

from the harbor.

A representative from the corps of engineers could not be reached

Tuesday, but McKenney said the corps wants to sign a dredging

contract by the end of September, which will allow $1 million in

federal dollars to be spent on dredging.

That money must be dedicated to dredging before Sept. 30, the end

of the federal government’s current fiscal year.

Congress has yet to approve a budget for the next fiscal year, and

as much as $7 million could be allocated to dredging. Former Newport

Beach Rep. Chris Cox managed to include $2 million for dredging in

the House’s version of the budget.

In the Senate, Dianne Feinstein got $7 million for dredging

written into an appropriations bill.

Congress is expected to approve a budget after lawmakers return to

work next month.

Getting money from Washington “has been a uphill battle for

probably the last six years,” Supervisor Jim Silva said after the

meeting.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at o7anf7o7drew.edwards

@latimes.comf7.