Edison to Detail Plans to Build Artificial Reef

Southern California Edison wants to dump rocks or pieces of concrete on the ocean floor to help create an artificial kelp reef, replacing the natural one that was destroyed by the San Onofre nuclear plant.

Details of Edison’s kelp restoration plans were scheduled to be released Dec. 10.

Edison was ordered to help restore the sea habitat and a nearby wetland after a 15-year study showed that the large volume of water drawn through the San Onofre facility’s cooling system kills fish sucked into the plant’s intakes. Also, sand and mud churned up by the discharge have lowered water quality near the plant, killing kelp and other marine life.

Edison officials believe that rocks or concrete dumped half a mile off the coast of San Clemente would provide a home for kelp, crustaceans and other sea life. The hope is that kelp spores floating in seawater will begin growing on the rocks without human intervention, eventually forming the undulating kelp forests that are among the more spectacular ecosystems found in near-shore waters.

“It’s like the proverbial field of dreams,” said Frank L. Melone, project manager for Edison’s kelp reef. “If you build it, they will come.”

The Dec. 10 meeting, to be held at the San Clemente Community Center, is the beginning of a series of public sessions required before government approval can be given to begin work on the reef.

Edison hopes to start the first phase of the estimated $50-million to $60-million project by fall 1999. The utility will start with an experimental 16.8-acre plot to test ideas for how best to build the kelp reef.

The Coastal Commission had ordered Edison to grow 300 acres of kelp, but the utility in 1996 asked to reduce the required acreage, arguing that data showed that the nuclear plant’s effects on kelp were less harmful than estimated. The commission eventually settled on 150 acres.