RIVER CLEARING BILL WOULD CUT PERMITS; ENVIRONMENTALISTS SAY MOVE MAY HARM WILDLIFE.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Should a natural waterway that has been lined with a cement bank be considered a river or a flood control device?

The distinction has spurred debates between environmentalists who want careful cleanup of Los Angeles County rivers and public works employees who would prefer to bulldoze out the vegetation that slows up storm runoff.

Those environmental concerns have prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to set guidelines for the county Public Works Department, including mitigation such as creation of new wetland areas for wildlife, in exchange for issuing a permit.

After a monthlong standoff last fall, the county relented to the Army Corps' requirements and was given a permit to clear the Santa Clara River and the South Fork River, the largest tributary of the Santa Clara.

But U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon would like to change that.

McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, has presented a bill that would allow agencies to clear flood control channels without obtaining a permit.

His bill, HR 2741, would provide an exemption from the federal Clean Water Act for maintenance of the channels.

``Local officials must be able to respond quickly when there is a threat of flood waters,'' McKeon said in a statement. ``The $30 million that Los Angeles County must now spend on mitigation would be better spent on more pressing public needs.''

McKeon presented the proposal to the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, which is under the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The committee is considering the reauthorization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and it could include McKeon's proposal when it takes action later this year, said David Foy, the congressman's press secretary.

``The flood channels were built decades ago with federal funds with one purpose in mind - flood control,'' Foy said. ``Then plants and animals start living there, and environmental groups oppose the cleanup of something that was built for flood control.''

Environmentalists, however, argue that the river existed before the concrete banks were put in to protect development from floods.

``The South Fork River has a cement bank, but it's still a river,'' said Lynne Plambeck of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment.

Plambeck said that McKeon's proposal to allow for cleanup without public comment on a permit application could be harmful.

For example, when the county requested the most recent permit, Plambeck said she and others were able to request that certain areas of the river be protected.

And Plambeck acknowledged that in some areas of the river, complete cleanup was unavoidable to prevent flooding.

``We said please avoid the native vegetation, alternate sides during the cleanup, and that worked fine,'' Plambeck said. ``We would say, watch that riparian habitat over here or there. It's really important to have that public comment.''

The Army Corps is effective at monitoring the channels because engineers there look at issues such as whether the cleanup will affect communities downstream or whether there will be a problem with increased sedimentation in the river, Plambeck said.

Most important, Plambeck said, residents could lose a valuable environmental area that many enjoy during frequent visits to trails nearby.

``The Army Corps has efficiently been managing the various uses of the river,'' Plambeck said. ``The community would be very upset if they cleaned the rivers bank to bank. People would miss the greenery.''

Foy said, however, that the cost is simply too great. And the county shouldn't have to pay to preserve a wildlife habitat that was built for flood protection, he said.

``They're not for plants and animals to live in,'' Foy said. ``The permit process is time-consuming, and the county has to provide mitigation measures. It ends up being very expensive.''