Port Boaters Say 1 Scrap Yard’s Bad Enough, Vow to Block Plan for 2nd

The industrial waterfront of Wilmington may not be every boater’s idea of paradise. But for Albert Von Haenel, Clare Randall and many others who dock their boats there, it has a certain charm, what with giant cargo ships moving lazily through the channel and the hum of commerce ever-present in the nation’s busiest port.

“If we wanted quiet, we’d go to Marina del Rey,” says Von Haenel.

But even as they fancy Los Angeles Harbor, even as they find it an exciting place to be, a growing number of Wilmington’s 2,000 or so boaters have joined forces recently to block what they consider an unacceptable addition to the port: a new scrap yard.

Angered for years by Hugo Neu-Proler Co.’s large scrap facility on Terminal Island, the boat owners have now decided that they have had enough of the dust and noise from that yard and will do whatever they can to block Hiuka America Corp.’s proposal to relocate its San Pedro operations to Wilmington’s Berth 200.

“We will petition. We will picket the Harbor Department and Councilwoman (Joan Milke) Flores’ office. And finally, if we have to, we will file a class-action lawsuit,” to prevent Hiuka’s relocation, said Von Haenel, an engineer who heads the newly formed Los Angeles Harbor Boat Owners Assn.

Added Randall: “We are not against the company. We are against the location. We understand they have a living to make, but this location is inappropriate.”

The stand has not come lightly for the boat owners, who insist they are not in the habit of protesting new business in the port. As proof, they note that this is the first time in at least 20 years that boat owners in Wilmington’s marinas have organized in protest on any issue.

But like the San Pedro boaters who three years ago organized to draw attention to petroleum coke dust from Kaiser International Corp.’s coal facility, the Wilmington boat owners are joining forces to first block Hiuka’s relocation and then seek the relocation of Hugo Neu-Proler.

“If the two scrap yards are here, this marina will be a ghost town,” Von Haenel said last week at Yacht Haven Marina, one of eight marinas that dot the Wilmington waterfront. “The only thing you will find are rusting boats.”

For some time, officials of the port and Hiuka have insisted that the company’s proposal to relocate remains preliminary. And, as that issue looms, an executive with Hugo Neu-Proler said the longtime port tenant has done what it can to minimize the noise and dust inherent in its 20-hour-a-day business.

“We are continually working on our operations and our process,” said company Vice President John Prudent, who expressed surprise at the protests by boaters.

But to hear Von Haenel tell it, no one should be surprised that the boat owners have had enough.

Over the constant din of Hugo Neu-Proler’s scrap yard operations, Von Haenel walked past boat after boat in the marina, running his fingers along the hulls to show the film of metal dust spewed by the yard.

“Look at this,” he said, pointing at the dusty hull of his 41-foot sailboat, the Windward Spirit. “In Marina del Rey, you shouldn’t have to wash your boat but once a month. Here, you have to wash it every two weeks or you’re finished.”

As he and Randall walked through the marina, several other boat owners offered their own complaints about the dust and noise from the scrap yard.

“It’s a mess,” said Barbara Kelley, hand-sanding the black hull of her 44-foot schooner, the Gypsy Clipper. Brushing back her silver hair with hands blackened by paint, Kelley said she has been a tenant at the marina for 40 years and is not about to leave.

But Kelley, who is one of a small percentage of tenants who live aboard their boats, said the constant rattle of the existing scrap yard, in addition to the dust, is sometimes unbearable.

“Not only do you get the dust on the paint and the varnish, but the noise,” she said. “The noise is unbelieveable.”

Although Kelley figures on staying, J. D. Smith, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, has all but decided to leave the marina--a move that many boaters say they cannot handle because of higher rents and long waiting lists at other marinas.

“If it was not for that damn pile (of scrap) over there, I’d stay,” Smith said. But the wind-blown dust, he claimed, has been so bad at times that his nose and mouth have been fairly filled with the smell and taste of metal.

“You could literally taste it. It was like chewing on a piece of aluminum,” Smith said.

Such stories might be expected in such a heavily industrial harbor. But port officials and a Hiuka executive insist that they intend to ensure that any new scrap facility in Wilmington would not add to the dust and noise of other commerce.

Ever since the possible relocation of Hiuka surfaced publicly, in fact, company and port officials have emphasized that the facility envisioned for a 17-acre parcel in Wilmington would not be like the 23-acre scrap yard that has generated such controversy in San Pedro.

Instead, said Hiuka Executive Vice President David Creigh, company officials intend to pattern any Wilmington scrap yard after their Long Beach facility--one that is enclosed to control noise and dust and employs a newer technology for loading scrap onto vessels, not dumping it from a six- or seven-story conveyor as Hugo Neu-Proler does.

But as the company prepares to begin work on an environmental report on the project, the Wilmington boat owners seem wholly unimpressed with any talk of new technology or enclosed facilities or anything like that.

A scrap yard is a scrap yard, they say.

“If it’s a nuisance in San Pedro, why isn’t a nuisance in Wilmington?” said Von Haenel.

After several meetings, the handful of boat owners who joined forces to protest the new yard has now swelled to more than 100. And as time goes on, organizers insist that their numbers will continue to grow.

At a meeting last weekend, he said, scores of boat owners pledged their time and money to the cause. “Can you imagine somebody coming to a meeting for the first time and saying, ‘How much money do you want from me?’ ” Von Haenel said.

Still, he and Randall and the others have no illusions about the battle they face. They know, from longtime marina tenants like Barbara Kelley, that boat owners in the past have been unsuccessful in standing up to the port or a new industry that promises new revenue for the harbor.

But, they insist, they are not about to shrink from a battle. Especially, Von Haenel said, after seeing how their cause has struck a chord among other boat owners at the group’s meeting last weekend.

“I have never seen such an angry group of people,” he said.