Introductions

Catherine Tyrrell started the introductions and began the meeting. Jaime Kooser was unable to attend.

Review of Draft Report to Legislature

Lauma also included the CSTF logo on the cover memo so Task Force members could see what was finally selected. In addition, she brought up the issue of Proposition A funds and passed out application information on obtaining these funds. Los Angeles County Department of Public Works is the liaison for the grants. Lauma would like to include this information in the Report to the Legislature if we have a Task Force agency committed to securing funds for CSTF work. It appears that Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors would be a likely candidate for the funds to support the creation of a sediment separation facility that was previously discussed at the last Task Force meeting in September. Dean Smith will consider applying for the funds, for which the applications are due by December 15 (with resolutions already adopted by the local agency prior to submitting applications). The Proposition A funds are strictly for use within the Santa Monica Bay watershed and for capital outlay projects (i.e., any type of construction or acquisition project that will directly lead to reducing pollutants entering Santa Monica Bay). If anyone needs additional copies of the application information (or a summary from the workshop Lauma attended for this grant program), please contact her directly.

Discussion of the Proposition A grant program led to concerns by Catherine Tyrrell whether Coastal Commission permitting, public perception and coastal zone impact issues would be a deterrent to setting up a permanent facility on Dockweiler Beach. The Task Force members agreed that those issues will need to be addressed in the project description of the application process and may be resolved in how and where the facility is designed. In addition, the County could also apply for multiple projects, including storm drain catchment structures. There is support from the Proposition A review committee to look at joint venture projects, such as those from the Task Force.

In addition, Lauma passed out information on two Coastal Commission competitive grant programs involving education. These programs will use funds obtained from the sales of the WHALE TAIL^SM  License Plates and include the Adopt-A-Beach Grant Program and the WHALE TAIL^SM  Grant Program for Coastal and Marine Education. The deadline for submitting applications is November 15. If anyone wants copies of the information, you may contact Lauma, check the CCC website, or call (800) COAST4U.

Lauma Jurkevics announced that she has developed a public notice but still needs the date and time for the public workshop. Jim Raives indicated that the Coastal Commission management wouldn’t know the date until late next week. Jaime Kooser and Jim are requesting the date to be November 6, Friday, but the workshop could possibly be held on the other dates (November 3, 4, or 5). The workshop will be scheduled at 9 a.m. before the official Coastal Commission hearing at 10 a.m. in Agoura Hills. Once the date is confirmed, Lauma will send the public notice to the agencies and organizations so they can mail them to the folks on their mailing lists.

Lauma asked for input as to how the workshop would be conducted. Jim Raives had recommended the stakeholders to present their viewpoints of the Task Force. Furthermore, Mark Gold would like the Task Force to take this opportunity to let the public and the Coastal Commission know of funding needs to accomplish special studies and implementation. The Task Force might be able to utilize for the workshop the slides and PowerPoint presentation designated for the December Executive Committee meeting. In the end, the stakeholders committed themselves to prepare a short presentation for the November public workshop. In addition, the Coastal Commission and Regional Board staff will work with the slide show committee on the visual presentation.

Catherine Tyrrell reminded everyone that the Executive Committee meeting would be held on December 3^rd at the Port of Long Beach. After the Task Force meeting in November (now scheduled for November 20^th), there will be a dry run of the slide show presentation.

Ralph Appy commented that a tour of the two ports on the Angelina would be provided with lunch after the Executive Committee meeting. He needs to have a head count from everyone because there will be a 30-person limit on the boat tour. Let Jim Raives know who and how many will be attending the tour by the next Task Force meeting.

Jim Raives discussed the need to have the second Interim Advisory Committee meeting before the end of the calendar year (per the Action Plan, this committee is scheduled to have at least two meetings each year). Mark Gold and Tony Risko (welcome back, Tony!) commented that the Task Force should begin discussing the funding issues sooner than later and that the Advisory Committee might be a place to start, especially since all of the players are also represented in the other subcommittees. The Advisory Committee should start developing and prioritizing a list of projects and/or special studies because there is potential to obtain funds this coming year. Projects coming up include POLB’s Pier T project and the City of Long Beach’s LA River Estuary dredging project but the subcommittees may also have special studies they want to start initiating. It was agreed that the Advisory Committee would meet on October 29 at 2 p.m. after the noon meeting of the Implementation Subcommittee.

