News
Delaware came up short this year in the annual grapple for federal beach replenishment funds, a victim of a sharpening debate over taxpayer spending to repair the ocean's ceaseless attacks on shorelines.
A compromise energy and water bill awaiting President Barack Obama's signature makes $2.3 million available to the state for all projects -- about $2 million more than the White House originally requested, but far short of the amount needed to start any high-priority sand-pumping jobs.
"It's not a number we can go to construction with," said Anthony Pratt, administrator of shoreline and waterway management for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. "It's a number that allows us to do some monitoring and planning, and then in 2011 we'll have another request and a year's worth of revisions."
Nationwide, Congress approved $103.7 million for rebuilding beaches, with $20.7 million going to New Jersey and $14.3 million to Florida.
In recent weeks, Delaware's congressional delegation has won spending-bill terms that earmark $969,000 for beach protection work in the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach area and a matching amount for Bethany Beach-South Bethany. Another $331,000 was approved for the Delaware Bay shoreline between Roosevelt Inlet and Lewes Beach.
But needs in Delaware alone could total as much as $43.8 million, according to Marlowe & Co., a Washington lobbying firm that closely follows beach nourishment issues.
Spending was blocked partly by the Obama administration, which has nevertheless been more open to considering subsidies to rebuild beaches than President George W. Bush.
Many in Congress, however, are completely hostile to the idea.
In April, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn released a report attacking beach renourishment projects, terming the spending wasteful and accusing Congress of putting "beach pork over national needs."
Coburn adorned the cover of his report with a picture of a brown pig on a white sand beach. He described beach projects as "a special interest boondoggle," and said the money was simply washed out to sea while other national needs go unmet.
Bethany Beach Mayor Anthony B. McClenny disagrees.
"There's no way in the world we could pay for it ourselves. They spent $17 million to do the last project, but what would it cost if they didn't and we lost 60 homes or 100 homes or businesses?" McClenny said.
Others, even in Delaware, have doubts.
"In my opinion, beach replenishment is a tragic waste of tax money," said Lewes resident Rich Anthony. "You're trying to overcome God. You can't do it. And you have taxpayers in Utah who will never see the ocean in their lives paying for some ... businessman who wants to risk his fortune or business and home to have an ocean view."
DNREC's Pratt said the recent four-day storm that socked much of the mid-Atlantic proved the value of beach replenishment and construction of protective barrier dunes."
"The story to me is: There's no story," Pratt said. "It's a pretty significant storm. We've had a couple this year. But Bethany Beach is dry. Fenwick Island is dry. You have to ask, with a storm like this prior to renourishment, would they have had water across the beach and down the streets?"
Coburn's report cited a federal report that found shoreline risks could increase after renourishment projects, as businesses and home builders take confidence from deeper shorelines.
"Politics, not science, tends to govern decisions about beach nourishment," Coburn's report said.
He said shorelines are inevitably reclaimed after artificial buildups, and argued that the work disrupts natural ecosystems. One Cape May, N.J., beach was renourished 10 times at a cost of $24.7 million.
DNREC has acknowledged the threat of coastal erosion, launching a series of studies and meetings with communities to help residents prepare for sea-level rise as a result of rising global temperatures.
But Rehoboth Beach Mayor Sam Cooper said current projects are based on the practical need to protect lives and property along a heavily populated coastline.
"My understanding of the Army Corps of Engineers' mandate is they do a cost-benefit analysis based solely on storm protection," Cooper said. "They can't factor in economic advantages. If you do that, it would open things up to all kinds of projects, for recreation, basically."
BY THE NUMBERS
Total U.S. expenditure for beach replenishment: $103.7 million
For New Jersey: $20.7 million
For Florida: $14.3 million
For Delaware: $2.3 million
A compromise energy and water bill awaiting President Barack Obama's signature makes $2.3 million available to the state for all projects -- about $2 million more than the White House originally requested, but far short of the amount needed to start any high-priority sand-pumping jobs.
"It's not a number we can go to construction with," said Anthony Pratt, administrator of shoreline and waterway management for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. "It's a number that allows us to do some monitoring and planning, and then in 2011 we'll have another request and a year's worth of revisions."
Nationwide, Congress approved $103.7 million for rebuilding beaches, with $20.7 million going to New Jersey and $14.3 million to Florida.
In recent weeks, Delaware's congressional delegation has won spending-bill terms that earmark $969,000 for beach protection work in the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach area and a matching amount for Bethany Beach-South Bethany. Another $331,000 was approved for the Delaware Bay shoreline between Roosevelt Inlet and Lewes Beach.
But needs in Delaware alone could total as much as $43.8 million, according to Marlowe & Co., a Washington lobbying firm that closely follows beach nourishment issues.
Spending was blocked partly by the Obama administration, which has nevertheless been more open to considering subsidies to rebuild beaches than President George W. Bush.
Many in Congress, however, are completely hostile to the idea.
In April, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn released a report attacking beach renourishment projects, terming the spending wasteful and accusing Congress of putting "beach pork over national needs."
Coburn adorned the cover of his report with a picture of a brown pig on a white sand beach. He described beach projects as "a special interest boondoggle," and said the money was simply washed out to sea while other national needs go unmet.
Bethany Beach Mayor Anthony B. McClenny disagrees.
"There's no way in the world we could pay for it ourselves. They spent $17 million to do the last project, but what would it cost if they didn't and we lost 60 homes or 100 homes or businesses?" McClenny said.
Others, even in Delaware, have doubts.
"In my opinion, beach replenishment is a tragic waste of tax money," said Lewes resident Rich Anthony. "You're trying to overcome God. You can't do it. And you have taxpayers in Utah who will never see the ocean in their lives paying for some ... businessman who wants to risk his fortune or business and home to have an ocean view."
DNREC's Pratt said the recent four-day storm that socked much of the mid-Atlantic proved the value of beach replenishment and construction of protective barrier dunes."
"The story to me is: There's no story," Pratt said. "It's a pretty significant storm. We've had a couple this year. But Bethany Beach is dry. Fenwick Island is dry. You have to ask, with a storm like this prior to renourishment, would they have had water across the beach and down the streets?"
Coburn's report cited a federal report that found shoreline risks could increase after renourishment projects, as businesses and home builders take confidence from deeper shorelines.
"Politics, not science, tends to govern decisions about beach nourishment," Coburn's report said.
He said shorelines are inevitably reclaimed after artificial buildups, and argued that the work disrupts natural ecosystems. One Cape May, N.J., beach was renourished 10 times at a cost of $24.7 million.
DNREC has acknowledged the threat of coastal erosion, launching a series of studies and meetings with communities to help residents prepare for sea-level rise as a result of rising global temperatures.
But Rehoboth Beach Mayor Sam Cooper said current projects are based on the practical need to protect lives and property along a heavily populated coastline.
"My understanding of the Army Corps of Engineers' mandate is they do a cost-benefit analysis based solely on storm protection," Cooper said. "They can't factor in economic advantages. If you do that, it would open things up to all kinds of projects, for recreation, basically."
BY THE NUMBERS
Total U.S. expenditure for beach replenishment: $103.7 million
For New Jersey: $20.7 million
For Florida: $14.3 million
For Delaware: $2.3 million
