For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
On Thursday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with start a $52 million beach replenishment project in Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, and Sea Bright. The project will add 2.7 million cubic yards of new sand onto the beaches. The first phase which began last December will cost $31.5 million, while the second phase will cost $20.5 million. The federal government will cover 65% of the cost, the state will cover 26% and the local authorities will cover the rest.
“U.S Army Corp’s plan to pump 2.7 million cubic yards of sand onto three Jersey Shore beaches will fail. It will be washed out to sea at the next storm along with $52 million. Sea walls, dikes, and pumping sand will not work. Instead it wastes money, hurts the environment, and creates a false hope that these beaches will be replenished. The state should not be wasting millions of dollars to pile sand on the beach. Beach replenishment will help in the short-term but is not a long-term approach to dealing with climate change. We have already spent millions of dollars to rebuild these beaches after Sandy less than 10 years ago. Now we are spending millions more that will just be washed out into sea,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “In order to protect our coast and homes from storms and sea level rise, New Jersey needs to implement a holistic approach. Unfortunately, the DEP has been dragging its feet on any action when it comes to resiliency and dealing with sea level rise and climate impacts.”
Restoring natural systems protects property and is environmentally beneficial. In order to deal with storms there needs to be an overall comprehensive approach that includes elevating structures and moving them back from the water’s edge as well as restoring natural features like stream buffers. Regional stormwater planning and developing new flood storage areas will also prevent further development in flood-prone areas.
“We cannot keep dumping more sand over and over again after a storm comes, that is the definition of insanity. These Army Corps projects are just perpetual work projects. They keep washing out, but the Army Corps keeps on pumping sand. This destroys sea life, turning the ocean floor into a desert. It also changes the angle of flooding, causing beaches to erode faster. Unless we build dunes appropriately and restore marshes and tidal wetlands, they cannot protect our coast against beach erosion or protect property from storm surge, said Tittel. “U.S Army Corp. need to also focus on cost effective solutions like buying out properties.”
In October of last year, several shore towns were working on trying to replenish their beaches from tropical storm Melissa that caused major beach erosion and tidal flooding. High tides from the storm washed away mounds of sand at some beaches and created scarps close to 15 feet high. Sinkholes even formed in areas like Sea Bright.
“We cannot rebuild the Shore smarter and better without building dunes. That is why we cannot be spending money that is supposed to go towards protecting our towns from future storms for the sake of a private ocean view. Many of these areas without dunes got devastated, now they want money to rebuild, but still do not want to put up dunes. Dunes are vitally important to the coast of New Jersey; they protect against beach erosion, provide habitats for all types of species, and just as important protect property from storms and storm surges,” said Tittel. “Unfortunately, in areas like Long Branch, people want us to protect their beaches but don’t want anyone on them and don’t want dunes that will block their million-dollar ocean front view.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is moving forward on a new program worth over $500 million to buy out large scale communities in flood prone areas. In New Jersey, the Fish and Wildlife Management Department is already buying out properties and land in south jersey to create wetlands. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has started a similar $16 billion program.
“New Jersey has already started to buyout flood prone properties using the $300 million FEMA money after Sandy; however we need to do more, especially with climate change, flooding and sea level rise getting worse. We are still building in vulnerable areas and granting permits under Christie-era regulations that don’t protect against climate change or storm impacts. Some of the worst areas for flood risk are in Ocean County where they are just growing and building. Other areas in New Jersey like Cape May County, Monmouth County, Avalon, and more have built the most new houses in risk zones in the nation,” said Tittel.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is developing a state climate resiliency plan that was due this month however that plan will be delayed.
“Just pumping sand on the beach is economically unsustainable and will create more flooding. It is important to require dunes as we restore and rebuild our beaches, but if we don’t address climate change we are doomed. We need to address climate change and restore important wetland ecosystems so that they can effectively protect our coastal communities from sea level rise and storm surge. More importantly, the Murphy Administration need to take action now on coastal resiliency, we cannot wait. This includes updating all state regulations to include climate impacts, re-doing the Water Supply Master Plan, and using up-to-date data in our mapping and planning, and buying out flood prone properties,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.