At a meeting at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn home of the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Colonel William H. Pearce, District Engineer for the Division’s New York District, set out a new schedule for completion of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Fire Island Interim Project (FIIP). The EIS will be delivered to cooperating and commenting agencies for their review by June 1. Agency comments are to be completed in June. The agencies will meet in Washington to resolve differences in July and the final EIS will be released to the public in August. Following a public hearing, the staff hopes that a final EIS and Record of Decision can be issued in September.

Attending the meeting for FIA were Vald Heiberg, a former Chief of Engineers (i.e., commanding officer of the Corps) and Jonathan Deason, both of Dawson Associates; Larry Liebesman of Linowes & Blocher, FIA’s environment counsel, and Jerry Stoddard, FIA President.

From the Corps’ North Atlantic Division were Major General Jerry Sinn, Commander, and two of his civilian aides, Sam Tosi, Chief of Planning and Joseph Tyler, Director of Program Management. The New York District was represented by Col. Pearce and Stuart Piken, who advises Col. Pearce on planning issues.

The FIA team stressed the need to combine environmental enhancement and mitigation as a key part of the project, in order to meet the concerns of the environment agencies and interest groups. The Corps representatives pointed out that Congress has authorized a storm damage protection project, not a program to enhance or protect the environment. While the Corps has separate authority for environmental efforts, the State of New York has not come up with the required matching funding on grounds the Corps is too expensive and too slow. The Department of State, the implementing agency for such agreements, would rather invest its limited funds in specific projects than match the Corps’ funding of extensive environmental studies.

The role of the DEC’s Article 34 Construction control line (see previous Newsletter and separate story) was also discussed. FIA supports the position that the DEC Commissioner must move the line to reflect the existence of a new primary protective feature (a dune) once there is a commitment in place to maintain that feature for 30 years. The FIIP will not provide that commitment, but the reformulation project, whose EIS is expected in 2003, will.

The written agreement between Army and Interior that will establish a framework for resolving any further agency disputes remains elusive, although everyone considers it "imminent." Travel schedules have prevented the principles from a final sign-off that all seem to have agreed to. The agreement will be followed by a meetting where all those with responsibility for the project will be reminded of the importance of getting the project built before a major storm hits the area.

Following the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962, the Corps rebuilt America’s beaches from New England to Virginia within a few years. The mirror image of that "30-year" storm, the 1992 nor’easter, which was closely followed by the March 1993 "Storm of the Century," happened more than six years ago, with no significant governmental response. The comparative lack of reaction is a reflection of the rise in influence of those inside and outside government who place environmental concerns above those of human health and safety.

FUND-RAISING RAFFLE LAUNCHED

Bob Spencer, FIA’s First Vice President, Membership Chairman and main fund-raiser, writes to say he hopes FIA will give away prizes amounting to $100,000 in cash at the FIA Board of Directors meeting next September 15. The expected top prize is $50,000 for what Bob is calling a "50/50 BUILD-THE-BEACH RAFFLE." The raffle, licensed by New York State and New York City, will help raise funds to encourage implementation of the Fire Island Interim Project (FIIP).

Bob notes the FIIP is deemed a worthy public work to renourish the island’s sand supply and that Fire Islanders have been short-changed on the amount of sand moving west, past blockages at Westhampton and Moriches Inlet, over the last 35 years. Studies indicate that this may amount to 10 million cubic yards of sand -- an entire dune and beach system -- that has been ripped off the top of Fire Island over the years.

Every member of FIA has just been mailed two books of ten $5 raffle tickets. Only FIA members may sell tickets, and we hope that those in offices or other places of business will offer them to friends, co-workers and customers. All three Fire Island ferry companies have kindly agreed to promote the raffle on the back of their summer schedules. We hope community associations, or individual FIA volunteers, will set up tables near the ferry docks on Saturday mornings to provide tickets to guests, day visitors and non-FIA members. Other opportunities will arise at community functions throughout the summer. Ocean Bay Park plans a Build-the-Beach Gala in June at the Fire Hall where tickets will be available, for instance.

Bob notes the odds of winning this raffle are a lot better than in most lotteries; this should make the tickets an easy sell. He will send a bulletin on the raffle to non-member homeowners. They can get involved in the raffle by becoming an FIA member for the July 1999-June 2000 fiscal year. Dues are $75 for owners and $30 to supporters.

