Upper Bay dredging troubles Lagunans

Tons of sediment from the Upper Newport Bay dredging project are being dumped off Crystal Cove and some Laguna Beach residents are concerned about the environmental impact it may have on protected Laguna waters.

Roger Butow, founder and chairman of the Clean Water Now! Coalition, is worried about possible contaminants and is aiming to get the dredging project suspended until Laguna residents have a chance to weigh in on the issue.

“I want a pollution intervention right now,” Butow said.

The dump site is an approved U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) site that is near the border of an EPA district border that separates the two coastal cities.

Newport residents were informed of the dumping, as well as the dredging of the Upper Newport Bay.

Laguna, however, is not technically in the dump site’s district and was left out of the loop.

Butow petitioned the Laguna Beach City Council to take up the issue and hopes the city will ask a judge to stop the dredging.

Failing that, he hopes to enlist a wealthy Lagunan to take the issue up in court and demand a cease and desist order.

Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff doesn’t think stopping the dredging halfway through will please Newport citizens who live near the bay.

“The residents around here are looking forward to an end to this,” Kiff said.

If Butow succeeds in halting the dredging, he will stop an environmental preservation project to stop the bay from filling in.

The Upper Newport Bay is a saltwater estuary fed mostly by San Diego Creek. The space is a protected ecological reserve. It’s one of the last remaining natural estuary systems in Southern California.

As is common of estuaries, silt and sediment collect in the bay as it’s pushed downstream toward the ocean.

The deposits have compiled over a span of decades, making the bay ever shallower.

“If we didn’t remove sediment from the Upper Bay, it would turn into a meadow instead of being one of Southern California’s last remaining natural estuaries,” Kiff said.

The clamshell dredges pulling out the tons of sediment are also digging channels in the bay to give the future silt a place to be out of the way.

This will push subsequent dredging projects further into the future.

Core samples were drilled prior to the dredging to confirm the sediment was up to the EPA’s regulations to dump at the site. While the Upper Bay’s sediment is safe for dumping, any material from the Lower Newport Bay would carry toxins that would make it far more difficult to qualify for the dump site.

It’s on Newport Beach’s wish list, but no dredging projects are planned for the Lower Newport Bay.

The site, known as LA-3, is three miles off shore from Crystal Cove.

Sediment is hauled out on a barge via tugboat and is generally deposited in 1,600 feet of water between the three- and four-mile mark.

The main environmental concerns are over chemicals present in the sediment through urban run-off, and what those contaminants might do to marine life.

During Tuesday’s Laguna Beach City Council meeting, Butow even went as far as to say he’d be willing to challenge Newport Beach’s claim that the sediment isn’t dangerous by catching a fish and taking it to Newport officials.

“If they think the water is safe, they will eat the fish,” Butow said.

OCC marine science instructor Dennis Kelly said he’d be more than comfortable taking up that challenge.

Kelly said he shared the same concerns as Butow in the 1970s when dredging projects first began dumping sediment in similar sites.

After 30 years of seeing the process again and again, Kelly said the impact dumping has on the environment is minimal.

“There has been 60 years worth of study and documentation on the impact that these dump sites have and it’s nil — there’s no long-term or even short-term negatives,” Kelly said.

The ecosystem at the bottom of the dump site will look virtually the same within a year, Kelly said.

That’s why Kiff is comfortable dumping the sediment in Newport Beach waters.

“This material couldn’t be dumped here if it was toxic,” Kiff said.

If pollution is Butow’s concern, then he should be looking into runoff that comes from all of Orange County, not just silt dredged from Newport Bay, Kiff said.

“Instead of stopping LA-3, we should be working with other inland communities,” Kiff said. “[Butow]’s focusing on one aspect of a much larger problem.”

The county’s coastal ecosystem would actually be in greater danger if the dredging stopped, Kelly said.

Fish species use the estuary as a breeding grounds and native birds, such as the endangered California least tern, nest there.

JOSH ADEN may be reached at (714) 966-4609 or at josh.aden@latimes.com.