Santa Monica Bay

Rimmon C. Fay, a marine scientist and longtime Venice Beach lifeguard who devoted his life to saving the Santa Monica Bay from pollution and other assaults, has died. He was 78. Fay died of a heart attack at Berkley West Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica on Tuesday after a series of strokes that had left him incapacitated in recent years.

The long-time public face of Heal the Bay, one of California's leading and most influential environmental advocacy groups, is stepping down after nearly a quarter of a century with the Santa Monica-based nonprofit. Mark Gold, president of the environmental group focused on the health of Santa Monica Bay and waters up and down the West Coast, is leaving to accept a position as associate director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, where he has taught as an adjunct professor and serves on its board.

You have to be a scuba diver to see the difference, but areas of Santa Monica Bay that were historically fouled by sewage discharges are making a strong comeback. The new State of the Bay report notes the revival of bottom-dwelling marine life in the wake of treatment upgrades at the two big wastewater plants that empty into the bay several miles from shore. Diver surveys have documented sea animals and plants on the sea floor "where really it was barren before," said Shelley Luce, executive director of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, which issues the report every five years.

This ornate villa overlooking Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes Estates feels like it could be in Italy. But views of Santa Monica Bay and points north, and on clear days, the San Gabriel Mountains and downtown Los Angeles, belie that. Yet the views alone don't account for the $10.9-million price tag. The home's eye-popping extravagance begins with a $1.7-million foundation and continues from the ground up. Marble mosaic floors and 300-year-old terra-cotta pavers from France stand atop that base — and that's just what's underfoot.

For more than half a century, beachgoers have had their views of the Santa Monica Bay disturbed on a near-daily basis. What should be a pristine panorama of sky, sunlight and surf is interrupted by massive tankers unloading crude oil, which is then transported through a pipeline to the Chevron refinery in El Segundo. About 350 tankers each year offload more than 4 billion gallons of crude oil at the bay's offshore mooring. Now, Chevron's lease on state lands that house the offshore marine oil terminal is up for renewal.

Thousands of people from around the Los Angeles area reported feeling a series of small earthquakes that struck the Santa Monica Bay on Monday. A magnitude 3.7 quake that hit about four miles off Hermosa Beach around 5 p.m. brought more than 3,000 responses to the U.S. Geological Survey's "Did You Feel It?" survey site.

I was disturbed to read the article by Willard Bascom, "Santa Monica Bay On The Mend." How wonderful if true! But this is not at all possible when the Hyperion treatment plant at El Segundo is being asked to process four times the sewage it was built to handle! Since Bascom represents the cities that do the polluting, it is not difficult to understand his attitude on the necessity of cleaning up the mess. I wonder, when was the last time he swam in Santa Monica Bay?

A conversation with marine biologist Rimmon C. Fay, 57, owner of a marine specimen supply firm, an ex-member of the state Coastal Commission and a leader in the fight against pollution in Santa Monica Bay. Los Angeles officials have agreed to spend $2.3 billion to improve treatment of toxin-laden sewage the city dumps in the bay, which is being considered for the federal Superfund cleanup list. Q: You were one of the first marine biologists to explore the waters of Santa Monica Bay.

About 2.7 million gallons of partially treated sewage overflowed into Ballona Creek and reached Santa Monica Bay during last night's rains, City of Los Angeles sanitation officials said. County health officials began this morning to post signs on a vast stretch of beach from Long Beach to the Ventura County line warning that the water could contain unsafe levels of bacteria.

We were surprised to read state Sen. Tom Hayden's assertion in "Sacrificing the Bay for Little Gain" (Commentary, Dec. 13) that there is dissension among environmental groups over the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project's action plan. While different environmental groups may have different strategies, we stand united in the pursuit of our ultimate goal: a cleaner and healthier Santa Monica Bay. Certainly the plan alone will not clean up our ocean. Under the National Estuary Program, the process required consensus among dischargers, regulators, agencies and environmentalists in the development of a plan to restore our bay. Yes, we want to strengthen the plan and to make sure that all its voluntary measures are implemented.

The earthquake-triggered tsunami that thrashed California's coast Friday morning, killing one person, caused at least $50 million in damage, experts said Saturday. Lori Dengler, a geology professor and director of the Humboldt Earthquake Education Center at Humboldt State, said the damage estimates were preliminary — and were likely to rise. "It's going to go up," Dengler said. "How far up, I'm not going to predict. This is an expensive event for California. " Officials at harbors up and down the coastline spent Saturday assessing damage from Friday's ocean surge.

For nearly a century, oil tankers from around the globe have docked just off the shore of El Segundo to pump crude into one of the largest refineries on the West Coast. Now, the Chevron Corp. is asking the state for an additional 30 years. The California State Lands Commission is expected to vote Friday on an agreement that would charge the oil company a base rent of $1.3 million a year to lease the state-controlled tidelands for its El Segundo Offshore Marine Oil Terminal through 2040.

For more than half a century, beachgoers have had their views of the Santa Monica Bay disturbed on a near-daily basis. What should be a pristine panorama of sky, sunlight and surf is interrupted by massive tankers unloading crude oil, which is then transported through a pipeline to the Chevron refinery in El Segundo. About 350 tankers each year offload more than 4 billion gallons of crude oil at the bay's offshore mooring. Now, Chevron's lease on state lands that house the offshore marine oil terminal is up for renewal.

Thousands of people from around the Los Angeles area reported feeling a series of small earthquakes that struck the Santa Monica Bay on Monday. A magnitude 3.7 quake that hit about four miles off Hermosa Beach around 5 p.m. brought more than 3,000 responses to the U.S. Geological Survey's "Did You Feel It?" survey site.

You have to be a scuba diver to see the difference, but areas of Santa Monica Bay that were historically fouled by sewage discharges are making a strong comeback. The new State of the Bay report notes the revival of bottom-dwelling marine life in the wake of treatment upgrades at the two big wastewater plants that empty into the bay several miles from shore. Diver surveys have documented sea animals and plants on the sea floor "where really it was barren before," said Shelley Luce, executive director of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, which issues the report every five years.

Lifeguard Andrew Greger was making a routine training dive off the Santa Monica coast three weeks ago when something in the water caught his eye. At the bottom of the ocean, about two miles north of the Santa Monica Pier, he found a massive ship's anchor covered in rust, seaweed and sea-floor growth. Greger knew the area had been a major shipping port a century ago. But he was surprised to find the anchor in such good condition. "It's not every day you find something like that," said Greger, a rescue boat captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Division.

An ambitious, five-day undersea search of Santa Monica Bay for the last missing Womens Airforce Service Pilot from World War II ended Saturday with the whereabouts of Gertrude Tompkins' P-51D Mustang fighter plane still a mystery. But divers found the wreckage of two civilian planes -- a light aircraft and a helicopter, they announced Saturday evening. In April, while doing a preliminary search for Tompkins, they discovered an Air Force T-33 jet trainer that had been missing since Oct. 15, 1955.

Many surfers who ride waves at beaches in the Santa Monica Bay will tell you they don't think about sharks. But photos shot this week by a longtime local surfer have created a buzz about "Jaws" in the lineup. The photos, taken Saturday morning by Randy Wright, apparently show a large white shark jumping out of the waters off Sunset Beach near Pacific Palisades. "It was like, 'Oh my God,' " Wright said Wednesday. "I was really stoked. . . . It was definitely a fascinating experience."