Bay cleanup project has no start date

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A San Diego Bay cleanup project still has no start date after four years of planning, a spokesman for the coastkeeper said.

It took three years for regional water regulators to prepare relevant documents and negotiations about how to handle contaminated sediment in the bay have been going on for 16 months, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Among the points of contention are defining the cleanup area, determining an acceptable level of pollutants and monitoring progress. The clean up was initially estimated to cost $96 million. The revised cleanup proposal must be made public by Oct. 30, a schedule released by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board said.

"If what is past is prologue, we still have a long road before the toxic sediment is removed," said Gabriel Solmer, the legal director for San Diego Coastkeeper.

There must be a public hearing and then a full meeting of the water quality board before a final cleanup order is released, David King, bay-sediment czar for the board's governing panel