Letter To California Regional Water Quality Control Board
Chairman Murray and Members of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board:
My name is Dennis Durgan and I serve as Chairman of the Newport Harbor Foundation. The Foundation was founded in 2019 for the purpose of preserving, protecting and enhancing Newport Harbor for the benefit of the City of Newport Beach, the homeowners on or near the bay, the commercial operators in the bay, and the recreational users of the bay. The Foundation’s founders, contributors, and members are made up of individuals and business who have a long history of using and enjoying the harbor and a vested interest in its enhancement and preservation for use by current and future generations. On behalf the Foundation and its Board of Directors, I am reaching out to you to express our support for the currently pending project for dredging of Newport Harbor and construction of the confined aquatic disposal (CAD) site.
You have an opportunity before you to move forward the long awaited dredging of Newport Harbor. The dredging will bring the harbor to its design depth which will provide for better flushing which will significantly enhance the water quality. In conjunction with the dredging the City of Newport Beach has the opportunity to remove unsuitable materials currently lying on the floor of the harbor and place them in a secure CAD. This is a one-time opportunity for the City of Newport Beach to remove these materials from the harbor floor. If not done in conjunction with the dredging, the cost of disposal at a future date is prohibitive.
The City of Newport Beach has worked tirelessly for years to bring this project to fruition. The City has committed $10,000,000 to the Army Corps of Engineers to move the project forward and has certified the project Environmental Impact Report. It is my understanding that your staff have reviewed all of the studies and environmental reports and the certified the EIR.
We are near the end of the road. You have two choices: 1) move this project forward by approving the Application for the Section 401 Water Quality Certification And Order to allow the bay to be dredged to its design depth which will significantly enhance its flushing capability and water quality, remove and encapsulate the unsuitable materials that today are lying on the floor of the bay and take advantage of the Federal grant money that has been obtained by the City of Newport Beach; or 2) disapprove the Application, leave the unsuitable materials in the bay, and allow the bay to continue to silt up causing navigational problems and deteriorating water quality.
The Newport Harbor Foundation strongly urges you to approve the City of Newport Beach Application, move the dredging and CAD forward, and enhance the water quality in the bay for the benefit of all who use and recreate on Newport Harbor.
Thank you for your consideration.
Newport Harbor Foundation
Dennis Durgan
Chairman
It’s surprising what you can find at the bottom of Newport Harbor.
Bicycles, toolboxes, traffic cones, even a boat. There’s lots of plastic and things that have fallen off boats—not that boaters are dumping stuff deliberately; they just wind up in the harbor.
On one memorable occasion, a diver found a gun. “We informed the police and they said don’t touch it,” explained boatman Guy Harden. “Two divers stayed there until the police showed up, saying the gun was part of an investigation. We never heard anything about it after that, sorry to say.”
The City of Newport Beach celebrated two significant milestones in Newport Harbor on Wednesday, August 27: opening a new public dock and welcoming the first electric patrol vessel in the Harbor Department fleet.
The new VITA Seal electric boat is also the first all-electric work vessel delivered to any public agency in the United States.
The Newport Harbor Underwater Cleanup, in partnership with the City of Newport Beach, has announced the 4th Annual Newport Harbor Underwater Cleanup scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21 at Marina Park in Newport Beach.
Launched in 2017 by Help Your Harbor’s founders—former Newport Beach mayor Marshall “Duffy” Duffield and local environmentalists Billy Dutton and Mark Ward — NHUC hosted three years of sold-out cleanup events at the Balboa Bay Club before being put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re thrilled to expand this year’s event at our new location,” says Billy Dutton, co-founder of NHUC and Help Your Harbor. “The Newport Marina Park site allows for much greater community participation, with volunteers helping to clean up our harbor both above and below the water. The addition of the International Coastal Cleanup Day celebration at Marina Park that afternoon will bring together over two dozen organizations and their volunteers, all committed to protecting our precious marine environment.”
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