Newport secures federal funding for dredging

Paul Clinton

UPPER NEWPORT BAY -- Talk about quick delivery.

On Tuesday, Newport Beach Mayor Gary Adams asked Reps. Christopher Cox

(R-Newport Beach) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) to push for

federal money to help pay for a massive dredging project in Upper Newport

Bay.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the 2002 fiscal year

energy and water budget, which includes $600,000 for the $35-million

project.

The funding bill handed $23.7-billion in new spending power to the

Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the dredging project, and

other federal agencies.

Cox announced the funding in a letter to Adams. In the typed letter,

Cox scrawled the words “good news!” on the lower left corner.

“As the House negotiates these appropriations in conference with the

Senate,” Cox wrote, “I will continue to ensure that Newport Beach’s

requests remain a top priority for Congress.”

The city had hoped to receive $1.75 million for the project, but Adams

said the news was still a positive step.

“It’s great news,” Adams said. “Any help we can get is appreciated.”

The Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the

project’s environmental analysis Tuesday. To remove excess sediment from

the bay, the Army Corps of Engineers will dredge 2.1 million cubic yards

of mud. The plan, a full-scale bay restoration, will also include

relocating an island and adding new wetlands.

Local agencies hope to cover 35% of the cost of the project, a sum of

$13 million in state park bond money from Proposition 12, which passed in

March 2000. Under that scenario, the engineers would provide the

remaining $21 million.

The $600,000 is the first, if small, step toward fulfilling that

obligation.

“We’d like to get three times as much,” Rohrabacher said Friday. “It

just means [funding] comes at a slower pace, or you put the best use to

limited dollars.”

The House also approved $450,000 for a study on urban runoff

alternatives for San Diego Creek, which drains into the bay, and $300,000

to preserve a disposal site for the muck four miles off Newport Pier.