For the past year the FIA Board and every community association has invested time and money to pressure the government to move the FIIP forward. The project involves two cabinet departments, three Executive Branch offices, a half-dozen federal offices, plus state, county and municipal players. Getting it implemented is easily the most complex project ever undertaken on Fire Island – possibly excepting getting the Seashore established. It has cost an enormous amount of money to hire the experts needed to facilitate the effort. We need to pay off some of the debts incurred and raise money for the next stage. Hopefully, that will get rolling soon. _

Bob concludes: "Help us build the beach. Buy raffle tickets often and in big quantities. You need not be present at the drawing to win the $50,000 grand prize, one of ten $1,000 prizes, or other prizes of donated merchandise and services that will be given away in September."

It will be recalled that Congressmen Lazio and Forbes added language to the 1999 Water Resources and Development Act that called on the Departments of Army and Interior to settle their differences and agree on a schedule to construct the Fire Island Interim Project (FIIP). This effort parallels that alluded to in the lead story of this issue wherein the same agencies are asked to reduce their separate plans into a single written agreement. Both efforts imply that the Long Island First and Second District Congressmen, aided by their colleagues in the third, fourth and fifth Districts, as well as the two Senators, will be expecting action.

The relevant language appears in Sec. 342 of the bill:

Inevitably, some read this language to mean that it was the intent of project proponents to rush it through without performing all appropriate and necessary environmental reviews. They have been reassured that such was never the intent; that the project has simply been in limbo for too long.

Meanwhile, this year’s WRDA has hit a snag. What appears to have been a minor drafting error has given someone in the Administration an opportunity to change what coastal advocates had seen as a deal that would end the stalemate about who should pay what to protect shorelines. The Clinton-Gore administration, in a bow to those environmental groups committed to continued pressure on beach house owners, has taken the position that the cost of shore protection projects should be borne by the coastal states and communities most benefitted, with far less paid as the federal share. The WRDA proposes to move in 5 percent increments to a 50-50 cost split from the present 65-35 federal/non-federal cost allocation.

Howard Marlowe, president of the American Coastal Coalition (of which FIA president Jerry Stoddard is currently co-chair) approached the Administration and seemed to have won agreement on a 50-50 cost share agreement that would only apply to new project authorizations, and only for renourishment, not for initial construction. Most coastal advocates went along with this.

But now Administration officials indicate they interpret language in the House WRDA to support moving directly to 50-50 not only for newly authorized projects but for the renourishment portion of projects already in place or authorized.

If this interpretation stands, there will be severe implications for projects existing and authorized for construction in New York. In fact, the federal government would be forced to_ renegotiate its Project Cooperation Agreements with New York State, surely leading to litigation but, more importantly, to protracted delay in completion and maintenance of vital projects.

An estimate of the cost of a 50-50 cost share for scheduled renourishments just for Coney Island and the West Hampton Interim projects runs to over $30 million over the life of those projects. If the Administration interpretation is accepted by the Senate in the final WRDA, the cost of maintaining Corps projects at West of Shinnecock, the FIIP and Long Beach Island would amount to some $28 million in excess of present estimates.

Although it clearly was not the intention of the Administration to force the change for existing or already authorized projects, it is true that the language is ambivalent. Sec. 218 (a) of the 1999 WRDA would amend Sec. 103 (d) of the 1986 WRDA to read, in relevant part:

... the non-Federal share of costs of periodic nourishment measures for shore protection or beach erosion control that are carried out (i) after January 1, 2001, shall be 40 percent; (ii) after January 1, 2002 shall be 45 percent; and (iii) after January 1, 2003, shall be 50 percent; ..."

If in place of the words "carried out" the word "authorized" appeared, the meaning would be clear and better represent the intent of the parties. We understand the Senate version has it correctly and the change could be made in the House-Senate Conference.

If it gets that far. Resolution of the dispute over the Auburn Dam in California between Democrat Robert Matsui and Republican John Doolittle, remains elusive. ACC President Marlowe has written to all coastal Representatives and urged them to write to Speaker Hastert in hopes this logjam, which prevented passage of a WRDA in 1998, won’t do the same in 1999. All of the Corps’ coastal projects have been tied up in recent years pending resolution of this dispute as well as the dispute over cost-sharing.

