For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
The DEP and U.S Army Corps. Of Engineers released their New Jersey Back Bays Coastal Storm Risk Management interim report. The study presents a preliminary focused array of alternative plans that reduces risk to human life and flooding risk from coastal storms in the NJBB Region. The study area includes the bays and river mouths located landward of the barrier islands and Atlantic Ocean-facing coastal areas in the State of New Jersey.
“DEP’s and U.S Army Corp’s interim report is a recipe for disaster. The study does not look at sea level rise and impacts in the future. These flood protective designs are made for storms of the past, not for the for storms happening now and in the future. The problem with sea walls and gates is that the water goes around them. It gets to the dunes, into the bays causes pollution problems,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “There are cheaper and better holistic approaches for flood management and resiliency. DEP need to capitalize on natural flood control systems such as buyouts, elevating properties and vital infrastructure.”
The report provides four major measure types identified for flood control: storm surge barrier (inlet closures) and interior bay closures; perimeter (levees and floodwalls); nonstructural (residential building retrofits). The study found these measures were viable at several locations including Cape May City, West Cape May, Wildwood Island, West Wildwood Island, Stone Harbor/Avalon, Sea Isle City, Ocean City, Absecon Island, Brigantine Island, Long Beach Island and the area just north of Manasquan Inlet.
“DEP suggest using seawalls and gates as measures to reduce flooding however when you build seawalls, it will actually raise the flood levels and go around the structures through the barrier islands. This will stop the flushing of Bays and tidal areas, keeping pollutants trapped such as toxic sediments. It will cause stagnation of water, prevent fisheries from thriving, and cause a plethora of other environmental problems. Flood gates are a $100 million project that have to take a lot of public land to be built,” said Tittel. “Instead New Jersey should focus on elevations and buyouts in flood prone areas when planning to create more flood storage.”
Also outlined are ecosystem-based solutions such as marsh restoration, beach and dune restoration, and creation of living shorelines, which are areas planted with native plants and shellfish to provide natural flood buffers. Natural systems will help lessen the impact from storms and storm surges however they should not be the only strategy to mitigation planning. In order for dunes to work best, they need to be funded, maintained, and protected.
“New Jersey needs to create a comprehensive approach to the shore that includes mitigation of climate change, adaptation for sea level rise, and restoration of natural systems. The state does not currently have a program that requires towns to protect and maintain their dunes, which is what we need. Money funded by tax payers should not go to town projects such as flood walls, but towards more sustainable projects like dune restoration,” said Tittel. “We also should be buying out property of flood prone areas, and rebuilding in a more sustainable manner including pulling back from the shore where we can. Otherwise we are washing millions of dollars out to sea.”
The DEP have yet to reverse Governor Christie’s rollbacks on the Flood Hazard Rules and CAFRA rules. The Flood Hazard Rules add more development in environmentally sensitive areas, getting rid of stream buffers, and eliminating protections for headwaters. Christie’s Coastal CAFRA Rules allow more development in areas vulnerable to coastal flooding and allows high density development in the most high-hazard flood areas along the coast.
“Instead of wasting money on sea walls and levees, the DEP needs to reverse Christie’s rollbacks on important water protections like the CAFRA Rules, Flood Hazard Rules, and Wetlands Rules. Under weakened CAFRA rules, we can turn the coast into an urban area that has higher density than Manhattan Island and build commercial development behind sea walls without addressing sea level rise or climate change,” said Tittel. “What we need is stronger limits on impervious cover, natural systems restoration, and green building codes and green roofs. We need a buyout program along the coast or estuaries; we must look at regional planning and establish a Coastal Commission.
Once the DEP and U.S Army Corp study is completed, the Army Corps will issue a decision document with a recommended plan. After the plan is approved by Congress, design and construction will occur as funding is made available. The public is invited to provide comments on the interim report by April 1.
“We can’t keep conducting time consuming studies to prevent flooding in our bays and coastal communities unless DEP’s reverses rollbacks on important protections for our waterways. The Murphy Administration need to start planning and get rid of weakened versions of important water rules including the Flood Hazard Rules, Water Quality Management and Planning Rules, CAFRA, Wetlands Rules, and DEP’s new Stormwater Management Rule,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Murphy must stand up to federal rollbacks or else we will continue to see more and more flood events across our state, affecting homes and communities and putting our waterways at risk. If we don’t start acting we are all going to need snorkels.”