EPA’s Plan for Dump Site Off P.V. Peninsula Stirs Concerns : Environment: The federal agency wants to designate 650 acres as a permanent dumping ground for dredged mud and sand. Some fear that this could threaten commercial and recreational fishing grounds.

A federal plan to designate 650 acres of ocean bottom off the Palos Verdes Peninsula as a dump site for dredged materials has stirred concern among fishermen, environmentalists and staff analysts for the California Coastal Commission.

The site, six miles south of Point Fermin, was used for dumping on an interim basis from 1977 to 1988 and is being considered as a permanent site for mud and sand scooped up in local harbor-dredging projects.

Federal environmental officials say the so-called “LA-2” location is suitable for permanent use, but others worry that it is too close to productive commercial and recreational fishing grounds. Those questioning the proposal fear that long-term dumping could threaten marine life that sustains the fisheries.

“We are real concerned about it,” Robert Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California, said Wednesday. “When they’re dumping out there, all it would take is the wrong kind of onshore current to bring that sediment into some of the most valuable fishing areas in the entire Los Angeles area.”

Concerns raised about the dump site include fears that dredged materials may contain pollutants and will blanket bottom-dwelling organisms essential to the marine food chain.

The LA-2 site was designated for interim use under a legal settlement involving the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the National Wildlife Federation. Under the accord, the site was to be closed by December, 1988, if it had not been designated for permanent status after detailed environmental studies and public hearings.

The site was closed on the deadline date because the decision-making procedure had not been completed.

In the last two years, there have been no local projects requiring ocean disposal of dredged materials. Still, port officials and the Army Corps of Engineers are interested in a permanent ocean dumping site to handle dredged material that is not used for beach restoration or landfill.

Although officials say major port expansion work planned for Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors will not require ocean dumping, they hope to use LA-2 to dispose of sand and mud from routine harbor dredging.

The issue, they say, is cost. Currently, the closest ocean disposal site is off Newport Beach.

“If you have a more distant site, you’re talking about escalating costs by orders of magnitude,” Charles Dwyer, chief of operations for the Corps of Engineers’ Los Angeles office, said Wednesday. “You have to spend less on dredging and more on transporting the dredged materials.”

To be designated as a permanent disposal site, LA-2 must win the approval of the EPA and the California Coastal Commission, which is scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue Wednesday.

EPA officials argue that the dump site, a circular zone of ocean bottom more than a mile in diameter and ranging in depth from 380 feet to 1,060 feet, is the best possible place to dump materials from local dredging projects.

They say their agency considered the possibility of opening a new disposal site in deeper water about 10 miles south of LA-2 but concluded that it would be unwise to expose another area to dumping. Also, they say, marine animals at the deep-water site would be more vulnerable to the possible smothering effects of dumping because the water there has very little oxygen.

EPA officials say they expect little adverse impact on fisheries because they have tightened regulations in recent years. They now require extensive sediment testing for each dredging project that involves ocean disposal to ensure that contaminated mud and sand are not dumped offshore.

“There are stringent requirements,” said Janet Hashimoto, chief of the oceans and estuaries section of the EPA’s regional office in San Francisco. “We pick a sensitive species of marine animal and see what impact (the sediment) would have on that organism. We can tell people before they do these projects how they should be done.”

But the plan has drawn questions from several quarters. In a report for Wednesday’s meeting, the Coastal Commission staff expresses concern about LA-2’s impact on fishing in the area. It says the EPA has not produced enough information to support its view that LA-2 does not pose a serious threat to the fisheries.

The staff recommended that the commission grant only temporary approval for the site. Endorsed by the EPA, the recommendation directs that LA-2 be used as a permanent site only if it is determined after five years of testing that dumping is not seriously hurting marine life.

Fishermen and environmentalists also worry about the effect on fisheries, particularly because of the dumping ground’s location.

Waters near the site are among the most productive commercial fishing grounds in the San Pedro area. And LA-2 is four miles west-southwest of Horseshoe Kelp, one of the San Pedro area’s most popular recreational fishing areas.

Mark Gold, a biologist for Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica environmental group, says there is a dearth of information on the effect of previous dumping at the LA-2 site on nearby fisheries.

Gold also questioned how authorities will ensure that barges do not dump sediment short of the disposal area, damaging previously unaffected fishing grounds.

Fletcher, whose sportfishing association represents commercial sportfishermen from Santa Barbara to San Diego, agreed, saying federal officials have not provided proof that they could control the problem.

Said Fletcher: “They’re saying the same old thing: ‘Trust us.’ ”