John Montgomery, who chairs the Architec- tural Advisory/Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Point O’Woods Association, has long been interested in Fire Island botanical and ecological questions and is working on what he terms a "resident’s planting guideline." His letter was accompanied by his first "Nature Report,"which discusses bamboo, black pine, Russian olive and the deer immuno-contraception program.

In the press release, Supt. Dillon "emphasized that any marina or other docking facility must be designed so as to not exacerbate a breach situation and must also be of a design that will not be overly subject to storm damage and winter freezing that leads to costly annual repairs and upkeep." He also suggested that the ferry channel would have to be re-designed. "This is the narrowest part of the island and one of the sites most highly susceptible to a breach," Supt. Dillon said.

It is interesting that this is also one of the areas where Park Service personnel have questioned Corps of Engineers plans to widen the beach and raise the dunes to prevent hurricane storm surge from breaching the island in this area. Whether or not the ferry channel might not profitably be angled so as to deny an overwash a clear channel into the deeper part of the bay, Barrett is clearly a location where more traditional shore protection measures must be considered.

It is also worth reflecting on the fact that closing Barrett for three years (instead of perhaps refurbishing it as part of the Fire Island Interim project) removes a popular beach from use by islanders and mainlanders alike, just as the de-mand for beach access is growing. When the Fire Island National Seashore was created, largely as a result of pressure from the Fire Island Association, it was thought that as many as eight Visitor Centers would be constructed to provide access to ocean bathing by Long Islanders. Indeed, the original Master Plan for Fire Island left little room for doubt that the park’s primary purpose was to be recreation. Conservation and preservation was not an objective in itself, but described a condition that makes the recreational value more pronounced:

But the Master Plan, as they say, is no longer operative.

SALTAIRE WILL ADMINISTER

ARTICLE 34

William W. Daley, Chief of DEC’s Coastal Erosion Section, notified the Village of Saltaire that its Coastal Hazard Area Management Program has been approved by state DEC Commisioner John P. Cahill. This means the Village is "authorized to implement the purposes and policies" of the state’s erosion management regulations.

The previous issue of the Newsletter provided background information on Article 34.

The Town of Brookhaven is expected to administer the statute for the communities of Seaview (east of Ivy Walk), Ocean Bay Park, Point O’Woods, Cherry Grove, Fire Island Pines, Water island, Blue Point Beach and Davis Park. Islip Town has indicated it does not intend to administer the statute at this time. That means that DEC’s Region I office in Stony Brook will get the job. The Village of Ocean Beach has the matter under study.

FIA has recommended that the government closest to the area regulated is the best agency to review individual situations and make determinations about building or rebuilding. In this connection, the Town of Islip continues without an approved zoning code for unincorporated areas of Fire Island. This means that property owners are not able to apply for a Certificate of Suspension of [the Secretary of the Interior’s] Authority to Acquire by Condemnation (CSAAC). Should a major hurricane or nor’easter result in destruction of homes, the Secretary could condemn the damaged properties and prevent their rebuilding. FIA worked with the previous park administration to get CSAACs issued to those who request them (though few have) to reestablish the principle that Fire Island owners need not fear loss of the right to rebuild their homes following storms simply because the homes are in a national seashore.

The issue is not academic; the National Hurricane Center is predicting the worst Atlantic hurricane season in fifty years. Professor William Gray, the acknowledged expert in hurricane prediction, has never predicted a season of more than 11 named storms. This year, according to the Associated Press, he is looking for fourteen – nine of them hurricanes and four of those major.

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS

FIA president Jerry Stoddard received a check for $9,000 from the Seaview Association in late May. This completes Seaview’s pledge, made last September, to contribute $18,000 to FIA’s special appeal for funds. The check came with a note from Dr. Jerome Levy that read, simply: "Good luck in the continuing struggle for the FIIP."

Other communities reaching fund-raising goals set by the FIA Board are Dunewood, Water Island and Point O’Woods. Residents of Ocean Bay Park, solicited individually in a letter from FIA, also just came through with a contribution of over $6,000.