Reaction Mixed on Plan for New Wetlands Inlet

A proposal by state and federal agencies to create an inlet connecting the Bolsa Chica wetlands to the sea drew criticism from a number of beachgoers at a Thursday hearing in Huntington Beach on plans for restoring the 1,200-acre marsh.

Some expressed concern that a 360-foot-wide inlet would allow tainted urban runoff into the surf, prompting beach closings and endangering swimmers’ health.

The hearing was part of the environmental review of seven proposals to restore Bolsa Chica, one of the largest and best-known wetlands in a region that has lost more than 90% of its coastal marshes to development. Five of those plans call for cutting a new inlet across Bolsa Chica State Beach to allow ocean tides to flow into the wetlands for the first time in a century.

Restoration planners call the inlet essential to reviving the wetlands as a nursery for ocean fish such as halibut and bass and as a haven for migrating waterfowl.

That inlet, however, is proving the most controversial facet of the planned $100-million project.

“As the proposal is written, I think there are definitely problems with the inlet,” said Ken Kramer, president of the California State Lifeguard Assn. The inlet could also prove an “attractive hazard” to young waders and could confuse boaters in search of a marina, he said.

Inlet opponents included several speakers from Surfrider Foundation, a coastal environmental group. A few favored the single design that would not require an inlet.

Others, though, praised the state and federal effort to rejuvenate the Bolsa’s salt marshes, ponds and oil fields by returning ocean tides to the area, wedged between Huntington Beach and the sea.

Some had mixed views, including toxins expert John Scandura, who called the government-preferred plan the best of seven alternatives but cautioned that cleaning up contamination left behind by oil operations could prove costly and time-consuming. That cleanup could send trucks laden with contaminated dirt through city streets, he said.

About 60 people attended the afternoon hearing on the draft environmental documents for the project, spearheaded by the California Lands Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Funding would come primarily from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which contributed $79 million in exchange for permission to fill marine habitat for port expansion projects.

The inlet debate is the latest chapter in the acrimonious, decades-long drama over Bolsa Chica’s fate. Plans for the site have come and gone over the years, including several proposals for housing complexes and a marina.

Environmentalists rejoiced in February 1997 when state and federal officials negotiated a complicated deal to buy 880 acres of lowlands from Koll Real Estate Group, hence canceling a 900-home Koll housing project. The purchase meant that more than 1,200 acres of Bolsa Chica are now owned by the state.

The wetlands have been cut off from the ocean for a century, with much of the land dry and spotted with oil pumps. Part of Bolsa Chica remains an active oil field, with reserves expected to last another 15 to 25 years. Most oil is concentrated in the northeast portion of the site, which will delay restoration there.

The public can submit written comments about the environmental documents until Oct. 16. More hearings will follow early next year. If the project remains on schedule, construction could start in 2002 and finish in 2005.

The draft report can be viewed online at https://www.slc.ca.gov. Bound copies or a CD-ROM version are available from the state Lands Commission or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Written comments should be addressed to: California State Lands Commission, Attn: Dwight E. Sanders, 100 Howe Ave., Suite 100-South. Sacramento, CA 95825-8202.