Back Bay dredging awaits needed millions

Alicia Robinson

As city officials continue vigorous lobbying of federal legislators

to fund a $24.5-million project to dredge the Back Bay, efforts thus

far -- including a February trip Mayor Tod Ridgeway took to

Washington, D.C. -- have netted only $500,000 for the work.

Ridgeway and Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said they were

surprised and disappointed to learn a House appropriations

subcommittee set aside only a fraction of the project’s cost in a

2005 appropriations bill now working its way through the House. The

dredging project has been planned for more than six years and can’t

proceed without federal dollars.

“We were expecting $10 million [in 2005],” Ridgeway said. “I don’t

think that was an unreasonable expectation.”

The project would dredge 2 million cubic yards of silt from the

Upper Newport Bay over two years. The work needs to be done every 20

years to repair damage to the 1,000-acre bay -- Southern California’s

largest tidal wetland and home to many endangered plants and animals

-- caused by urban runoff and other sources that fill it with silt.

Kiff said officials have secured the necessary permits for

dredging, and the design work is done. Now the city just needs

sufficient money to start construction. It’s the most money ever

requested by Newport Beach.

“We’re ready to bring the scows out and bring the dredgers out and

start work, and you can’t do that with half a million [dollars],”

Kiff said.

Waiting too long to move forward with the work could jeopardize

the entire project, because some of the funding will be in the form

of grants, which can’t be held indefinitely, Ridgeway said.

But federal money could still be forthcoming, Rep. Chris Cox said.

Cox has worked closely with the city to ensure the Back Bay

restoration project is funded.

The appropriations bill includes a line item for the Upper Newport

Bay dredging, which means Cox can fight for full funding when the

bill reaches a conference committee, the last step before it goes to

the president’s desk.

“Now it’s just a question of getting the appropriate funding,” Cox

said. “We are most definitely in the hunt.”

Meanwhile, city officials are working to get dredging money

included in the Senate version of the appropriations bill and

enlisting lobbying help from inland cities that drain into the bay,

reminding them all how much it will cost if the federal government

backs out of the project, Kiff said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].