Harbor District gets OK from EPA to start dredge work
by Nathan Rushton, 1/17/2006
Clearing its final hurdle to get its maintenance dredging application before the California Coastal Commission for approval, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District received the go-ahead this week from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do the work.
“EPA does not believe that a significant human health or ecological risk is associated with discharge at Samoa Spit of dioxins and furans at the concentrations found in the Eureka area project dredged material,” wrote Brian Ross of the EPA’s dredging and sediment management team in a Jan. 12 letter to the Coastal Commission.
The maintenance dredging, which is done every seven to 10 years, was put on hold in September when information by Humboldt Baykeeper was presented to the commission, identifying elevated levels of cancer-causing dioxin in the bay’s sediment.
More extensive tests for dioxin and other contaminants were requested by the commission.
The tests, which were completed last month at a cost of more than $100,000, showed dioxin was present in all 11 of the proposed dredge sites, in low concentrations, but the EPA wanted to put the project on hold longer to assess health risks.
Harbor District CEO David Hull said the results of the risk assessment were no surprise.
The Harbor District has until Thursday to secure a spot on the commission’s agenda for its Feb. 8-10 meeting in Chula Vista, which Hull said shouldn’t be a problem.
“We are still hopeful that we can squeak out a portion of the dredging,” Hull said.
In addition, Hull said he was working with dredging contractors to make sure the dredge work could move forward if the application was approved by the commission.
The Harbor District and Eureka’s application seeks to remove approximately 200,000 cubic tons of sediment from beneath the docks at Woodley Island Marina, as well as from several of Eureka’s marinas.
The city of Eureka and the Harbor District must have their dredge work completed by March because of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries limitation to decrease impacts on endangered and threatened salmon species.
Pete Nichols, director of the bay advocacy group Humboldt Baykeeper, which brought the dioxin concerns to the attention of the Coastal Commission staff during the September meeting, said all of the facts aren’t yet in with regard to the risk assessment done by the EPA.
“They haven’t done a complete dispersal model on where the contaminants are going,” Nichols said.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
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