Catherine Tyrrell indicated that the workplan was previously presented to the Task Force. If anyone wants to comment on it, then they should let her know.

Steven John indicated that a workplan is not yet available because the subcommittee needs to get more information on the direction it wants to take and hear from other national experts on this issue. The Committee cannot develop its work plan until it revises and clarifies its goals. The confrence with the national experts is in part to help this committee deterime what it is reasonable for it to accomplish. USEPA doesn’t have a budget yet and so won’t be able to bring down the Washington State expert until funding is available. USEPA might allow the State to pitch in the funds but it can’t allow the project proponents (such as the ports) to pay because it would be a conflict of interest. The Corps, however, would be able to bring the out-of-state Corps experts.

Catherine Tyrrell would like Steven to push to get the experts down some time in December. She and Michael Lyons will look into potential State funding. Meanwhile, Catherine would like a workplan by the end of the month.

Michael Lyons provided handouts and presented the workplan. The subcommittee has been gathering and consolidating information with most specific tasks scheduled for this state fiscal year. Seven alternatives are being considered: landfill disposal, constructed landfill, blending, Brownfields remediation, physical separation, concrete stabilization, and asphalt. He doesn’t have much information on the last alternative – asphalt blending. If anyone has information he/she can provide, please let Michael know. So far, the subcommittee is on schedule. Management Committee members suggested that the work plan include evaluation of development of a upland dump site for contaminated sediment and development of a rehandling facility. Additional, comments on the workplan are due to Michael by October 22.

Jim Raives passed out the handouts on the workplan. It seems most of the work is dependent on the completion of tasks by other subcommittees. However, the Implementation Subcommittee will be working on the Strategy Adoption Report and the Streamlining Report this year. The subcommittee recommended the Task Force to review its workplan to see if it can modify some of the deadlines that were identified for some of the subcommittee tasks to provide more time for reviewing the subcommittee products. Comments on the Implementation Subcommittee workplan are due by October 22 to Jim.

Tony Risko indicated that no workplan is yet available from the subcommittee since the September meeting had been cancelled. Catherine Tyrrell requested that he have one ready by the end of the month.

See above workplan summary and discussion of Proposition A funds.

See above workplan summary.

Port of Long Beach’s Pier T project

Tom Johnson discussed the status of the Pier T project. About 1 million cubic yards of material is unsuitable for ocean disposal, so POLB proposed a confined aquatic disposal site, which had received approval from the Regional Board and the Coastal Commission. POLB has now come up with two alternatives: Pier S Brownfields site and Pier E slip fill. The Corps’ application had been withdrawn and resubmitted to include the two other alternatives. In addition, the Regional Board’s and Coastal Commission’s permits need to be amended. The POLB has a goal to obtain agency approvals by November 1998 in order to have permit conditions for the design and bid specifications. The agencies are working hard to see if that will be feasible but there is no guarantee that approval will be given in November.

The Pier E disposal alternative seems to be the preferred alternative and will provide space for additional fill, such as disposal from Marina del Rey and Los Angeles River (LAR) dredging projects. However, the timing of the LAR project may not be in sync with POLB’s plans, which includes starting the fill around March, 1999. There might be a least Tern issue with both the LAR and the Marina del Rey projects. The project proponents will need to contact the resource agencies to find out the restrictions of dredging and disposal relating to endangered species protection. Catherine Tyrrell would like to have this issue answered by the next Task Force meeting.

Lauma Jurkevics announced that a meeting of the Palos Verdes Shelf Task Force is scheduled for October 21^st at the Department of Toxic Substances Control’s office in Cypress (9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.). The meeting will focus on the Corps’ draft report on the evaluation of capping options and the draft ecological risk evaluation. If you want more information, contact Lauma or you can call Fred Schauffler at USEPA (415-744-2359).

The next Task Force meeting has been rescheduled from November 12^th to November 20^th to be held at the Port of Los Angeles. Also, the Watershed and Source Reduction Subcommittee meeting has been rescheduled from October 13^th to November 3^rd.