Following two financially beneficial legal outcomes, the Port of San Diego faces the decision of how to spend the extra money.

SAN DIEGO - Two seemingly separate organizations share a common idea about how the San Diego Unified Port District should handle proceeds that amount to $28 million as a result of several recent lawsuits.

Both the San Diego Port Tenants Association and the Environmental Health Coalition believe the money should be applied in a manner that maximizes returns, rather than being spent on maintenance, homeland security, public art and related projects.

The money in question recently hit the port's ledger books after litigation and insurance settlements related to environmental cleanup of the defunct Campbell Shipyard and several similar affairs.

For more than 100 years, the Campbell site hosted industrial operations that included a shipyard, a petroleum tank farm, a municipal refuse incinerator and a manufactured gas plant. Contaminants including metals, gasoline, diesel and other hydrocarbon-based products saturated the soil on land and were deposited in the adjacent 7.7-acre basin.

The site was vacated in the 1990s. In 2003, the port completed an extensive and expensive cleanup of the land, including the removal of 35,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil. Efforts continue to place a four-foot-thick cap over former shipyard's basin, which was deemed too polluted for remediation.

Although the Port Tenants Association has not officially voted on how it will ask Port Commissioners to allocate the funds, Executive Director Sharon Bernie-Cloward said her organization would like to see money spent in a way that allows it to multiply.

"One of our members recently said at a workshop that the money should be used on capitol development projects that produce a return on investment. We agree with him," Bernie-Cloward said. "Some port staff members have indicated they'd like the money spent on profit-and-loss items such as deferred maintenance. They already have a plan for deferred maintenance. Why would they take a windfall and use it there?"

Bernie-Cloward suggested that the tenants association might decide to urge the port district to use a portion of the windfall to address environmental concerns in areas such as the Shelter Island Yacht Basin, which is under tight scrutiny from regulatory agencies such as the state Regional Water Quality Control Board. That agency is concerned with the levels of copper found in sediment near marinas and yacht clubs. The copper is believed to have sloughed off from ablative boat-bottom paint.

"There are some environmental issues we're looking at such as (addressing sediment levels at) Shelter Island Yacht Basin where we might be able to get matching funds to make the money grow a little bit," Bernie-Cloward said.

Environmental Health Coalition Clean Bay Campaign Director Laura Hunter would also like to see the port district find a way to compound the money, which should be spent on the environment.

"There are a lot of ideas about how the money should be spent, but the bulk of it should go for the environment," said Hunter. "We've got a commitment for one-half of one percent of the port's budget, and hopefully could add several million."

Hunter mentioned projects such building solar electric generators to offset the port's energy usage and refitting its fleet of trucks with new technology clean-burning diesel engines.

While the Port Tenants Assoc-iation and Environmental Health Coalition both have a common interest in San Diego Bay, their agendas differ. While these two organizations have found common footing, decision-makers within the Port District have not.