Senator urges president to consider beach renourishment in stimulus package
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Amid reports that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has excluded shovel-ready beach renourishment projects from funding eligibility under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) and a bipartisan group of twenty-nine members of Congress wrote to President Obama urging him to reconsider.
“I supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act because we need jobs now in North Carolina,” Hagan said. “Shovel-ready beach renourishment programs could put people to work right away and also help prepare our coastal communities should North Carolina again be hit by powerful storms.”
“If this [report] is accurate,” the letter argues, “it is a continuation of a faulty Bush Administration policy that did not fund construction starts or any new feasibility studies for shore protection.”
According to the State Climate Office of North Carolina at N.C. State University, five hurricanes have made landfall in North Carolina in the last 10 years, including Hurricane Isabel, a Category-5 storm that struck the state in 2003. Additionally, 18 other hurricanes and tropical storms have hit the state in that time period after originally making landfall elsewhere.
“Beach renourishment is also critical to protecting our communities against major weather disasters. Without a well-maintained beach to act as a levee, residents and business are in constant danger of flood damage,” the letter continues.
“It is our view that beach replenishment is essential to protecting coastal property from the threat of devastating storms.”
