Group Sues State to Save Artificial Reef Near Balboa

The architect of a controversial artificial reef off Newport Beach is striking back at state officials with a lawsuit, halting a planned California Coastal Commission vote next week that would force him to dismantle the underwater structure.

The lawsuit against the commission and other state agencies is the latest twist in a long-running battle over the experimental marine habitat built by Rodolphe Streichenberger in 1988.

“They think they can do anything they want,” said Streichenberger, president and founder of the Marine Forests Society. “There are people who cave in and [the Coastal Commission] can do a lot of harm to people. But sometimes, they run into somebody like the marine foresters, and we say, ‘No.’ ”

With temporary approval from the state Department of Fish and Game, Streichenberger’s organization built the experimental, 10-acre reef with old tires, plastic jugs and PVC pipe on the ocean floor about 900 feet off the Balboa Pier. Streichenberger claims the unorthodox mussel-breeding habitat is a successful way to replenish lost ocean resources and provide a new food source. He also bristles at the labeling of the site as an artificial reef, saying it is a patent-bearing innovation.

But Fish and Game officials later concluded that the experiment was unlikely to ever lead to a “viable aquaculture project.” The Coastal Commission denied Streichenberger a retroactive permit in 1997, and the agency’s staff recommended issuing a cease-and-desist order next week to force his group to remove the 2,000 plastic jugs, 100 20-foot-long PVC pipes, 1,500 automobile tires, netting, mesh and other materials.

Society attorney Ronald A. Zumbrun filed a lawsuit Jan. 31 that claims the Coastal Commission lacks authority to seek the order because it is an unconstitutional agency.

Since two-thirds of its members are appointed by state legislators, the Coastal Commission is a legislative body, and therefore cannot exercise executive powers such as issuing permits or judicial powers such as issuing cease-and-desist orders, Zumbrun argues.

Streichenberger, a 71-year-old retired French economist, sees it as a battle against an out-of-control bureaucracy. “Western civilization was built on separation of powers,” he said. “The separation of powers is the only way to escape tyranny.”

Calls to deputy attorney general Lisa Trankley, who is representing the state agencies and workers, were not returned Friday.

At a hearing Monday, the Coastal Commission delayed action on the cease-and-desist order until at least April 12--the date of the Streichenberger hearing.