By GREGORY ZELLER //
From the Department of Squeaky Wheels comes word that “emergency federal action” has been approved on the storm-damaged shores of Fire Island.
Just one week after Gov. Kathy Hochul toured ravaged beaches in the Town of Babylon and demanded – once again – that the federal government stop dragging its heels on much-needed coastal-erosion work across Suffolk County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that the spate of extreme coastal storms over the last few years is enough to kickstart coastal projects on Fire Island.
That determination essentially allows the Army Corps to speed up damage evaluations and kickstart necessary repairs in the barrier island’s eastern sections.
Hochul’s formal request for expedited responses to three other coastal projects – in Downtown Montauk, west of Shinnecock Inlet and in the Fire Island Inlet/Shores Westerly area – is still pending.
But citing Public Law 84-99, the Army Corps is hitting the gas on dune-replenishment and beach-repair efforts on eastern Fire Island – “good progress,” according to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), who joined Hochul and fellow U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) late last week to trumpet the Corps’ announcement.
Chuck Schumer: Storms have left a real mess.
“The Army Corps is fired up to help Fire Island,” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Schumer said Friday. “And that is a good thing, because the island is a mess from recent storm damage.”
Coastal erosion involves the deterioration of beach, dune and bluff sediments by the combined physical forces of rising tides, strong currents and high winds – forces regularly intensified by coastal storms, such as Jan. 9’s brutal Winter Storm Finn, which didn’t bring much snow to Long Island but certainly packed a storm-surge punch.
Immediately following that blow, Hochul – who announced a comprehensive coastal-resiliency effort as part of her 2024 State of the State agenda – fired off a letter to the Army Corps, requesting expedited approval of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s repeated requests for emergency rehabilitation assistance on projects along the Suffolk County coast.
In response, the Corps will now conduct an “intensive assessment of resilience measures needed in eastern Fire Island communities ranging from Seaview in the west to Cherry Grove, Fire Island Pines and Davis Park to the east,” according to Hochul’s office.
The governor said Friday she was “grateful for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ response to our request for support.”
Step on it: The Army Corps of Engineers will now take “emergency action” on its ongoing Fire Island projects.
“I am committed to working with the Army Corps to immediately begin repairs on eastern Fire Island and at other Army Corps projects that were damaged by recent storms,” Hochul added.
New York State DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos called the Army Corps’ positive response a “critical step in New York State’s ongoing efforts to fully assess the damage wrought by recent winter storms,” adding the prioritized work would “bolster the resiliency of Long Island communities, especially the barrier islands.”
Noting “the extensive damages that the eastern Fire Island communities have recently experienced,” Gillibrand said she was “thrilled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be starting this expedited process” – but noted a long road to recovery ahead.
“Restoring the South Shore of Long Island is one of my top priorities,” the junior senator from New York added in a statement. “I will keep fighting to help secure the federal assistance communities need.”
