San Pedro Bay breakwater to be scrutinized

San Pedro Bay breakwater to be scrutinized    The Long Beach City Council on Tuesday voted 7-1 to allocate up to $100,000 for a feasibility study on whether a portion of the federal breakwater guarding the eastern face of the Port of Long Beach can be removed in an effort to restore water circulation to the city's beaches.
   The nearly nine-mile-long breakwater, constructed in three sections from 1899 to 1949, sits about two and half miles from shore, and is the longest manmade breakwater in the United States. The neighboring ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles each are protected from the open ocean by one section, with a final section extending east in front of the city's main beaches.
   The study proposed by the City Council would look at whether removing the easternmost section would improve water circulation and wave action of the beaches or pose a threat to beachfront homeowners.
   Proponents of the removal claim that the breakwater prevents water circulation and has led to the city having some of the most polluted, unhealthy water in the region. Opponents, mainly homeowners of expensive beachfront property, claim that removing the breakwater would allow waves to seriously threaten their property and erode the beaches.
   The third section of the breakwater was built to protect Navy anchorages — now used for commercial vessels since the late-1990s departure of the Navy — and now only protects a cruise terminal on the eastern face of the Long Beach port.
   The Port of Long Beach is being asked to provide an additional $50,000 to help pay for the study.