Beaches to benefit from veto override

Published: Thursday, November 15, 2007
SEA ISLE CITY - The city is still in line to get its first major beach-replenishment project, but only because the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives voted to override a presidential veto of the authorization bill.

Mayor Len Desiderio was on an airplane on his way to Florida last week when he heard about the 361-54 House vote overriding President Bush's veto of the Water Resources and Development Act, or WRDA. Two days later, the Senate also voted to override the veto.
That means the $136 million needed to refurbish beaches in Sea Isle City and Strathmere has been authorized, although an appropriations bill still must be passed. Desiderio expects this to happen in 2008 or 2009. He said it can't come soon enough.

"It's extremely important to Sea Isle City to get this. We're counting on the money to help our beaches. Erosion is bad, from the north end to the south end," said Desiderio, speaking from Naples, Fla., on Wednesday.

Desiderio has seen Avalon, Ocean City, Cape May, Cape May Point and other towns get sand from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Beach projects. The key is to get such a project authorized under a WRDA bill. Once it is authorized, the funding usually follows.
This was the second time U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, has voted to override a presidential veto in the past few months. The first involved children's heath insurance.

"This bill includes several provisions that are critical for South Jersey, especially the residents of Sea Isle City whose property and businesses are threatened daily by beach erosion. It was never a question to me to vote to override the president on this important bill. The serious concerns of my district and my constituents always come first," said LoBiondo.

Bush said the bill "lacks fiscal discipline" and makes American taxpayers support "a pork-barrel system" of authorization and spending when the merit of a project is an afterthought. Bush noted the bill went into conference at $14 billion to $15 billion and ballooned to over $23 billion.

Bush, who has been a critic of beach replenishment, said the bill could hinder other Army Corps priorities such as providing hurricane protection to New Orleans, restoring the Everglades and reducing flood damage in Sacramento.

But the bill does not only restore beaches in southern New Jersey. LoBiondo notes it also includes funding to clear debris from the Delaware River where a discarded anchor caused a major oil spill a couple of years ago. Such spills often threaten the fishing industry and shore tourism. It also includes money to revitalize the Delaware Bay oyster industry.

Several other beach projects are in the WRDA bill, including adding six beaches in Cape May Point to a periodic sand-pumping schedule. An already authorized project pumps sand from Cape May to Central Avenue in Cape May Point. This would extend the pumping past Central Avenue.

The bill also would extend an experimental beach program that has funded artificial concrete reef structures in Cape May Point. It would also provide funds to remove the structures when they fail. This would help Cape May Point remove a reef that was installed incorrectly and sank.

A provision from LoBiondo also keeps the federal government paying for 65 percent of the beach projects, with state and shore towns paying the other 35 percent. There have been attempts to reverse this so the federal government only pays 35 percent.

Lobiondo has also inserted language making it clear that periodic beach replenishment is a "federal priority." Bush, and President Clinton before him, tried to get the government out of the beach business.

Opponents of the projects argue the pumping only protects the second homes of rich people, while shore tourism interests point to the huge impacts beaches have on the economy and a reduction in federal flood insurance claims in towns with restored beaches.