by Garth Meyer
The Redondo Beach city Fourth of July fireworks show may not happen this year due to new permit requirements over water.
Added rules by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board led the pyrotechnics company contracted to do the show to cancel, leaving the city to look for a new option.
A March court ruling spurred new area fireworks requirements, including clean-up of plastic debris remaining on the water, complete with visual and photo monitoring.
“We’re trying to find some reasonable accommodations for where to host the fireworks this year,” said Pat Butler, Redondo Beach Interim Fire Chief, noting that inland locations are in play – such as Dominguez Park or RUHS.
“On our end, we’re hopeful we can still have it over the water,” said Butler. “Most modern-day fireworks are environmentally-sound.”
The contractor does not have to be responsible for new permit rules, the “display organizer” can be, such as the City of Redondo Beach, in this case.
A representative of would-be city contractor Pyro Spectaculars (Rialto, Calif.) spoke against the new permit rules at the Water Board’s May 25 hearing, saying they were too strict.
The Redondo Beach city council was set to address all of this at their meeting Tuesday, but did not, due to lack of in-person councilmembers, paired with the recusal of Mayor Pro-Tem Nils Nehrenheim, a licensed pyrotechnics operator himself who subcontracts with Pyro Spectaculars.
The agenda item was moved to next week.
The initial problem arose in May, when the regional water board adopted the new permit – so public fireworks displays could continue under the federal Clean Water Act.
The 1972 law requires a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit in order to shoot fireworks over United States waters, thought it was not until a court ruling in March for a lawsuit about the Long Beach “Big Bang on the Bay” that fireworks were declared are a “point source” of pollution which may be regulated.
That had not been established in this region before.
“Los Angeles Water Board staff have reached out to every known fireworks display in the region to explain the permit requirements and offer assistance with applications,” said a State Water Board spokesperson Tuesday – noting that the board is aware of at least two Southern California Fourth of July shows which may be canceled because a contractor has balked at/was unprepared for the permit requirements.
Before, parameters to launch fireworks over water were largely at the discretion of the display organizer, which included general clean-up and safeguards such as an “oil boom” around a barge to catch anything that may fall off.
“I read the new requirements and I don’t believe them to be excessive,” said Chief Butler. “It’s like having a party with some confetti – you want to make sure the confetti gets swept up.”
The Redondo Beach show would again be launched from a barge inside the King Harbor breakwater, about a hundred yards out from the recently torn-down Sportfishing Pier.
Butler has been working with the water board for the past week on the matter.
“We can get the permit – this is more about the vendor,” said the chief.
Total permits needed also include that of the state fire marshal and City of Redondo Beach.
Fireworks are illegal in the city, except for permitted shows.
“The water board – they’ve been very accommodating and very responsive,” Butler said. ER
