Toxic Sediments in Ballona Creek Must Be Addressed

The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors just doesn’t get it. For nearly a decade, toxic sediments have been accumulating in Ballona Creek and the mouth of Marina del Rey (Times, May 14). The county officials would have you believe that we shouldn’t care about the impacts of these sediments laden with lead, other heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons. Instead we should just dump them in the middle of the ocean or use them to replenish sand on Dockweiler Beach.

Beaches and Harbors has two major responsibilities to the public, boat owners and other users of the marina: (1) To keep the marina safe for boaters; and (2) To keep the marina’s environment clean without negatively impacting our coastal resources. Such statements as Chief Planner Larry Charness’ comment that the EPA is more “concerned about a worm dying in a tank of water” than ensuring the safety of boaters makes one realize that Beaches and Harbors has complete disdain for their environmental responsibilities.

There is no question that the sediment accumulation problem at the marina needs to be solved. It should have been addressed years ago. But there are reasons that the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers require toxicity testing of sediments. If the sediments are toxic to animals in bioassays, then they are toxic to marine life. If the sediments have concentrations of lead that are nearly as high as hazardous waste levels, then we don’t want people swimming and playing on beaches with contaminated sediments.

Beaches and Harbors has to stop finger-pointing at government agencies that are trying to protect public health and our coastal resources, and start facing up to their responsibility to remove the contaminated sediments and dispose of them in an environmentally sound manner.

MARK GOLD

Santa Monica

Editor’s note: Gold is the staff scientist for the environmental group Heal the Bay.