AVALON – Avalon, Stone Harbor, and North Wildwood have signed onto a shared services agreement seeking legal services. The agreement prepares the way for special counsel to challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s interpretation of the 1982 Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) to which Hereford Inlet was added as a protected area in 1990.
The 2016 ruling by Fish and Wildlife restricts the Army Corps of Engineers from using federal funds to borrow sand from Hereford Inlet, even when that sand is for the protection of the nearby coastline.
Using Townsend’s Inlet sand to support replenishment projects for Seven Mile Island, as was done in 2016, is not a sustainable model.
A scheduled 2019 replenishment will put 431,000 cubic yards of sand on Avalon beaches. There will be no sand for Stone Harbor, with beaches there making do with whatever sand can be redirected from high dunes already on the island. In past replenishments, North Wildwood also depended on the sand from Hereford Inlet.
Assistant Business Administrator James Waldron told Avalon Borough Council Sept. 11 that without the restriction on Hereford Inlet, Avalon would be receiving “more sand this year, more efficiently delivered and at a lower cost.”
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-2nd) has attempted to gain support from Interior Department officials, but no relief from the restriction has occurred. This may soon have to be decided in federal court.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
