EL SEGUNDO : Chevron to Restore Damaged Surfing Area

Chevron Oil Co. has agreed to pay up to $300,000 to improve surfing conditions along a stretch of beach near El Segundo that surfers say was damaged by the construction of a rock jetty in 1983.

The agreement ends 10 years of negotiations among Chevron, the California Coastal Commission and the Surfrider Foundation, a decade-old surfers’ environmental group, over how to improve the lost surf.

“This is possibly the most significant public mandate ever in favor of surfing,” said Jake Grubb, executive director of the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation. “It recognizes the intrinsic value of a wave.”

Under the agreement, which was approved by the Coastal Commission last month, Chevron will pay to study artificial reefs and construct a reef off the coast. Surfrider officials will oversee the project, and final plans must be approved by the commission.

As part of the study, Surfrider scientists will consider several types of reefs, including one made of sandbags weighing 1,200 pounds each, Grubb said.

A five-year study completed in 1989 showed that the natural sandbars on the ocean floor had been worn down after the 127-yard jetty was built, reducing the quality of the waves.

When the Coastal Commission granted a permit to Chevron to build the rock jetty into the water off El Segundo, the commission said the oil firm would be held responsible if surfing conditions in the area were damaged.

The jetty protects the pipes that link Chevron’s El Segundo refinery to tankers moored offshore.

Chevron proposed paying $100,000 for a study to identify ideal surfing areas in the Southland and study actions that would endanger or enhance those beaches.

But the Coastal Commission agreed with surfers that a study did not represent true mitigation of the damaged surf.

In a statement released Wednesday, Chevron officials hailed the agreement as the first of its kind.

“The agreement reflects a cooperative effort by the three parties to recognize each other’s concerns and accept shared responsibility for the development of a successful surf restoration project,” Chevron spokesman Rod Spackman said in the statement.