DEAL WOULD CLEAN UP, RESTORE AREA AT HANSEN DAM LAKES.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected this fall to remove 95 percent of the 5,000 cubic yards of debris it dumped in the Hansen Dam Hansen Dam in Los Angeles County, California was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District in 1939 and 1940. The project is located near the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley on Tujunga Wash, about one mile below the confluence of the Big Tujunga Wash lakes under a plan being drafted between the agency and local water regulators, officials said Friday. After surveying the lakes and realizing that only a small area had been impacted by the dumping, water officials rescinded an earlier multimillion-dollar requirement that the corps restore and plant native vegetation on up to 201 acres. Under a new plan, the corps would pick up litter around the lakes, cut invasive arundo weeds and remove a wide pond of stagnant water. ``This is an important step that the corps has stepped forward to take responsibility and accountability for what was done,'' said Dennis Dickerson, executive director of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Regional Quality Control Board. The water board is scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on the new proposal in June. The corps initially fought the mitigation and order to remove all the debris but might drop its appeal. ``If we work out the differences with the (water) board, and I'm very hopeful we will, then we will remove our appeal,'' said Lawrence Minch, Corps district counsel. Community activists who first discovered and fought the dumping were pleased with the outcome. ``All we ever asked was that they pull out everything that they dumped,'' said Debra Baumann, with the Tujunga Watershed Stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. . In April 2002, the corps admitted dumping 1,300 cubic yards of reeds, soil and garbage dredged from Whittier Narrows The Whittier Narrows is located at the southern boundary of the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. It is a gap in the Puente Hills where the Rio Hondo and the San Gabriel River converge. and Sepulveda Basin into the Hansen Dam waterway waterway, natural or artificial navigable inland body of water, or system of interconnected bodies of water, used for transportation, may include a lake, river, canal, or any combination of these. . The following month, the corps said, it dumped into the larger lake 1,650 cubic yards of concrete and rebar re·bar n. 1. A rod or bar used for reinforcement in concrete or asphalt pourings. 2. A group of such rods forming a grid. [re(inforcing) bar.] and 2,200 cubic yards of soil from the nearby swim lake repairs. The corps said the dumping was part of a plan to fill in the two lakes, create a wetlands and reduce the chance of someone drowning drowning /drown·ing/ (droun´ing) suffocation and death resulting from filling of the lungs with water or other substance. drowning, n asphyxiation because of submersion in a liquid. . But the community and elected officials were appalled and demanded the corps drop its secret wetland plan. ``People need to remember that what was done was the tip of the iceberg tip of the iceberg n. pl. tips of the iceberg A small evident part or aspect of something largely hidden: afraid that these few reported cases of the disease might only be the tip of the iceberg. ,'' said Baumann, who credits the dumping with creating a wave of community activism. ``Those lakes wouldn't be here today, they'd be concrete and rebar from end to end.'' Ultimately the corps admitted the dumping was a mistake, though it earlier resisted removing any debris below the water line. Now the agency is expected to fish out most of the material starting in October after bird nesting season, leaving only that too far in the middle of the lakes. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com |
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