LONG BRANCH, N.J., Dec. 15, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE)—In a formal legal request that may set the stage for further developments, environmental organizations today officially requested a voluminous release of documents from key government agencies managing a massive federal and state-funded beach fill project that pumps millions of tons of offshore sand onto sand-starved beaches.
Federal and state representatives failed to appear at a crowded public hearing Nov. 9th in Allenhurst, N.J. to answer the concerns of residents in Allenhurst, Loch Arbour and Deal, N.J. about the project's impact on their coastline, an absence that angered many residents and town officials.
The fishing, surfing and conservation organizations utilized a formal 'FOIA' (Freedom of Information Act) request. The official FOIA request letters were scheduled for delivery this morning at 10:00 a.m. to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (U.S.COE's) FOIA officer in the Pentagon and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) FOIA coordinator in Washington, D.C.
A similar request was scheduled for delivery by courier to the N.J. Dept. of Environmental Protection's (NJDEP's) Office of Legal Affairs in Trenton, citing the N.J. Open Public Records Act.
A similar but narrower FOIA request to NJDEP made by Surfers' Environmental Alliance (SEA) on April 20, 2000 was not fulfilled by the state agency. Federal agencies must reply within 20 business days to a FOIA letterrequest, but New Jersey's law contains no time frame the government must respond within.
The requesting organizations include the American Littoral Society, a national coastal conservation organization based in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, Surfers' Environmental Alliance, headquartered in Santa Cruz, Calif. and Long Branch, N.J., and the Asbury Park (N.J.) Fishing Club, the nation's oldest salt water fishing organization.
In letters dated yesterday and delivered today to federal and state officials, SEA's regional director Brian Unger requested all documents relating to the sand renourishment project, including scientific reports, analyses, relevant correspondence, memos and environmental impact statements sent or commissioned by the Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, NJDEP, Stevens Institute of Technology, and other federal agencies or departments, members of Congress, and local municipalities.
The groups are requesting information, reports and studies on sand flow, jetty notching, the possible contamination of offshore mining locations, and the impact of sand deposition on existing beaches and nearshore ecosystems. The environmentalists also want cost projections and financial analyses relating to the project, minutes, transcripts and notes relating to all meetings at which the project was discussed or reviewed by the Corps of Engineers and related agencies, including NJDEP's contracts, agreements and correspondence with local municipalities and private landowners on the coast that may affect public access to the ocean.
According to recent news reports, municipal officials and fishermen in the Elberon to Loch Arbour portion of the project have been critical of the Corps' sand pumping plan, charging that it's threatened several species of fish that spawn and migrate in the area.
The reports said that Loch Arbour Mayor William Rosenblatt and local fishermen are concerned that sand pumped onshore just south of the Deal Lake (8th Ave.) jetty is blocking the end of a flume, or underwater passageway, that the fish use to swim from ocean to lake and back out again.
"The impacts are potentially enormous in this stretch of the experimental beach re-engineering operation," said SEA's Unger. "People are worried that their way of life is threatened, that the social, recreational and environmental impacts may be significant and irreversible, and that maybe these impacts haven't been properly evaluated."
Added D.W. Bennett, executive director of the American Littoral Society, "Perhaps we should slow down and get a good look at these replenishment projects that have long-term impacts on the Jersey Shore."
"There can be downsides that need to see the light of day," said Bennett.
