Bill Hayes, chair of the Mendocino Coast Recreation & Park District, heard the good news that the Noyo Harbor District would benefit from $500,000 in federal money and suggested at last Thursday”s monthly NHD meeting a revival of an old deal between the two.
MCRPD previously explored using dredged material from Noyo Harbor as fill on the property where a golf course was once planned.
“The district still is titleholder of the property at Highway 20 and Summers Lane. We are still interested in pursuing any kind of agreement with the Harbor District for disposal of the materials. We would like to be added to that feasibility study into the future,” said Hayes.
Noyo Harbor District Secretary-Treasurer Kevin Michel advised Hayes to forget the whole idea.
“The materials we are dealing with now have levels of arsenic that are a concern for water quality standards in California. Based on my understanding of the water board”s inclination to approve our soils on that project on that site, it ain”t going to happen,” said Michel.
Each time the harbor is dredged, the materials need to be tested before being used as fill. Arsenic levels vary.
Harbormaster Jere Kleinbach remembered that when this same proposal came up in 2010, tests showed dredge materials were lower in arsenic than the MCRPD lands. The two agencies had a memorandum of understanding (a tentative legal agreement) at that time.
Michel said because the “golf course” property is in the Noyo watershed the arsenic levels become a “constituent of concern” for public health in the eyes of water regulators.
“I”ve worked extensively with the water board and the analyst that would be involved in this. It”s not worth betting 10 cents on,” said Michel.
Arsenic is widely used in wood preservatives and pesticides. It is also a common element that occurs naturally in many rocks and soils. The Noyo Harbor District usually attributes the arsenic to natural soils. There are no definitive studies showing the source of the arsenic.
Arsenic causes skin and respiratory problems if ingested in sufficient quantities.
Study
The $500,000 federal budget allocation is expected to arrive in May for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Thanks to pressure by Michel and Congressman Jared Huffman, the local study finally was funded. Similar allocations have been suggested and even anticipated in past years, but when the federal budget arrived each year there was a zero in the amount funded. Until 2014.
The 2014 allocation will create a 25-year plan for disposal of Noyo Harbor dredge spoils through the year 2039. The issue of what to do with dredge spoils piling up just northwest of Noyo Bridge has festered for decades.
“This $500,000 is strictly to create a stack of paper,” Michel explained to the Harbor Commission.
“It won”t move a thimbleful of dirt, no actual project work is contemplated. This is just for hiring consultants and doing PowerPoints,” Michel said.
He also explained it”s the first step needed for studies of where the material from the river can be disposed. The district also dredges its own marina, located just upriver from the Coast Guard station. That material has also been put on the same pile and would presumably be factored into any solution.
The study will look into disposing of the materials on land, nearshore and offshore. Beach replenishment needs and problems will be studied.
For decades, the district smeared the river bottom mud wherever people needed fill. Then laws changed. In the past year, the City of Fort Bragg and Caltrans have both accepted the fill for use on the former Georgia Pacific mill site and Willits bypass. Much of the rest is being trucked to a dump in Marin County, which is a poor deal for both the environment and the Harbor District.
The district and other stakeholders such as the county and City of Fort Bragg will be invited to participate but the funding and control of the process belongs to the Army Corps, which is set to get a new commander for the San Francisco region in May. Michel said the study will start in May and hopes to conclude in December.
