Massive Army Corp Project Threatens Hudson River & New York Bay: Won’t Work

The Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) is proposing a massive new project in New York Bay through their New York – New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries (NYNJHAT) Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study. Their proposal includes a giant steel and concrete barrier that would supposedly prevent an ocean surge from flooding waterfront areas. The gates are used in other countries and kept open until an approaching storm threatens the area.

“One again, instead of dealing with flooding in a comprehensive and holistic way, the Army Corps wants to spend up to $20 million on a massive boondoggle that won’t work. Their proposing a 5-mile long barrier from Sandy Hook to far Rockaway, plus sea walls all around Manhattan island and Hudson County. Not only is this a massive waste of money but it won’t work. This plan will cause environmental destruction and degradation,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This is a massive project that will create serious environmental damage and major changes to the people of New Jersey and New York. The Army Corps needs to expand their public hearing process so everyone has a right to learn about, examine and speak out on this plan.”

All but one of the Army Corp’s proposals for this area include hard-structure barriers. Only one would use simply berms and sea walls. Manmade structures like sea walls will cause more beach erosion, raise the level of the storm surges, and send the water around the sea walls causing more flooding in other places. There are places for levees and sea walls, but they have to be set back from the water, and account for flood storage. Additional flood storage is needed from areas behind the wall so that the water levels do not get raised and overtopped. Elevations and buyouts in the area must be considered when planning to create more flood storage.

“Not only will this plan destruct coastal wetlands and remove parkland, but it will allow pollution to be trapped near communities while destroying the functionality of the Hudson River. It will cause stagnation of water, prevent fisheries from thriving, and cause a plethora of other environmental problems. When you build seawalls, it will actually raise the flood levels and overtop structures. This will stop the flushing of Bays and tidal areas, keeping pollutants trapped such as toxic sediments from the Passaic River. It will also be a massive eyesore in the place of parkland and recreation space that provide waterfront access,” said Jeff Tittel. “We’d be better served using this money on building the Gateway Tunnel.”

The project could cost upwards of $20 billion and could end up harming the ecology of the New York Harbor while not doing enough to protect communities from flooding. Four of the five public hearings have happened already with the last scheduled for tonight at 6pm at the Hudson Valley Community Center.

“Instead of wasting upwards of $20 billion on structures that don’t work, we need to be taking a multi-state approach to tackling sea level rise and climate change. This should include holistic solutions including flood storage. These massive barriers will not help reduce the impacts of rising sea levels and increased storm surges. Instead, we’ll see a restriction of the natural ecology including tidal flow and fish migration. This will lead to decreased water quality for the communities in New York and New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel. “We need to be reducing greenhouse gasses and protecting our coastal ecosystems with natural features, not building concrete walls that only redirect the flooding problem while causing other issues. Seawalls provide a false sense of security and do not actually protect people from storm surges,”

Natural systems will help lessen the impact from storms and storm surges however they should not be the only strategy to mitigation planning.  In order for dunes to work best, they need to be maintained and protected.  The state has done nothing to protect dunes.  Before the storm, the Christie administration was supporting lowering the dunes in Atlantic City and in other places so bars and residents could have better views of the ocean. Also dunes do not always work in all cases.  They do lessen the impacts of storm surges, but they do not solve all our problems. Hurricane Sandy came in from the east, directly hitting the dunes.  Storms can come from the north or south avoiding the dune.

“Instead of coming up with a comprehensive plan to deal with flooding, the sea wall will create more problems. With so many people still struggling to re-build and protect themselves against future storms, the billions of dollars being spent on these failed projects could be better spent getting people back into their homes as well as restoring dunes, natural systems, and moving buildings back from harm’s way. We shouldn’t be wasting our time and money building an armored wall that will not work,” said Jeff Tittel. “As sea level rises, these structures will become useless over time. We would be better off spending the money on creating resilient shorelines and buying out at-risk property.”

The National Climate Assessment found that, “Even given the low end of sea level rise scenarios, and without assuming any changes in storms, the chance of what is now a 1-in-10-year coastal flood event in the Northeast could triple by 2100, occurring roughly once every 3 years, simply in response to higher sea levels.” When we rebuild we need to not only rebuild more resiliently, we need to use it as a way to fix problems of the past such as implementing green building codes, energy efficiency standards and  retrofitting stormwater systems that do not work.

“New Jersey needs to work with New York and other states to create a comprehensive approach to the shore that includes mitigation of climate change, adaptation for sea level rise, and restoration of natural systems. The state does not currently have a program that requires towns to protect and maintain their dunes, which is what we need. Money funded by tax payers should not go to town projects such as flood walls, but towards more sustainable projects like dune restoration. We also should be buying out property of flood prone areas, and rebuilding in a more sustainable manner including pulling back from the shore where we can. Otherwise we are washing millions of dollars out to sea,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.