Landfill Agreement OKd
The Los Angeles City Council has approved an agreement between the Harbor Department and several government agencies that calls for the restoration of the Batiquitos Lagoon in San Diego County in exchange for state permission to build a landfill in San Pedro Bay.
The agreement, approved Friday by a 11-0 vote, requires the Port of Los Angeles to restore the polluted estuary--at an estimated cost of $20 million--as compensation for the loss of marine life when the port creates a 450-acre landfill in Los Angeles Harbor. State officials, who worked out the agreement, chose the Batiquitos Lagoon because they said they were unable to find an acceptable restoration project in the Los Angeles area.
City officials, following the lead of harbor-area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, have supported the agreement because it is expected to expedite construction of the landfill. San Pedro residents, wary of oil and chemical storage tanks near the Cabrillo Marina, support construction of the landfill because the port has promised to move the tanks and other hazardous facilities there.
Port officials said they expect the City of Carlsbad, site of the 526-acre lagoon, to approve the agreement Tuesday.
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