Pipeline Company Assailed for Damage to San Elijo Lagoon

San Diego County officials on Thursday charged that an oil pipeline company destroyed nesting habitat used by several endangered birds by illegally constructing a gravel road across the eastern bay of San Elijo Lagoon.

Addressing reporters at a press conference on the lagoon’s southern shore, Supervisor Susan Golding said the work by the San Diego Pipeline Co. violated an agreement company officials had struck with the county and “irreparably damaged” portions of the sensitive, 600-acre wetland.

The supervisor, describing San Diego Pipeline officials as “totally uncooperative,” said she intends to ask fellow board members to support legal action against the Los Angeles-based company to recover funds necessary to repair environmental damage at the lagoon.

“San Elijo Lagoon represents one of the most valuable resources San Diegans can pass on to their children,” Golding said. “In the last three months it has been severely damaged and in some areas destroyed by the irresponsible actions of the San Diego Pipeline Co. They have clearly violated the county’s trust.”

Company officials say they have done nothing wrong.

“We don’t believe we’ve violated any agreements with the county or anyone else,” project manager Tom Jensen said Thursday. “We have every intention of fulfilling our responsibility and restoring the lagoon to its natural state. But these things do take time.”

The company has been installing a 16-inch liquid fuel line between Los Angeles and storage tanks in Mission Valley. The welded steel line, designed to supply industrial and military customers, is replacing an existing 10-inch line.

In October, the Board of Supervisors gave the company permission to construct both a 30-foot-wide access road to the shore of San Elijo and a trench 30 inches wide and 60 inches deep across an eastern finger of the lagoon. Approval, however, was contingent upon the company meeting a list of conditions, including the replanting of slopes near the lagoon and restoration of the entire area to its natural state. All work was to be completed by Nov. 15.

According to Golding and Bob Copper, director of the county Parks and Recreation Department, company officials have failed to meet the conditions. Moreover, an investigation of the site reveals that the scope of work done by the company far exceeds what was permitted by the county.

The 30-foot-wide access road is actually a 120-foot-wide gash across the hillside that slopes to the lagoon’s southern shore. Despite efforts by the company to reseed the graded area, the recent rains caused severe erosion that dumped large amounts of silt atop the marshland, smothering vegetation under a delta of mud.

No “trench” similar to that allowed by the county is visible at the site. But a gravel-topped road, never approved by supervisors, is there, across an easement owned by San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

“It’s unbelievable to me that they came in here and built an all-weather road,” Golding said. “They had no right to do that. Some of the gravel has spilled into the lagoon, fouling the water quality and ruining the nesting habitat these birds need.”

Jensen conceded that the company did not receive permission for the gravel-topped road. But he said it was necessary to accommodate the heavy machinery used to install the underground pipeline. The dirt easement was impassable after the recent rains, he said.

Copper said the company’s actions damaged nesting habitat used by three endangered birds--the California least tern, the light-footed clapper rail and the Belding’s Savannah sparrow. Numerous other shorebirds and migratory fowl use the lagoon, which is jointly owned by the state and the county.

“The habitat disruption, ensuing siltation and water quality problems are bad news for these birds,” said Copper, noting that one dead Savannah sparrow has been found. “It’s hard to estimate the extent of the damage, but we’ll be monitoring the upcoming nesting season very closely.”

Golding said the company’s project is insured with an $80,000 bond. She intends to encourage the county to pursue court action to acquire the bond and additional monies to restore the lagoon. Meanwhile, officials with the state Department of Fish and Game and the California Coastal Commission are maintaining pressure on the company to repair the environmental damage immediately.

In addition to the San Elijo charges, the San Diego Pipeline Co. is responsible for two recent spills, Copper said. In January, a break in an 8-inch pipeline leaked diesel fuel into the Sweetwater Marsh. Another episode involved a break in a gas pipeline at Miramar Naval Air Station.