ER - Bay dredging delayed

Bay dredging delayed while contaminant testing continues
by Nathan Rushton, 12/9/2005

In a jointly held news conference Wednesday, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District and the city of Eureka announced that the preliminary contaminant test results of dredge spoils in the bay are at low levels.

The dredge project permit for the approximately once-a-decade dredging from the California Coastal Commission was put on hold in mid-September after information from Humboldt Baykeeper was supplied to the commission’s staff regarding elevated dioxin levels in the bay’s sediment.

Harbor District Chief Executive Officer David Hull said the dredge permit application is not likely to make it onto the Coastal Commission’s December agenda, but the bid deadline for the dredge work has been extended to allow for the possibility of the work to be done as soon as possible.

Although the delay in dredging has threatened to cause problems for commercial fishing vessels that may not be able to dock in the too-shallow slips, Hull said he is hopeful that the dredge project will move forward soon.

“If we don’t dredge or get started sometime soon then it means we are going to be delayed until next year, which just exacerbates the problems from the facilities shoaling in,” Hull said.

The test results, which Hull said he hopes will be certified this week, are being forwarded to the Environmental Protection Agency, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Coastal Commission to be analyzed.

Hull said the sampling work and lab testing has cost Eureka and the Harbor District more than $100,000 in additional costs.

The Harbor District hired engineering consultant firm Pacific Affiliates Inc., which took more than 50 core samples in 11 dredge sites, to conduct the testing for several contaminants, including dioxin. Pacific Affiliates Principal David Schneider went over the preliminary test results at the news event.

Because of the nature of the contamination problem that was presented to the Coastal Commission, which indicated dioxin levels at 2,600 parts per trillion in the sediment, Schneider said it was understandable that the commission wanted more testing.

“When we ran our tests we found the results were nowhere near what that test had indicated,” Schneider said.

Of the sites tested, only the Coast Seafoods dock exceeded the 3.9 parts per trillion screening limit set by the EPA for considering the risk of potential human contact with dredge spoils, according to news release information.

Although the agencies have the final say in what are acceptable limits, Schneider said the preliminary test results show sediment samples that are typically well within the limits.

Humboldt Baykeeper program director Pete Nichols said there really isn’t any safe level of dioxin and the results confirm there is a systemic dioxin problem in the central part of the bay.

Although Nichols said the Baykeeper staff haven’t yet fully analyzed the raw data, it did appear that the results show that dioxin levels in several of the sample sites are as much as 1,000 times higher than the background dioxin levels at the South Bay’s Hookton Slough.


Nichols said now the Harbor District appears to be blaming Humboldt Baykeeper for having to do the testing and won’t accept the fact that there is a documented dioxin problem in the bay.

“It is pretty common knowledge that there is a dioxin problem,” Nichols said.

Nichols said the Harbor District knew about the contamination because of a 2002 story the North Coast Journal had broken about Sierra Pacific Industries and elevated dioxin levels in shellfish in the Mad River Slough area.

Part of the California Environmental Quality Act checklist for the dredge project asked if there are any toxic issues in the project area, but because the Harbor District didn’t indicate there was, it was their flaw, Nichols said.

Compared with the deep-channel and bar-entrance dredging that is done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers once a year, the marina maintenance dredging is normally done once every seven to 10 years.

Hull said the Eureka Channel area, where the marinas are located,is an extension of the Freshwater Creek and Ryan Slough watershed, which naturally accumulates sediment that is flushed down during regular storm and stream processes.

Approximately 200,000 cubic yards of sediment has accumulated since the last dredging, which was completed in 1998.

The dredging method being proposed, which must be done during November through March when waves and strong currents can disperse the dredge spoils, uses a “cutter head” dredge that pumps the sediment along a pipeline and out into the ocean.

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