Storm Is Late – $161 Million To Remove Malibu Canyon Dam Says Army – P-45 Is "The King Of Malibu" In The New Yorker Magazine

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The coming storm is late – and getting smaller by the hour.

The Army Corps of Engineers say it would take 161 million dollars to remove the old dam in Malibu Canyon. 

The cougars of Malibu get the celebrity treatment … in the New Yorker.

And it’s a bad weekend to take the Expo Line.

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Malibu’s only local daily news is on the radio .… 6 times every morning.

The script is posted here after 9.

This is the Friday edition of the news … from Radio Malibu  …. 97 point 5 K B U.

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The forecast changed overnight. 

Rain won’t arrive until this afternoon … and we’ll get less of it. 

Rain will move into Ventura County this morning … and hit Malibu at about midday.

The rain will end overnight.

Los Angeles and Ventura counties will likely see one quarter to one half inch of rainfall.

There’s a high surf advisory through 4 ‘o’clock tomorrow afternoon. 

Surf will build to 4 to 7 today … coming from the west.

High tides are about 6 point 3 feet at 8:33 this morning … and 6 point 2 feet Saturday morning at 9 o’clock.

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The U-S Army Corps of Engineers has just released its long-awaited Rindge Dam study.

The agency recommends spending $161.6 million on removing the 90-year-old dam …. to restore another 4 miles of Malibu Creek for use by the endangered steelhead salmon.

The Army’s plan would include thousands of truckloads of sand… hauled out by dump trucks to the Malibu Pier parking lot …. for beach restoration.

California State Parks recommends the same project but also removal of the spillway … instead of leaving it there like the Army would. 

Also … the state proposes trucking the sand to Ventura … then barging it back to Malibu … and restoring the beaches from barges.  

The state’s plan would cost $166.5 million. 

Under both plans …. rocks and stones in the filled-in dam area would go to the Calabasas landfill – about 2/3 of the material.

It would take 8 years for the sand and rocks to be trucked out – between 3,000 to 11,000 truckloads per year on Malibu Canyon Road.

The result would be adding about four miles of steelhead trout habitat on Malibu Creek … up as far as another old dam: Century Dam, near the old MASH movie site.  

Cold Creek in Monte Nido would also be reconnected as fish habitat to the ocean … but that would require replacement of several fish barriers like culverts.

Money for this has not been appropriated by Congress or the legislature. 

Some Rindge family members are adamantly opposed to the dam’s removal. 

They say it is a historical heritage site. 

The Army Corps of Engineers says there is general agreement that endangered steelhead would benefit if Rindge Dam and all of its impounded sediment were removed. 

And they say that Rindge Dam has restricted the flow of sediment downstream to replenish beach sand. 

But the reservoir behind the dam has been full since the 1960s … apparently meaning that sand carried down the Malibu Creek is routinely flushed over the top of the dam during floods.

In other words …. the dam created a sand barrier from 1926 until the 1960s … and there is 50 years worth of accumulated sand behind it. 

The Army says the economically important Santa Monica Bay beaches are eroding … and the use of Rindge Dam sand to nourish the shoreline creates a unique “win-win” ecological and economic nexus that may achieve multiple public benefits.

But is the dam safe, or is there a possibility that it could collapse and flood the Malibu Civic Center … Serra Estates and the Malibu Colony areas with floodwater and debris during a storm?

The Army Corps of Engineers says there is a likelihood of continued deterioration due to its

age … but the risk of that alone leading to catastrophic failure of the arch structure is low. 

They say the dam is no longer subject to dynamic water loading … as all the dirt behind it has placed a static load on the arch. 

An earthquake could could … however … cause catastrophic failure of the dam arch.

But the risk of that occurring is relatively low.

And the study warns that removing the dam and its accumulated sediment is a costly and complex issue. 

If not handled properly, dam removal can pose a substantial though temporary flood

risk in the Malibu Civic Center … Serra Estates and Malibu Colony areas. 

The Army Corps of Engineers study is a draft document … up now for public comment. 

