Emergency federal funding to help restore eroded Jersey Shore beaches

Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian stood on the beach at 5th Street and described just how dramatically it has changed in recent months following a series of destructive coastal storms.

“We lost a lot of the sand,” he said. “It’s both the beach and dunes.”

But plans were announced Friday for tens of millions of dollars in emergency federal funding to help restore the storm-damaged beaches at the Jersey Shore by the summer tourism season, starting with Ocean City.

South Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew and U.S. Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Civil Works Adam Telle said they are working together to make sure the funding is available for beach towns in South Jersey.

“We’re going to be delivering relief to South Jersey,” Telle pledged during a news conference on the Ocean City Boardwalk that also included Van Drew and Gillian.

Telle oversees the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that manages beach replenishment projects nationwide.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to get started in the next few months,” he said of the South Jersey beaches.

    Congressman Jeff Van Drew, center, greets Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Civil Works Adam Telle in Ocean City.
  

The federal government is making an initial investment of tens of millions of dollars in emergency beach replenishment funding and will later look to develop a longer-range plan for projects to restore and protect the shoreline, Van Drew explained.

“What matters is this: they are here, they are listening, and they understand what is at stake. The assistant secretary saw firsthand the damage our shore communities are dealing with, and he understands how important the Jersey Shore is to our economy and to the families who live here. They announced a significant investment into our shoreline of tens of millions of dollars, and it is only the beginning of the process to bring more major funding our way,” Van Drew said in a statement.

Ocean City will be first town to receive emergency beach replenishment funding, Van Drew and Telle announced. Other towns will come next, based on the extent of storm damage they have suffered to their beaches and dunes.

After stopping in Ocean City, Van Drew and Telle took a tour Friday in Strathmere, Avalon and North Wildwood for a closer look at their eroded beaches and dunes.

Van Drew said he hopes there will be emergency federal funding to restore the beaches in those towns as part of a short-term fix in time for the summer season. He also mentioned Brigantine as another possibility. He noted that beach replenishment work is already being done in Atlantic City for hotspots in front of the casino hotels.

“We’d like to do it all at once, but it’s not going to happen that way,” Van Drew said of taking more of a town-by-town approach for beach restoration.

    A "Beach Closed" sign serves as a barrier on the Boardwalk at 5th Street.
  

In the meantime, the emergency funding will help Ocean City to replenish the beaches in the north end of town, generally between 1st and 12th streets.

“This is huge. We’re a seaside resort. Tourism is our No. 1 industry,” Gillian said of the importance of keeping the beaches in excellent shape.

Gillian thanked Van Drew and Telle for their help in restoring Ocean City’s beaches.

“We have been working tirelessly with our federal and state partners throughout the year to secure a much-need replenishment project for our north-end beaches, and today we learned that Ocean City will be first in line,” Gillian said in a statement.

Even before the emergency funding was announced, Ocean City had been stockpiling sand in the north end to help start replenishing the beaches after the stormy winter and early spring seasons.

“We’ve lost a lot of the beach. But we’ll be ready,” Gillian vowed of the summer season.

    Ocean City has been stockpiling sand to help restore the eroded beaches after the stormy winter and early-spring seasons are over.
  

At the same time Van Drew has been working with Telle for emergency funding, he has also introduced legislation that would create a permanent source of federal money for beach replenishment projects nationwide.

“We need a stable, reliable funding stream for beach nourishment and storm risk reduction to better prepare us for future storms and erosion,” Van Drew said.

Van Drew, a Republican, represents the shore towns of Atlantic and Cape May counties and part of Ocean County in the sprawling 2nd Congressional District of South Jersey.

On Tuesday, Van Drew and New York Democratic Congresswoman Laura Gillen introduced bipartisan legislation that would establish the Coastal Trust Fund Act for beach restoration and other measures to protect the coast nationwide.

Van Drew indicated that getting final congressional approval for the proposed legislation might be a long, drawn-out process.

“It’s going to be work. It’s a labor of love,” he said at the news conference.

    Mayor Jay Gillian and Congressman Jeff Van Drew talk about the emergency funding plan while looking at Ocean City's storm-damaged beaches and dunes.
  

The proposed legislation comes amid growing concerns that federal funding would not be available in the future for beach replenishment projects, dune protection, bulkheads, seawalls and jetties at the Jersey Shore and other coastal areas.

Click here to read the text of the Coastal Trust Fund Act.

Van Drew characterized the funding legislation as “a big deal, not just for New Jersey, but for the whole country.”

He explained that the Coastal Trust Fund Act would establish a $1 billion source of funding each year for beach replenishment projects by using revenue from existing offshore oil and gas drilling leases – avoiding the need for new taxes or fees to pay for it.

He said the bill was developed through months of collaboration with top coastal experts in the country and represents “one of the most serious efforts in history to protect the coastlines of the United States.”

Federal funding for beach replenishment projects at the Jersey Shore became a hot topic following extensive damage to the shoreline caused by Hurricane Erin last August and other storms that followed.

Ocean City had been one of the shore towns to declare a local state of emergency in hopes of unlocking state and federal funding for storm-related beach and dune erosion.

    Mayor Jay Gillian, Congressman Jeff Van Drew and Assistant Secretary of the Army Adam Telle take questions from the media at a news conference on the Boardwalk.