A proposal by the Humboldt Bay Harbor District and the city of Eureka to dump dredge "spoils" on the beach on the Samoa Peninsula has caused a stir among surfers, beach-goers, and even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project, designed to remove sediment from nearly 13 sites in Humboldt Bay, would dump the equivalent of 20,000 dump truck loads next to a popular surf spot named "Power Poles."

A "toxic soup" containing PCBs and other toxic chemicals will be suctioned from the bottom of Humboldt Bay and pumped through a pipe into the surf zone on Samoa Beach. The sediment will be moved north by the tides, and is likely to harm marine organisms on-site and off, including eelgrass and recoverying salmonids bound both for the Bay and for the Mad River.

The EPA approved a disposal site just 3 miles off of the harbor entrance, the Humboldt Open Ocean Disposal Site (HOODS). The EPA has informed the Harbor District and the City of Eureka it disapproves of surf-dumping and recommends the HOODS site. In 1998, after the last dredging episode, EPA instructed the Harbor District to find the means - financial and otherwise - to ensure this irresponsible method would not be employed in the future.