Order in place to start dredging Sept. 17

Manny Lopez | Downtown News

A long-awaited dredging project set to cleanup toxic sediment contaminating local fish with dangerous amounts of pollutants along the eastern shore of central San Diego Bay may be delayed even further unless those deemed responsible can come to terms regarding who should foot the estimated $75 million bill, before a Sept. 17 directive to begin work.

A Cleanup and Abatement Order was issued by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board in March 2012, in response to investigations indicating that a century-old history of toxic dumping and waste runoff linked to ship building and maritime operations, has left the Bay floor with high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, polychlorinated terphenyl and contaminated aquatic life that also pose serious dangers to humans if consumed.

In a joint letter submitted to the Regional Board by the presidents of BAE Systems and NASSCO, dated Aug. 1, the two shipbuilders wrote that despite prompting, “certain parties still refuse to participate meaningfully in the cleanup settlement.”

The letter further stated that a recent federal court decision regarding a contribution case between the liable parties is not scheduled to be resolved until mid-2015 and that absent a settlement, and unless the remaining dischargers agree to participate, it could be years until the Bay is repaired.

The two presidents asked that the Regional Water Board make it clear to recalcitrant parties that if dredging doesn’t begin in accordance with the Order, enforcement actions, which include administrative and monetary penalties, will be levied against those who have not cooperated.

Julie Chan, chief of the Clean Up and Land Discharge Branch at the Regional Water Board, said that the board is taking a “wait and see approach,” and that any actions against dischargers would depend on how egregious the violations of the cleanup were.

“We delivered a cleanup and abatement order that most of the parties involved got behind and supported,” Chan said. “Now time will tell if the different responsible parties are going to be able to pull together and get the cleanup done.”

Chan pointed out that the proposed schedule accounts for a limited dredging window of Sept. 15, 2013 through March 31, 2014, to protect the endangered California least tern, a subspecies of bird that primarily breeds along the California coast. She added that based on volume estimates, it will take three dredging cycle seasons to remove the contaminated sediment and that dischargers have five years to complete the project.

In a letter sent by email to the Regional Water Board dated June 24, the San Diego Unified Port District formally objected to being included in the list of dischargers on the grounds that it is merely the non-operating landlord and public trustee of the subject tidelands and as such, is neither making nor proposing to make any discharges.

The letter also pointed to a 1990 business agreement between the Port District and the State Water Board not to name the Port District as primarily liable for work performed by or on behalf of its tenants. The Port District contends that on property owned by the United States Navy, it cannot be held responsible when it has no jurisdictional authority.

In another email message, David Silverstein, associate counsel for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, said that “the Navy is cooperating with other parties named in the order to accomplish the cleanup.”

“It’s taken over 20 years of studying, negotiating, talking and researching and now on the eve of getting started, unfortunately some of the other parties, which are responsible for the cleanup are not cooperating and there’s a risk that the cleanup isn’t going to start on time and therefore end on time,” said Jill Witkowski, water keeper at San Diego Coastkeeper, an environmental group that has been working to make the cleanup a reality.

The area known as the “Shipyard Sediment Site” sits south of the Coronado Bridge adjacent to two working shipyards from approximately Sampson Street to the northwest and Chollas Creek to the southeast and from the shoreline to the San Diego Bay main shipping channel to the west.

Dredging will be performed using barge-mounted, mechanical equipment, with a clamshell bucket connected to a crane. Sediments will be carefully placed on a barge so as to not spread the contamination, then later offloaded and spread out to dry before being transported to appropriate off-site disposal locations.

“We can’t say just yet that it’s not going to start on time, but the clock is ticking and we have less than a month left for everybody to play nice and start to get this done,” Witkowski said. “It’s a complete shame that a public entity and a steward of the land such as the Port has its lawyers involved and they’re fighting in every way to not participate in the cleanup.”

For more information about Coastkeepers, visit sdcoastkeeper.org.

A native New Yorker, Manny Lopez is a freelance journalist and photographer who started his writing career in La Jolla. He now covers San Diego and Southwest-Riverside counties penning news, features and business profiles. Manny can be reached at [email protected].