Schumer, Hempstead Supervisor Murray Call for Emergency Funding for Point Lookout and Dredging of Jones Inlet

SCHUMER, HEMPSTEAD SUPERVISOR MURRAY CALL FOR EMERGENCY FUNDING FOR POINT LOOKOUT AND DREDGING OF JONES INLET

Long Beach City Council Rejected Army Corps Storm Damage Reduction/Erosion Action Plan Leaving Fate of Point Lookout in Jeopardy

Schumer to Congressional Appropriators: with Point Lookout Eroding and Jones Inlet Deteriorating, the Town of Hempstead May be in Double Jeopardy

Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray made a bipartisan push for urgent funding for two critical projects for the Town of Hempstead; the dredging of Jones Inlet and funding for an erosion project at Point Lookout. Earlier this month the Long Beach City Council rejected a critical Army Corps action plan that would preserve the beauty and vitality of Point Lookout, leaving its future in jeopardy. Hempstead Town officials have strongly supported Army Corps plans to alleviate the terrible damage inflicted on residential, commercial and recreational interests.

"It has been clear for decades that Point Lookout is in trouble and the problem can no longer be fixed cosmetically," Schumer said. "Without critical funding to move this project forward and dredge the Jones Inlet, the Hempstead community will continue to be at risk of escalating and imminent threats as this year's storm season arrives."

"Hempstead Town is sending out an S.O.S., which stands for Save Our Shorefront, and the time to answer the town's S.O.S. is now," said Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray. "We've been committed to this project to protect our beaches, homes and infrastructure from further damage for over a decade. Now that Long Beach has opted out of the project, Senator Schumer and I, along with a host of other federal, state and local representatives are calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with a plan to protect residents of Point Lookout and other town beaches on Long Beach Island."

Severe erosion has devastated local Hempstead beaches and exposed the Point Lookout community to damage from major storms like Nor'easters and Hurricanes. Schumer noted today that that the Army Corps has recognized Point Lookout as the hardest hit area on the barrier island. Schumer also indicated that, by taking swift action the Army Corps will mitigate the impact of high-energy waves and ocean side flooding in the event of a level-3 hurricane/100-year storm event as well as provide beach nourishment to counteract augmenting erosion and related dune destruction. Moreover, this essential project will restore safe navigation and direct passage through Jones Inlet for emergency, commercial, and recreational vessels.

In his letter to Chairman Pete Domenici and Ranking Democrat Harry Reid of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Schumer wrote: "It is important to reiterate that after forty years of planning, twenty years of refining a feasibility plan, and two substantial reviews, now the community faces the real possibility that the entire project will be abandoned. Nobody disputes that action at the most severely damaged eastern reach in Point Lookout in Hempstead is long overdue. If the Corps enacts its plans at Point Lookout, the Town of Hempstead will be able to implement desperately-needed capital projects to restore environmental and recreational quality on the beaches. "

In order to provide a minimal level of immediate storm damage protection to the easternmost areas, Schumer and Murray also asked that funding support dredging of Jones Inlet and concomitant beneficial placement of the dredged material on the immediate down drift shore. Together, the short-term benefits of the sand from the channel maintenance project coupled with the 50-year long-term storm damage reduction plan will provide the area with a level of protection sought by local officials through the Corps' original planning effort. By mitigating the problems at Jones Inlet, the Corps will offer sorely needed assistance in improving safe and productive commercial and recreational navigation, emergency marine response, and prevention of the westerly migration of deep water channel that threatens the shore stabilization structures along Point Lookout.

In his letter Schumer noted that implementation of the Plan in the area known as Reach 1 includes: dune and berm development, groin rehabilitation, four new groins with three deferred, and the extension of groin number one

Jones Inlet has historically been dredged on a 2-3 year cycle. However the most recent dredging there was in 1995 which means dredging is long overdue. Schumer noted today that the project is not in the President's 2007 budget and he has requested $5.5 million for Maintenance Dredging and Beach Nourishment at Jones Inlet. The lack of dredging has caused the waterway to become too shallow and mariners are endangered. Sand is filling in the channel and causing rougher and more unpredictable conditions. Jones Inlet is used by nearly 20 commercial vessels, including fishing vessels, and charter fishing vessels, as well as the M/V Majesty, a passenger vessel certified to carry over 400 passengers.

Schumer's letter also said, "Now more than ever, residents of Point Lookout know they are threatened with the spectre of the Atlantic Ocean further encroaching upon their homes. I understand that the Point Lookout community, as well as the Town of Hempstead, enthusiastically endorses the Corps' plan to provide this curative storm damage mitigation and long-term erosion control to the area. With Long Beach choosing to forego its portion of the plan, let's delay no further in cooperating with Hempstead officials in addressing this matter. I respectfully request the Committee provide $2.5 million to the Army Corps of Engineers for the Point Lookout section of the Long Beach Island Storm Damage Reduction Project."

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2006/PR155.Pointlookout.051506.html