In response to Steve Rucker’s letter from the Sept. 11 edition of The Malibu Times, “Out-of-town sand:” As counsel to the Broad Beach Geological Hazardous Abatement District (BBGHAD), I respect Mr. Rucker, have always enjoyed our conversations and appreciate his input. However, his opinion that using trucked sand from local quarries to re-nourish Broad Beach is an environmental “disaster” is just plain wrong.
The BBGHAD spent two years trying to persuade many local municipalities and regulatory agencies to allow the use of sand from various offshore sources in Santa Monica Bay for our beach and dune restoration project. In the end, despite the fact that the use of offshore sand is a fraction of the cost of quarry sand and arguably a better match to existing beach sand, governmental agencies and local environmental groups informed the BBGHAD that the environmental impacts of using offshore Santa Monica Bay sand are far greater than using inland quarry sand and trucking same to the project site. As a result, and at a huge expense, the BBGHAD changed its project to use inland sand. This inland sand satisfies all project parameters.
We hope that a restored Broad Beach will be a great benefit to the entire community.
Kenneth A. Ehrlich