hoto Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/bjoertvedt
The study will evaluate solutions to protect the Rockaway Peninsula from long-term erosion and evaluate coastal protection projects along the Atlantic Coast between East Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay (pictured).
By Michael V. Cusenza
Bipartisan legislation signed on Tuesday by President Donald Trump calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to quickly complete a long-stalled South Queens resiliency study, according to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (both D-N.Y.).
America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 authorizes studies and projects carried out by the USACE for the primary purposes of navigation, flood protection, and aquatic ecosystem restoration. It includes a provision that commands the corps to swiftly wrap up the Rockaway Reformulation Project: an analysis that will evaluate solutions to protect the Rockaway Peninsula from long-term erosion and evaluate protection initiatives along the Atlantic Coast between the East Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay. The bill authorizes the USACE to proceed directly to preconstruction planning, engineering and design if the Secretary of the Army determines that the project is justified when the report is complete, the senators noted.
“We are seeing stronger storms hitting our coastlines, and we need to make sure that New York communities have the infrastructure and necessary plans in place to protect their homes and businesses,” added Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “With this provision, the Rockaway Peninsula will be one step closer to having a comprehensive, coordinated plan to manage future storm damage. The devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy was a wakeup call for the urgent need to protect our shorelines.”
Gillibrand and Schumer noted that the Rockaway Beach shoreline has experienced numerous severe hurricanes and nor’easters over the last 40 years, causing substantial damage to commercial and residential properties on the peninsula. Once complete, the Rockaway Reformulation feasibility study would help create a much-needed comprehensive plan to manage potential future storm damage and prevent loss of life in the region when the next major storm arrives, the senators said.
But the resiliency project has been in the works for several years. The Hurricane Sandy Relief Act of 2013 provided the corps with more than $5 billion in funding to protect the region’s most vulnerable areas, including fully financing the Rockaway Reformulation Study and construction of the Rockaway Beach coastal protection project. However, in 2017—four years after the law passed—Schumer and U.S. Rep. Greg Meeks (D-Jamaica) blasted the Army for not delivering.
“It is simply unacceptable that a fully-funded project languish for so long, leaving Rockaway susceptible to erosion, storm surge and flooding,” the legislators wrote to the corps in June 2017.
On Friday, Schumer pointed out that “the residents of the Rockaways and Jamaica Bay have waited far too long for the completion” of the reformulation.
“This provision will build on the agreement I struck with [NY District] Army Corps Col. [Thomas] Asbery to speed up the Rockaway Reformulation Project so this community can finally benefit from the hundreds of millions of dollars that I worked hard to secure through the Sandy Relief bill. Now, it’s time for the Army Corps to listen carefully to feedback from local residents as they work to build a truly resilient future for Rockaway and Jamaica Bay,” the Empire State’s senior senator added.
