Rhine tab could be $22 million

Andrew Edwards

The most expensive option to clean up the polluted Rhine Channel

could cost more than $22 million, according to figures from the

Newport Beach Harbor Resources Division. And to date, officials have

not found funding to fix the polluted waterway.

“There have not been any discussions yet on how to pay for this,”

said Wanda Marquis-Smith, chief of the Santa Ana Regional Water

Quality Control Board’s coastal planning section. “Within the next

few months, we do need to have those discussions.”

The city’s Harbor Resources Update for April lists three possible

cleanup methods for the channel, all of which involve dredging.

Harbor Resources officials were not available for comment Monday.

The costliest method would require dredged material to be dumped

at a landfill, and a sizable chunk of the potential $22-million-plus

cost to fix the waterway would come from landfill fees.

If landfill fees could be waived, Rhine Channel cleanup could cost

about $12 million. Other factors could push the cost to use a

landfill down to about $7.8 million.

Rhine Channel, home to boat yards and a former cannery site, juts

into the east side of the Balboa Peninsula. Preliminary test results

show heavy metals and industrial chemicals have contaminated the

channel’s floor.

Testing was performed by Anchor Environmental and a final report

on Rhine Channel pollution with recommendations for cleanup was

expected to be released this month, but has been delayed until May,

company partner Steve Cappellino said.

The report has been held back to make time to study the landfill

option, Cappellino said.

Though no final recommendation has been made, Cappellino said his

first choice would be to use sediment as infill for a port

construction project.

City figures show this option could cost about $7.3 million, but

Cappellino said it would be feasible only if there was a demand for

Rhine Channel materials.

“You’re relying on somebody else having a site available,” he

said.

If fees could be waived, taking Rhine Channel mud to a landfill

would be the next best option, Cappellino said. The third choice

would be to dig a hole in the ocean floor to deposit dredged

materials. City figures show that option could cost about $9.7

million.

Though the disposal site would be covered up, Cappellino said

environmentalists typically do not favor projects that involve taking

polluted materials from one location to another.

Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board members could

select a cleanup method and water quality standards for Rhine Channel

as early as June 2006, Marquis-Smith said. Their decision would be

subject to approval at the state and federal level, which could take

another year.

Though cleanup work could begin in about two years, funding would

likely remain a “major constraint” at that time, Marquis-Smith said.

Officials have not identified a responsible party to provide funds,

and Marquis-Smith said water quality control board staffers looking

for possible sources of money are studying how other projects have

been paid for.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.