Los Angeles Basin Contaminated Sediments Task Force

Interim Advisory Committee Proceedings
November 16, 1999

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Attendees

Michael Lyons, LA Regional Board
Doland Cheung, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Steven John, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Dean Smith, LA County Department of Beaches and Harbors
Mark Gold, Mitzy Taggart, Heal the Bay
Dennis Eschen, City of Long Beach
Al Padilla, California Coastal Commission
Tom Johnson, Stacey Crouch, Rick Cameron, Ari Strinberg, Port of Long Beach

Port of Long Beach’s Terminal Island Container Facilities Expansion Project

The Port presently is doing Phase I, which includes the Slip 2 disposal of contaminated sediment and dredging of the approach and berth for Pier T. Phase II will involve widening of the western edge of the Navy Mole to construct a rail yard, extension of the Pier T wharf and dredging of certain areas.

To create the fill for the widening, the Port will utilize clean sand from the Corps’ Western Anchorage disposal area (currently @ 1million cubic yards of material from Queensgate dredging) and clean sediments from the already permitted Pier J dredging project (@ 25,000 cubic yards would go into the fill, rather than taking material to LA-2).

The top portion (upper 6 feet) from sampling areas A and B contains contaminated sediments; this material would be dredged hydraulically and placed into two drydocks to be filled. The lower portion (5 to 10 feet below upper layer) from areas A and B contains clean sediments, but these may not be structurally suitable for fill. If the dredged sediments can be used in the fill, @ 700,000 cubic yards would go into the widening fill site; if not, these clean sediments would go into the Main Channel Disposal area.

The mole widening should begin in February 2000 to allow the Port to finish by the tenant’s lease deadlines. The dredging of areas A and B and drydock disposal probably would occur in mid-summer 2000.

The Port of Long Beach is not planning to place any contaminated material into the mole widening fill site. However, it would be possible to accommodate up to 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments. The City of Long Beach will investigate whether they can place some potentially contaminated sediments from Alamitos Bay maintenance dredging into this site. Unfortunately, the Port of Long Beach will have a narrow window of opportunity for placement of contaminated sediments into the fill site (it won’t be ready for this type of material until around mid-summer); at the present time, the City of Long Beach cannot dredge past April 1st, due to endangered species concerns. The drydocks can only handle the approximately 200,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments that the Port of Long Beach plans to place there.

In Phase III, the Port of Long Beach will dredge some remaining areas around the Naval Station, including a large volume of contaminated sediments.

The Regional Board has scheduled consideration of the Waste Discharge Requirements for this project fo December 9th. The Army Corps has issued a public notice, with comments due by December 7th. No major objections were raised to the proposed project. However, Heal the Bay suggested inclusion of a numerical limit for tubidity (20% increase over background levels) in the permit which would trigger sampling of the water column for chemical contaminants and possibly implementation of best management practices to reduce turbidity (and associated resuspension of contaminants), as well as increased monitoring for turbidity (4 times per week for the first two weeks of dredging, twice per week for the remainder of the project). This proposal was accepted by the subcommittee, although the Aquatic Subcommittee will continue to work to develop standardized limits, monitoring and BMPs for dredging projects.


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