Dredging

Boaters already dodge large entertaining yachts cruising through Newport Harbor, and come Friday they will have an additional obstacle: tugboats hauling massive barges full of dirt from the Rhine Channel. The city will begin scooping out generations of industrial waste that has settled in the underwater area near Cannery Village. Once the $4-million project is complete, about 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment should be moved from the waterway to the Port of Long Beach.

The California Coastal Commission on Wednesday approved Newport Beach's Rhine Channel restoration project. The commissioners gave the go-ahead to dredge 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the waterway near Cannery Village and dump it at the Port of Long Beach . The approval is the latest step in the process to clean up waste from shipyards, canneries, boat-building and metal plating facilities that operated there for...

NEWPORT BEACH — In the wake of the midterm elections, when most of the country has been talking about bipartisan divisions in the House and Senate, a Republican congressman and Democratic senator are coming together. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Rep. Ed Royce (R-California) will be in Newport Beach Saturday to celebrate the completion of the Upper Newport Bay Dredging, a $47-million public works project that required cooperation among politicians of different levels and colors.

The Port of Long Beach has agreed to accept 150,000 cubic yards of dredged toxic sediment from the city of Newport Beach, Newport officials said Tuesday. The sediment will come from the Rhine Channel, an area near Cannery Village that once housed shipyards and canneries, boat-building and metal plating facilities. It will be dumped in an area of the port reserved for such dirt, a site that will accommodate future expanded shipping operations. Finding a home for the contaminated material is a major development for Newport.

It took four years, $17 million and some pestering of the federal government by Newport Beach officials, but the dredging of Upper Newport Bay is done. In his monthly update to the Harbor Commission last month, Harbor Resources Manager Chris Miller told the group that more than 1.8 million cubic yards of sediment had been moved and the contractor would be demobilized by Oct. 27. The Back Bay project, which started in 2006, intended to improve the natural habitat of some endangered birds and reduce the sediment flow into the harbor.

City officials on Wednesday submitted documents to the state's natural resources agency, prompting another dredging of Newport Harbor within the next year. Harbor Resources Manager Chris Miller said he submitted applications to take sediment from the Rhine Channel, some of it clean and some toxic, to the Port of Long Beach's expansion project and the rest to a dumping site offshore. The city could begin dredging the channel by the beginning of 2011, Miller said. Dredging the Rhine Channel would be the harbor's third dredging in recent years.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has asked Congress for $23.7 million in federal funding to clean up Newport Harbor. City officials expect to have word on whether the project will get a chunk of federal money later this year. Congress isn’t expected to approve appropriations until after the November election. Feinstein also helped obtain federal money to dredge Upper Newport Bay; Congress approved $17.3 million in stimulus money last year to finish dredging in the Upper Bay. That project is slated for completion later this year.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has asked Congress for $23.7 million in federal funding to clean up Newport Harbor. City officials expect to have word on whether the project will get a chunk of federal money later this year. Congress isn’t expected to approve appropriations until after the November election. Feinstein also played a role in obtaining federal money to dredge Upper Newport Bay — Congress approved $17.3 million in federal stimulus money last year to finish dredging in the Upper Bay. That project is slated for completion later this year.

All praise to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) for stepping up to submit the federal appropriations request for money to clean up our harbor (“The Political Landscape: Rep. calls for $6M in federal dredging funds,” March 25). As we know, a clean and beautiful bay is the backbone of our vibrant local economy. Sanchez stepping up is particularly admirable given the bay is outside of Sanchez’s district, although an argument is to be made that her district is part of the watershed that drains into the bay. So this begs the question: Why didn’t Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach)