Plan to Dredge Marina del Rey Silt Proposed : Environment: Opponents fear that removing contaminated sediment may threaten the waterway. The state Coastal Commission will consider the plan Tuesday.

Concerned that silting at the mouth of Marina del Rey could choke off boating, Los Angeles County officials propose to haul tons of contaminated silt and sand to the Port of Los Angeles to use as fill for a new marine wildlife habitat.

The plan calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remove 530,000 cubic yards of sediment containing lead and other harmful materials, place it in special plastic tubes and bury the tubes in a shallow area of the harbor at San Pedro as part of the port’s expansion.

Opponents warn that the dredging could cause environmentally damaging materials to spread at the mouth of the marina. They also say the containers, which have never been approved for such a project in California, may leak once they are placed in the harbor.

“This is an old problem that’s come back to haunt us,” said Roger Gorke, science and policy analyst with Heal the Bay, an environmental group.

The California Coastal Commission, whose staff has recommended that the plan be rejected, is scheduled to hear the matter Tuesday, when it meets in Long Beach.

Authorities have already closed 40% of the marina’s north and south entrances to boating. They warn that unless the sediment is removed, runoff from heavy winter rains could choke off the marina entirely.

The sediment is largely the result of runoff from nearby Ballona Creek, which drains a 126-square-mile area from Downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean and picks up contaminants along the way. In places, sand, silt and dirt lie barely beneath the waves, making it tricky for pleasure boats to negotiate the entrances.

Besides being used for pleasure boating, the county-owned marina is the headquarters of a Coast Guard air-sea rescue unit whose proximity to Los Angeles International Airport is considered vital in case of a plane crash at sea.

Saying it has no other affordable way to dispose of the sediment, the county Department of Beaches and Harbors, which governs the marina, has pushed for its disposal at the port, even though port officials have said they do not want it.

“We know we’re about as welcome as the kid who goes to kindergarten with chickenpox,” said James A. Fawcett, the department’s chief of planning. “The fact is, we don’t have an alternative.”

In recommending against the plan, Coastal Commission staff members expressed concerns about the removal, transport and placement of the sediment. They criticized the Corps of Engineers and county officials for dragging their feet since 1992 in solving the problem.

County officials and the Corps want the coastal panel to expedite approval so that the dredging can take place before the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Otherwise, county officials say, $1.7 million allocated to the Corps for dredging the marina cannot be spent.

Port officials, meanwhile, want no part of the plan for fear that accepting the sediment will trigger a new round of regulatory hurdles just when they are finally ready to go forward with a planned $150-million expansion after years of planning.

The port project includes deepening shipping lanes and building a new pier. It will involve dredging 23 million cubic yards of sediment--including 800,000 cubic yards of lightly contaminated material that state and federal officials are allowing the port to dump in the planned 20-acre marine wildlife habitat.

The state required that the wildlife habitat be created to mitigate the environmental effects of the expansion.

Dwayne Lee, the port’s deputy executive director for development, said that while port officials sympathize with the marina’s problem, they cannot afford to jeopardize the port’s expansion.

One source said port officials would have told the county and the Corps “to go fly a kite a long time ago” had it not been for the personal intervention of County Supervisor Deane Dana and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who have encouraged cooperation.

The problem is not new for the marina, where the Corps has had to dredge frequently to keep the entrances open since the giant pleasure boat harbor was built in the 1960s.

But it has become more severe in recent years as federal rules--which once allowed lightly contaminated materials to be dumped on beaches for separation and removal--have become more stringent.

In 1990, the Corps sought permission to dump the sediment into the ocean five miles off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, but the federal Environmental Protection Agency refused, saying the material was unsuitable for ocean disposal.

Two years ago, the Coastal Commission reluctantly allowed the Corps to use huge dredges to flatten the bottom of the marina channel in a procedure known as a “knockdown” after county officials warned that the marina was about to be choked off.

In giving its approval, however, the state panel urged the Corps and the county to find a permanent solution, and warned that it was unlikely to approve another interim solution.

Since then, the county and the Corps say they have explored numerous alternatives to no avail.