Long Beach, L.A. Ports May Boost Aid to Bolsa Chica Wetlands Project

State and federal agencies charged with restoring the 1,100-acre Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach are seeking an additional $23 million in public funds for the massive project, one of the largest of its kind in state history.

The new funds would bring the tab for the project to more than $100 million, paid mostly by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

The ports have paid close to $90 million for the restoration in exchange for state environmental credits that the ports can use if their own expansion projects encroach on protected areas.

A committee of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a plan Monday to pay an additional $11.4 million to the wetlands project in exchange for more environmental credits. The Port of Los Angeles will consider an identical proposal in September, a spokeswoman said.

Robert Kanter, the Port of Long Beach’s planning director, said his agency was approached by the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Steering Committee, a group of state and federal agencies charged with overseeing the project. “There was some unanticipated costs associated with the cleanup,” Kanter said. Their financial “projections were going to have some shortfall.”

Jane Hendron, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is on the steering committee, denied that the money was needed because of cost overruns or shortfalls. She said the money would be used to enhance the project.

Restoring the wetlands for wildlife in the area will require dredging millions of cubic yards of sand and removing pollutants such as heavy metals and mercury, among other tasks. The project is expected to be completed by 2008.

Part of the ports’ initial money went toward buying much of the land from private owners. About $65 million was earmarked for the restoration, but long-term maintenance wasn’t taken into account.

On Monday, the full Long Beach port commission will consider the proposal, which is expected to pass, Kanter said. Under the proposal, which state environmental agencies must still approve, the port would earn roughly 38 acres of expansion rights into protected areas.