Local News in Brief : Dumping Site Off Peninsula Proposed
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has proposed officially designating a site 5 miles off the Palos Verdes Peninsula for ocean disposal of material dredged from harbors.
Agency officials said an environmental impact statement to be released today indicates that the 2.4-square-mile area--which has been used as an “interim” dumping site for the last 11 years--does not pose a threat to human health or the marine environment.
Since 1977, about 200,000 cubic yards of sediment dredged annually from the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and other nearby harbors have been deposited in the ocean area.
The EPA proposal would not increase the dumping but would change “the actual legal definition of the site from an interim site to a fully designated site,” said Patrick Cotter, a regional ocean dumping coordinator for the EPA.
There are eight such dumping sites off the coast of California, Cotter said.
“The only intended use of the (Palos Verdes) site is the disposal of dredged material that has passed stringent chemical and biological tests. . . . Major fisheries will not be affected,” said Daniel McGovern, an EPA regional administrator.
The EPA will accept public comment through Sept. 19 before making a final decision on the site.
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