Letter to the Hon. Thomas D. Asbery, Commander of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District - Urging the Construction of Storm Resiliency Projects on the Rockaway Peninsula

Letter

Dear Colonel Asbery:

We write to urge the Army Corps of Engineers ("Corps") to take action to address the severe and constant beach erosion along the Rockaway Peninsula that threatens the coastal protection of this vulnerable area. In 2012 Superstorm Sandy devastated the Rockaway Peninsula and we simply cannot fail to ensure it is protected from the next storm.

The Hurricane Sandy Relief Act of 2013, which we fought so hard to pass in Congress, provided the Army Corps with over $5 billion in funding to protect the region's most vulnerable areas, including fully funding the study ("Rockaway Reformulation Study") and construction of the Rockaway Beach coastal protection project ("East Rockaway Inlet to Rockaway Inlet"). However, more than four years later the study is not complete and construction has not started. It is simply unacceptable that a fully-funded project languish for so long, leaving Rockaway susceptible to erosion, storm surge and flooding. The Corps must provide a firm timetable for completion of the study and a construction schedule, including spelling out a specific timetable for construction of jetties, groins and a sea wall. Given the importance of this project, the Corps must expedite this schedule.

It is our understanding that the delay has been caused, in part, by the Corps integrating the Rockaway Reformation Study to combine the Atlantic Shorefront and Jamaica Bay CSRM studies. As Senator Schumer previously expressed in a letter to the Corps dated April 25, 2014, a comprehensive plan for Rockaway and Jamaica Bay is certainly necessary, but there should be no reason to delay the ocean-side and standalone bay-side features that have already been studied for years. In other words, build now what can and should be built while the Corps completes the study on the bay side and maps out other technicalities and designs. In order to expedite construction the Corps should focus on these discrete pieces such as sand replenishment, groins and jetties to retain this sand, an ocean-side sea wall structure and standalone natural and hard bay-side features. In particular we have heard from every community in Rockaway that there is a specific need for groins and jetties the entire length of the peninsula. We urge the Corps to deliver on this need; these projects should not be held up any longer by bureaucratic approvals.

Finally, we also urge the Corps to examine any and all interim resiliency measures such as emergency sand placement. In the past the Corps has placed sand dredged from nearby navigable channels such as Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay Channel on erosion hot spots along the Rockaway peninsula. The Corps must identify any nearby dredging projects that would allow emergency sand placement in Rockaway.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Rep. Gregory Meeks

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