L.A. Now Live: Discuss Marina del Rey’s pollution plan fight
Join Times staff writer Matt Stevens at 9 a.m. Thursday for a discussion about boat owners in Marina del Rey who are resisting plans for the first extensive pollution cleanup in the area’s history.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board is scheduled to consider changes that would force boaters to strip copper paint from the bottom of their vessels and replace it with a less toxic alternative.
Almost all of the marina’s more than 4,500 boats have bottoms covered in copper paint.
Officials estimate that paint stripping will cost $6,000 for a 40-foot boat, and that isn’t sitting well with the marina’s boaters.
Dredging associated with the project would cost at least $147 million. It’s not clear where the funding for the dredging would come from, but boaters fear they will end up paying for that work too.
Officials and environmentalists have sought to ban copper paint at bays and marinas from San Francisco to San Diego, but Marina del Rey is seen as a key test case.
Join us at 9 a.m. as Stevens discusses the potential changes and the reaction of boat owners.
During the chat, readers can submit their questions and comments and we’ll get to as many of them as we can.
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