AGENCY FIGHTS CLEAN-UP ORDER ARMY CORPS CONTENDS HABITAT IN LAKE WOULD BE HARMED.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is fighting a mandate to remove all 5,150 cubic yards of concrete, soil and debris it illegally dumped at the Hansen Dam lakes in 2002, officials said Tuesday.

The federal agency petitioned the State Water Resources Control Board to throw out the clean-up order, saying it's capricious and would cause additional harm to the sensitive habitat.

The corps said it would have to drain the two lakes and scrape the lake bed down to its gravel base to comply with the order.

``The environmental impacts of this lake drainage would be the total removal of all viable habitat in the Lower Lakes complex and the associated loss of wildlife unable to transition to another habitat,'' the corps' petition states.

The agency wants to remove only visible debris, leaving behind much of the material below the waterline.

But Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board officials who wrote the order said the corps doesn't need to drain the lakes or take the drastic clean-up measures cited in the petition.

``I think the corps has interpreted some of the provisions of the certification in a manner which may not be reflective of actual expectations,'' said Dennis Dickerson, executive officer of the Los Angeles water board.

Furthermore, Dickerson said, the requirement that the corps remove all the debris is reasonable and justified.

City officials and lake neighbors were furious with the dumping, calling it an environmental and safety hazard in one of the San Fernando Valley's few natural areas.

``They want to remove the top five feet (of debris) now. If we have a drought, that concrete and rebar (reinforcing steel bars) will be exposed again or worse, it'll be just below the surface, creating a safety hazard for people walking or fishing in the water,'' said Debra Baumann, a Lake View Terrace resident whose group, the Tujunga Watershed Stakeholders, has fought for the cleanup.

``The Army Corps has expended far too much energy fighting the decision of the water board instead of rolling up their sleeves and cleaning up the debris they left at Hansen Dam,'' said David Gershwin, spokesman for City Council President Alex Padilla.

The state water board has 30 days to decide whether the corps' petition has merit. If so, the state agency will hold a public workshop to hear arguments and then decide whether the clean-up order should remain as is, be changed or be scrapped and rewritten.

If the state board leaves the mandate in place, the corps can appeal in court.

The clean-up order stems from the April 2002, when the corps admitted dumping 1,300 cubic yards of reeds, soil and garbage dredged from Whittier Narrows and Sepulveda Basin in the small lake.

The following month, the corps said, it dumped 1,650 cubic yards of concrete slabs and rebar and 2,200 cubic yards of soil from the swim lake repairs into the larger lake.

The corps said it wanted to turn the lakes into wetlands and reduce the risk of someone drowning. But members of the community were outraged about the dumping and said they were never told about the wetlands plan. The corps now admits the dumping was a mistake.

The agency has, however, resisted the order to pull out all the material, citing the cost to taxpayers and the impact to the natural environment.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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Map:

Army Corps of Engineers dumping site

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