A Proposal Worth Pursuing

People interested in Batiquitos Lagoon--both those who want to preserve it and those who want to develop around it--may have come into some unexpected good luck last week when the Port of Los Angeles and the Pacific Texas Pipeline Co. offered to spend $10 million restoring the lagoon.

The unusual proposal comes about as part of a federal requirement that the port and pipeline company compensate for destroying environmentally important tidal land with their future projects. While it is a bit strange that a San Diego County natural resource would become the beneficiary of the spoiling of another county’s resources, no one here is complaining.

A significant concern, however, is whether the type of improvement the port and pipeline company are required to make conforms with what is really needed at Batiquitos. Representatives of the California Coastal Conservancy and others make the case that the unique character of the lagoon, with its attraction for shore birds, should not be changed simply because of the possible windfall.

That is a valid argument. But a serendipitous $10 million to restore a lagoon doesn’t come along every day, so all sides should continue hammering out an agreement that would preserve the shallow water environment while restoring the tidal exchange between the lagoon and the ocean to rid Batiquitos of smelly and decaying algae.