Coastal Panel OKs Plan to Dismantle Belmont

The California Coastal Commission on Tuesday approved a plan to dismantle Belmont Island, ending hopes by some to preserve the artificial structure off Seal Beach as an environmental and recreational asset.

Controversy has been brewing for months over the oil-drilling structure, which was built about 1 1/2 miles offshore in 1954. Oil production there ceased in 1995.

A growing number of divers, fishermen and environmentalists have been pleading with state agencies for months to leave part of the facility in place as an artificial reef that attracts marine life.

Other environmentalists, however, argue the ocean floor should be returned to its natural state. Sierra Club attorney Mark Massara objected Tuesday to provisions in the demolition plan that will leave in place several pipelines that run to 8,000 feet to the shore.

“This opens the door,” Massara said. “Any other operator will use this as a precedent” in future cases where oil rigs are torn down, he said.

In December the State Lands Commission--citing navigation, liability and water quality concerns--approved owner ExxonMobil Corp.’s plan to dismantle the island. The company proposed to remove concrete and steel from the structure and move 16,000 tons of rock piled around the island to the Bolsa Chica artificial reef about four miles off Huntington Beach.

An environmental group offered to assume legal liability for the island if it was to be left in place. But ExxonMobil turned down Heal the Harbor’s offer last month, saying navigational issues remained a concern at the island, which sits in 42 feet of water and is near the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and the Port of Long Beach.

In other Orange County business Tuesday, commissioners postponed until April a planned vote on a small wetland in Huntington Beach. Some on the commission are challenging a city decision to allow the wetland to be filled in for homes near Pacific Coast Highway.