Public will help decide the fate of wetlands destined for fill.

PORT OF OAKLAND + EMERYVILLE MULTINATIONAL = 17 MILLION CUBIC YARDS OF SLUDGE, (4 million cubic yards of which is contaminated with dioxins, heavy metals, etc.) dumped into one of the largest, most significant and pristine wetlands left in the entire state. The proposed dumpsite is a breeding site for otters, egrets, minks, herons, and numerous rare and indigenous species, and is adjacent to and shares waterways with an 80,000 acre wildlife preserve run the Dept. of Fish and Game.

The project is bordered on the south by Suisun Bay, at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The project site is located on the eastern edge of the Suisun Marsh in the San Francisco Bay ecosystem. The Suisun Marsh is recognized as a wetland national and international importance. It constitutes 10% of all the wetlands left in the state of California. In addition, Suisun Marsh is recognized as a critical wetland for birds on the Pacific Flyway.

The area is home to numerous rare and endangered plants and animals, including the bald eagle, American peregrine falcon, winter run chinook salmon, the federally listed Sacramento splittail, the federally listed salt march harvest mouse, and the federally listed vernal pool fairy shrimp. In addition, the site provides year-round habitat for other wildlife species, including raptors, songbirds, upland game birds, small and large mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

The dredged sediments which will be deposited on the seasonal wetlands and endangered species habitat are known to contain some 65 different contaminants, including but not limited to: polychorlinated biphenyls (PCB's), organochlorine pesticides, selenium, zinc, lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury and chromium.

Up to 17 million yards of dredged sediment would be deposited on approximately 1,822 acres of the 2,344 acre site.

This project pits a small group of activists against the Port of Oakland, the Army Corps of Engineers and a multinational environmental corporation (with it US headquarters in Emeryville), Levine-Fricke (http://www.lfr.com).

From what I can see from the lfr website, this company has never done anything like this before. The project it is modeled after, is the highly acclaimed Sonoma Baylands Wetlands Demonstration Project. According to activists, this has been a failure.

Instead of creating a wetland, where tidal ebb and flow give soil daily exposure to sunlight, a shallow lake was created. This has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Whatever else, to dump this dredging in Montezuma, a major industrial infrastructure will have to be built in a rural community that hasn't changed much for over a hundred years, with pipelines, daily barges, and fresh water usage equivalent to what Oakland uses each day to make the dredging pumpable. Even with using fresh water the saline level of the fill will quickly change the delicate and essential balance where freshwater from the rivers meet saltwater from the bay.

This issue, after a decade of struggle, is coming to a head. There will be a public hearing in Oakland on February 15 at 1pm. This will be at the Bay Conservation and Development Commission office at 101 8th Street in downtown Oakland. (Near 12th Street Bart.)

This (the Montezuma) wetland is doing OK. There are issues about private land reclaimed by dikes that are leaking. (The leaking benefits the wetland)

Apparently former military bases in the Bay Area, Hamilton and Mare Island, can accommodate these dredgings without creating new industrial infrastructure.