Coastkeeper suit delays confined aquatic disposal facility planned for underneath Newport Bay
By Tom Johnson – June 06, 2023
Source: Stu News Newport Fair Game 060623
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) has halted the dredging of Lower Newport Bay and construction authorization for the City of Newport Beach’s (the city’s) Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) facility. The Corps put things on hold after Orange County Coastkeeper (Coastkeeper) filed a lawsuit challenging their failure to fully analyze actions possibly violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA).
So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Sources tell me that the city is fine with postponement for several reasons. First, the delay allows them to gather further data and two, doing the work in the fall or winter is certainly more conducive than doing it in the middle of summer with all the crowds.
Initially, the Corps was required to respond to the lawsuit from Coastkeeper by June 16. However, in order to allow the Corps additional time to consider revisiting its compliance issues, all parties agreed to extend that deadline to July 12, including temporarily halting dredging activities and the authorization to construct the CAD facility.
The postponed project is an effort between the Corps and the city to dredge the federal channels in Newport Bay in order to address underwater sediment buildup that could eventually impact vessel navigability. The dredged material deemed unsuitable for open ocean disposal through the process due to elevated levels of contaminants such as mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) would be permanently stored in a CAD facility constructed by the city within Lower Newport Bay.
At the CAD, this contaminated sediment would be covered with additional layers of less polluted sediment to try and prevent it from reentering the wider environment.
It’s been a controversial subject, particularly when it was previously considered elsewhere in Newport Bay.
Source: Stu News Newport: Fair Game 060623
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.”
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!