Task Force Status Report [Catherine Tyrrell]

The City of Los Angeles is seeking a grant from MTA to work on the cleanup of pollutants originating from transportation sources. This project would be geared towards the Ballona Creek watershed. Catherine will try to obtain more information from Madelyn Glickfeld (and will distribute to the group via E-mail) and determine whether it would be appropriate to send a support letter from the Task Force.

The Executive Committee meeting held on December 3, 1998, was a big success; we had positive feedback from the participants. Now we need to move forward quickly to identify data gaps and funding needed for additional studies. The first annual report has been sent to the governor, the legislature and Senator Karnette. The Executive Committee members will receive the annual report and a thank you letter for their participation. [Note: letters and attachments were sent to the Executive Committee members after the meeting.]

The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by everyone except Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors, which still has not scheduled the item for consideration at a Board meeting. We plan to issue a press release soon and hope to be able to report that all parties have signed the MOU.

The Task Force members agreed upon a meeting schedule for 1999. Meetings will be held from 10 am to noon approximately every other month (until near the end of the year, when we will need to meet more frequently to plan for the public workshop and Executive Committee meeting). All meetings will be at the Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro), except for the November Executive Committee Meeting at the Port of Long Beach. Meeting dates are as follows: March 9, May 18, July 20, September 21, October 19, November 16 (Executive Committee). The public workshop will be held in conjunction with the Coastal Commission’s meeting during the week of November 2-5.

Proposed State Legislative Bill [Catherine Tyrrell]

The Port of Long Beach is pushing a bill to provide additional funding to the Task Force to carry out studies needed to develop the management plan. Geraldine Knatz, Port of Long Beach, and Sara Wan, Coastal Commission, will be talking with Senator Karnette’s staff to see if she is interested in carrying such a bill (asking for approximately $1 million over the next two years). Task Force members suggested three potential studies that would require additional funding (beyond the $1 million recommended): develop a database that could be used to help develop sediment objectives ($250,000), model sediment transport in watersheds of interest ($750,000), and conduct a pilot project to demonstrate feasibility and cost of beneficial re-use of contaminated sediments, such as blending ($2 million). Such funds would be targeted for outside contracts, rather than staff resources. It would be helpful to secure matching funds from federal sources to convince the legislators to provide additional state funds; however, this would take lobbying for Congressional action to redirect money for October 2000 budget. The Army Corps of Engineers should talk to the Port of Long Beach about what type of federal commitment to cost sharing could be cited; Tony Risko (Corps) will discuss the issue with Robert Joe (Corps). Another possibility for funding may be to seek a connection with the proposed bill for coastal restoration (Ducheny, AB 64, $35 million).

Strategy Development Committee Updates

All subcommittees need to focus identifying data gaps and additional studies required to complete the management strategy. Each subcommittee should plan on presenting a draft data gaps report by the May Task Force meeting, to be finalized by June.

1. Interim Advisory Committee [Michael Lyons]

The Army Corps of Engineers is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a list of conditions to mitigate for potential adverse impacts associated with Marina del Rey Entrance Channel and Los Angeles River Estuary maintenance dredging projects. Heal the Bay still is concerned about possible impacts, particularly due to increased turbidity. The draft Environmental Assessment on Marina del Rey should be available around February 24^th. Dean Smith (LA County) will work with Hayley Lovan (Corps) and Dan Pomerantz (Corps) to make sure the process is moving along to resolve obstacles to dredging of Marina del Rey shoals. Heal the Bay requested that all applications and public notices contain the sediment data to facilitate review of projects.

2. Implementation Subcommittee [Lauma Jurkevics]

At the December 16^th meeting, the group revised workplan deadlines for two major products: permit streamlining report and strategy adoption report. We still need an outline of current permitting and planning procedures from the Corps’ Operations and Planning groups (which handle Corps dredging projects) and USEPA. We also need more information about the Bay Area Dredged Material Management Office.

3. Sediment Screening Thresholds [Steven John]

A workshop is planned for February/March with Tom Gries, State of Washington Department of Ecology, Shorelines and Environmental Assistance Program, to discuss his perspective on developing sediment objectives/criteria. Ed Long, NOAA, will be in Southern California on February 23-24 for a CWEA conference; Steven will talk to him about attending a subcommittee meeting to discuss Ed’s approach. [Note: workshop with Gries has been scheduled for March 12^th.]

4. Aquatic Disposal and Dredging Operations [Tony Risko]

Staff from the Waterways Experiments Station, Mississippi, plan to come to Los Angeles in February to discuss studies conducted to evaluate North Energy Island Borrow Pit as a potential confined aquatic disposal site. [Note: no date has yet been finalized.]

5) Upland Disposal and Beneficial Re-Use [Michael Lyons]

We still need more discussion on the constructed fill alternative. We should have a preliminary evaluation of disposal alternatives to present to the Task Force at the March meeting.

6) Watershed Management and Source Reduction [Mark Gold/Catherine Tyrrell]

The group discussed the Army Corps of Engineers' Scope of Work for the stormwater study of the Ballona Creek watershed and recommended careful evaluation of existing data to identify sources of contamination and understand sediment transport mechanisms. Some additional sampling may be conducted to try to link sediment contaminants to adverse impacts (e.g., sediment Toxicity Identification Evaluations). The group also reviewed the summary of pollutants of concern found within each watershed of interest (Marina del Rey Entrance Channel, Los Angeles River Estuary).

Miscellaneous

(1) Hari Gupta, Hart Crowser, wishes to present his company’s experience with contaminated sediments in Portland, Oregon. The Task Force scheduled a presentation for the May meeting. [Note: Hari has since indicated he may have to delay the presentation.] (2) The Port of Long Beach has secured permission from the tenant to allow disposal of contaminated sediments in the slip fill. (3) The Southern California Academy of Sciences meeting on April 30/May 1 will include a session related to contaminated sediments and the Task Force’s activities. (4) Doland Cheung (Corps) distributed copies of the Revised Scope of Work for Marina del Rey Harbor sediment chemistry testing and reporting. He requested comments within a week.