In fact .. there’s a public hearing on this on three weeks … on March 1st .. in Calabasas. 

There is no money appropriated by either Congress or the California government to do the project … although Congress requested the Army to look into the issue 14 years ago.

That’s how long it took to get this Draft Environmental Impact Report done. 

Again … the dam removal would cost 161 million dollars is the sand were trucked to Malibu … 166 million dollars if offshore barges were used.

Malibu residents generally love clean water and hate trucks on local roads.

You can expect a loud reaction … both pro and con … on this one. 

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The KBU Internet radio web player is simple …. you can hear Radio Malibu in your phone or stream it to your car.

Navigate to k-b-u dot f-m. … press two buttons …. and we’re in your ear anywhere in the world. And … you are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … 97.5 K B U.  ((( time  ))))

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P-45 is the King of Malibu. 

That’s how a famous local cougar is described in the new edition of The New Yorker magazine.

The magazine has just posted and printed a 73-hundred word feature on the lions of Los Angeles … and P-45 is the headliner. 

The male mountain lion has eaten dozens and dozens of farm animals and pets at the isolated houses and ranches up in the Santa Monica Mountains … generally along Mulholland Highway in upper Trancas Canyon. 

The article describes in depth the increasingly contested real estate battle … between nature and humans … over two hundred and forty square miles of Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu.

The mountain range is the perfect size for one or two dominant males and several females, along with their young. 

But there are more mountain lions than that up there … lots more. 

The article centers on P-45 … and rancher Wendall Phillips … who shot the big cat and barely missed him last spring. 

Phillips and his neighbor … Victoria Vaughn-Perling … were granted a permit to shoot and kill P-45 last fall … a permit that they gave up as they agreed to work with the park service and mountain lion fans to prevent P-45 from eating their animals. 

The article gives insight into the majesty and grace of nature ,… in the form of the big cats who live above Malibu. 

Also … the threat and danger that residents up there live with.

Rancher Wendall Phillips is quoted in the New Yorker as saying … “Somebody’s going to shoot him (P45) soon.

“They’re just going to shoot him, pound the collar off with a hammer, put it in a lead box in a bucket of water, and bury P-45 ten feet deep. “That will be the end of that story. He will pass from reality into legend.”

The article is posted online. 

We have a link to it on the KBU Facebook and Next Door dot com pages. 

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Our KBU Newswire is posted at midmorning at the Malibu Times dot com.

Remember… you can always get breaking news ….follow us on Twitter @975KBU.

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Finally this morning ….what do you do with a car that has one month left on its warranty … and has some annoying bugs.

Metro’s new Expo Line …Santa Monica to Los Angeles … is 11 months old … 

And it has some bugs in the overhead wiring.

It will be shut down in West L-A  this weekend … Tonight through Sunday.

There will be a bus bridge for passengers between West LA and Culver City.

Not the best weekend to try the Expo Line to downtown.

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Traffic …

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Weather for the Malibu ….

Chance of precipitation is 90%.

It will be ((((  61   )))) degrees today on the beach … ((((      )))) inland. 

Winds will be gentle.

Sunset tonight is at   ((((    5:32    )))).

After that … 60 percent chance of showers until 10 p-m  tonight … a low of  ((((   53   )))) on the beach … down to  ((((  48  )))) in the canyons.

Tomorrow should be   ((((   mostly sunny   )))).

Right now … it’s ((((   58    )))) at Trancas.

((((    55   )))) in upper Malibu Canyon.

And it’s ((((    60    ))) at Civic center Los Angeles. 

In the ocean … it’s ((((    54   )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.

The lifeguards say the waves today are   ((((  4 to 6  )))) feet high …. 

((((  A new WNW swell fills in to its peak …  largest in the afternoon. 

There’s a deep morning high tide.  )))) 

Those are ((((  fair )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.

(((((    High tide is at 8:33 in Malibu  … 

3:27 PM-1.26 L

9:49 PM4.39 H    ))))

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And we always cover breaking news … on the radio … at 97-5 FM in western Malibu.

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