After years of community advocacy and legal battles over a proposed Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) facility in Newport Harbor, the Newport Beach City Council has voted to repurpose contaminated dredged material for a pier expansion project in Long Beach.
This decision ensures that Newport Harbor will not become the site of a flawed CAD facility, which would have stored dredged material contaminated with DDT and mercury under a thin layer of sand at the harbor’s turning basin. The project posed significant risks to marine life and water quality due to a high potential for recontamination if the cap layer was disturbed.
This victory wouldn’t have been possible without the lawsuit Coastkeeper filed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over potential violations of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. By challenging the CAD and halting the project, the City of Newport Beach and other involved agencies found a better solution for the contaminated sediment, eliminating the risk of recontamination and decreasing the need for Long Beach to dredge for new material.
Beyond addressing sediment disposal, our legal action also improved protections for endangered green sea turtles and other marine life. Following our lawsuit, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers incorporated a monitoring program to reduce the dredging project’s impact on protected species.
We’re proud of what this achievement represents: the power of persistent advocacy and the importance of holding institutions accountable for protecting our waters. Read more about this victory in this August 2024 blog post.
