Funding Dries Up for Bay Dredging

Expected funding for the Upper Newport Bay dredging disappeared recently when Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a bill that would have created a fund for wetlands restoration projects.

City and county officials had hoped to receive at least $2 million from the fund to finish dredging the Upper Newport Bay. The state, which owns the wetlands, has committed $2.9 million to remove silt that has clogged the bay. The total price tag is estimated at $5 million.

City and county officials have said the project is essential to the survival of the Upper Newport Bay and its ecosystem. A decade of runoff, since the last dredging of the bay, has dumped sand and silt into the still waters of the bay, creating sandbars and mud flats.