Group sues Army Corps to get sand tested before Long Branch replenishment project
By DONNA WEAVER
Staff Writer, 609-978-2015
Published: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The beach replenishment project that went awry in Surf City in 2006 has prompted the Jersey Shore Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Surfrider Foundation will be in federal court Thursday arguing for a preliminary injunction to stop replenishment on Long Branch beaches for fear of contaminated sand being pumped in off the coast. The Surfrider Foundation filed a lawsuit a few weeks ago citing concerns that sand the corps will pump in from a site several miles off Sea Bright could be contaminated. More than 1,200 World War I-era military munitions were pumped ashore during the Surf City beach replenishment project. A cleanup of the beaches will cost $17 million, the corps has said.The Surfrider Foundation is seeking a full battery of testing before the material is placed on the beach. If the tests show any contamination, the chapter wants the Army Corps to choose a different borrow area and thoroughly test there as well. In the lawsuit, the Surfrider Foundation said a borrow site the corps will use for the Long Branch project is closed to shellfishing due to fecal coliform levels. Several miles farther east was the largest offshore sewage sludge dump site in the country, where sewage sludge was dumped for decades, according to John Weber, northeast regional manager of the Surfrider Foundation."All of this concerns us and makes us think the material should be tested," said Surfrider volunteer Brian Lynch. "We are not saying this material is definitely contaminated. We just think it should be tested so we can know it is safe. Look what happened on Long Beach Island."
After munitions were pumped ashore in Surf City, the Surfrider Foundation said the corps clearly doesn't always know what is in the areas from which it takes sand."As a result, we got World War I munitions pumped onto the beach, closing beaches and leaving taxpayers with $17 million cleanup bill," Lynch said. Before a cleanup of this magnitude happens in Long Branch, the Surfrider Foundation said, the corps should test the sand for contamination."I think most people will be surprised to learn this sand is never tested for any chemical contaminants at all, and it is not tested for fecal bacteria or anything like that," said Stephanie Rinaldi, chairwoman of the Surfrider chapter. "People, especially kids, come into close contact with sand on beaches, so we need to know it is clean."In May 2007, the corps said it would not be necessary to test sand pumped onto Surf City's beaches for contamination following the discovery of military munitions. Project manager Keith Watson said last year that it was unlikely explosive materials inside the munitions would contaminate the sand. Testing the sand for contamination would be up to the state Department of Environmental Protection, Watson said. The Surfrider Foundation said it tried to bring this issue up more than a year and a half ago in meetings with the DEP, the corps, and the U.S Rep. Jim Saxton.Weber said no one wanted to discuss the issue, and none of the agencies agreed that testing was needed. The Surfriders also wrote a letter to the corps' headquarters in Washington D.C., requesting an updated environmental impact statement on the borrow site, since the existing report for this project was completed in 1989. The letter was signed by nearly every major environmental group in the state, but the corps rejected the request, according to Weber. A spokeswoman for the corps' New York District said the agency would not comment on the lawsuit. The corps is being represented by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Trenton, according to spokeswoman LaDonna Davis. E-mail Donna Weaver:DWeaver@pressofac.com
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