Groups against the project file for an emergency court injunction, while supporters hold public meetings and lagoon tours to stop the spread of “misinformation” and State Parks readies a team of on-site biological monitors to ensure no harm comes to birds or fish.
By Jimy Tallal / Special to The Malibu Times
With the start of the much-debated Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project almost one week away, both supporters and opponents of the project are keeping busy.
While the Wetlands Defense Fund (WDF) has been busy filing court papers to try to get an injunction to stop the project before it begins June 1, other local environmental groups who support the project are taking action to stop the spread of “misinformation.”
State Parks’ controversial project to dredge and reshape the Malibu Lagoon has been 20 years in the making and pitted many residents, surfers and/or environmentalists against one another. The project will drain the water from the lagoon in order to remove tons of sediment from the bottom, take away several pedestrian bridges and replace non-native plants with native vegetation.
The WDF has been the most vocal opponent of the project, claiming the dredging will destroy a functioning ecosystem. Marcia Hanscom’s WDF, Access for All and Coastal Law Enforcement Action Network (CLEAN) filed a final round of paperwork with the state Court of Appeal on Friday requesting an immediate stay on the project. The California Coastal Commission is named as the primary defendant, and the document states that “Existing wildlife would literally be dredged over and a popular public trail to the sea permanently removed by construction.”
“Our focus is really on trying to get relief from the courts, so that’s what we’ve been doing,” Hanscom said.
The document also includes a new declaration from a biologist that the lagoon’s berm is now closed off to the sea, a common occurrence in mid-May. Hanscom says that means there is more water in the lagoon, which makes it an ideal breeding time for the endangered tidewater goby and several other creatures.
The City of Malibu earlier this month joined WDF’s legal action with an amicus brief, based on concerns it has over methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. MRSA is a hard-to-kill staph bacteria that is known to be present on the sand between the lagoon and the ocean. Since the state parks plan involves draining water from the lagoon, treating it and dumping it in the ocean, the city expressed concerns in the brief it filed that the MRSA bacteria could make its way to the ocean and cause a public health danger.
On May 16, the state Attorney General’s office submitted a response to the City of Malibu’s amicus brief. The state’s response said the concerns over MRSA in the city’s amicus brief were “unfounded and alarmist” and “there is no support in the administrative record or otherwise for the City’s allegations that the restoration project will expose surfers and other beach goers to deadly bacteria.” Moreover, the state argued that the city’s amicus brief was not legally applicable, because WDF did not raise the MRSA issue in its appeal. Should a judge grant a stay of the project to consider the questions on appeal, as WDF’s appeal requests, the state argued that judge could not legally consider the MRSA question.
Meanwhile, California State Parks officials are preparing for the project to begin June 1 as planned.
State Parks officials met with local law enforcement agencies Wednesday last week to discuss how to maintain the peace once the project begins. The agencies included the Los Angeles County sheriff’s and fire departments, lifeguards, California Highway Patrol and the supervisor’s office.
Suzanne Goode, senior environmental scientist for State Parks, said the state will monitor every step of the project with a team of onsite biological specialists, an archeologist and a Native American specialist on hand at all times.
In reference to allegations and newspaper ads run by lagoon project opponents that wildlife will be killed, Goode said State Parks will “ensure the contractor doesn’t disturb any nesting birds or harm any birds or animals. We have a whole team of people to monitor the biology and relocate the fish.”
Goode said the fish biologists with nets would “isolate the work areas from the main lagoon, and as the water levels are lowered section by section, the fish will be captured and relocated to the main channel.”
At the present time, only three active bird nests have been located in the lagoon area (Killdeers, Black Phoebes and Bushtits). Goode expects one nest to be finished by June 1, but will keep re-inspecting the area. Nest locations will be cordoned off and heavy equipment will not be allowed to operate near them until the last nestling has fledged. She said biologists will follow along with the bulldozers every step of the way.
Meanwhile, several private groups have planned meetings in support of the State Parks project. On Sunday, the Surfrider Foundation and a group called the Real Malibu 411 met at the Point Dume Club to discuss the project.
Surfrider Foundation co-founder Glenn Hening said the purpose of the meeting was to correct misinformation being spread by project opponents.
Hening and fellow surfer Steve Woods seem particularly focused on convincing surfers that the lagoon project will not affect the surf break. Hening said the “perfect wave” that used to exist in Malibu was destroyed by floods as well as the man-made lagoon channels.
“The existing channels were dug as a function of where the parking lot would be,” Hening said. “They didn’t know anything about constructing a wetland.”
Surfer Ken Seino, who stated he had a pacemaker implanted after suffering heart damage from pathogens in raw sewage at Surfrider Beach, spoke about the number of local surfers who have died or been permanently disabled from surfing in contaminated water there. He quoted a State Parks document that said “the project may result in less proliferation of coliform bacteria” and improve water quality.
The groups plan to hold a second meeting at the Point Dume Club Thursday night, May 24, at 7 p.m.