The temporary injunction issued last week sides with three local groups opposing the project. An attorney for the Coastal Commission said the agency might file an appeal, asking to resume the project’s original June 1 start date.
By Paul Sisolak / Special to The Malibu Times
A Bay Area Superior Court was expected to issue this week a final injunction temporarily halting a restoration project at the Malibu Lagoon from proceeding in June.
On Friday, judges verbally indicated they would be putting a stay to the project, saying the restoration, which proposes a draining and dredging of the lagoon, cannot go forward until another hearing on its merits takes place in October.
Three local environmental groups filed the motion against the California Coastal Commission, which has granted its approval of the restoration. Members of the Wetlands Defense Fund, CLEAN (Coastal Law Enforcement Action Network) and Access for All oppose the project, believing it would be invasive to wildlife and plant species, doing more harm than good to the lagoon.
Supporters of the restoration have countered that prior restorative efforts led by state sources did more harm than good to the lagoon, which, they say, is now backed up and choking from poor water quality, flow and contaminated sediment.
James Birkelund, one of the groups’ attorneys, stated this week that they were happy with the judges’ decision to put off the project until the fall. Birkelund had argued that further environmental documentation still needs reviewing, a lack of which, he said, didn’t prevent coastal commissioners from issuing their seal of approval.
“It seemed the judges clearly understood that the dredging project would have a negative impact in the existing environment,” he said. “The decision is to protect the status quo until the court can examine in more detail.”
Other groups lobbying for the restoration say that an injunction until October is irrelevant because the project can only be carried out between June and September, the only time of year the lagoon is not environmentally sensitive. That means the earliest a restoration could take place is June of next year.
Environmental experts say the delay comes as a detriment to lagoon plants, birds and fish.
“It’s unfortunate that another year needs to go by where fish and wildlife need to suffer,” Shelley Luce, executive director of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, said. “We could have fixed it with just a couple of months’ work.”
“It’ll be more of the same,” Mark Gold, director of Heal the Bay, said. “We’ll have poor water quality and low species biodiversity. The lagoon’s waited a long time to get restored, and it’ll have to wait another year, like it or not. But sooner or later that lagoon’s going to be cleaned up.”
Other advocates for the cleanup cite the financial and employment setbacks likely to result from postponing the project. Suzanne Goode, an ecologist with California State Parks, said one major $2.5 million grant will have expired by then. The project, funded mostly through grants, is estimated to cost up to $7 million, and the lost funding source may be unavailable by then.
By halting the restoration, Goode said manpower would suffer, too. At least 100 workers, including equipment operators, native plant growers, truck drivers and subcontractors, will be out of work on the project, though they will likely be reassigned to other projects in the meantime.
Initial attempts to enhance the lagoon stretch back 28 years, when a state-sponsored 1983 cleanup carved out three separate waterways, with hopes to facilitate better tidal flow. Instead of naturally flushing the lagoon out, with time it has become backed up. Opponents to newer restoration plans, however, assert that the wetlands can, and have, repaired themselves over time.
The lagoon restoration has been perceived by some as a David versus Goliath of Malibu ecology, pitting the trio of groups opposed to the project against several other entities with stronger influence and deeper pockets. In addition to Heal the Bay, the restoration commission, Coastal Commission and other state agencies, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Sen. Fran Pavley all back the effort.
The WDF, CLEAN and Access for All, with support from the Malibu Democratic Club, have garnered a voice throughout Malibu with their “Stop the Bulldozers” campaign that has drawn allies in surfers and other residents. Several awareness and fundraising efforts have been held in the past to help cover the groups’ legal costs.
Members of the Malibu City Council last month also famously stayed out of the debate, formally deciding not to take an official stance on the lagoon restoration at a meeting last month.
Chris Peterson, an attorney representing the Coastal Commission, said it might file an appeal to last week’s ruling once a final injunction has been issued. The appeal would ask to resume the restoration project for its original June 1 start date.