THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110306
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 156 lines
Unless there's a vigorous protest by the public, federal officials will stop paying for the dredging of most North Carolina inlets and waterways and beach re-nourishment projects for state seashores.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to withhold all federal money for those projects beginning in October 1997.
If state residents want to resist those changes - and stave off the possibility that sand pumping and waterway clearing will cease - they need to speak up now, officials said Thursday night.
``Balancing the federal budget is not going to be a pretty process,'' state Director of Water Resources John Morris told about 30 people at a hearing at the Roanoke Island aquarium. ``We all need to work hard to minimize the damage to North Carolina. There's really a lot at stake here economically. These cuts hit us much harder than almost any other state. They're unfairly disproportionate to North Carolina because of our geography and coastal regions.
``We need to make a strong effort to reverse these federal policies.''
State legislative analyst David Sullivan agreed.
``There wasn't a whole lot of opposition or outrage from North Carolina to make these federal policies change,'' said Sullivan, who works in a Washington, D.C., branch of the North Carolina governor's office. ``Most of our elected officials are inclined to want to change these policies. But they need to hear from every one of us regarding our feelings on these issues. There is a problem here.
``The time for action is now.''
If the Corps' current policies are put into place, federal money will continue funding a study of beach re-nourishment for Dare County's seashore but federal funds would not be available for actually pumping sand onto the Outer Banks. Dare County taxpayers have spent $430,000 on that research.
Furthermore, funding would stop for most northeastern North Carolina waterways that the Corps clears. Channels that federal officials would stop maintaining include Oregon Inlet, Edenton Harbor, Ocracoke Inlet, Roanoke River, Chowan River and at least a dozen other Albemarle area waterways.
``Two years ago, our budget was $88.5 million for the Wilmington District,'' Ed Shuford, Corps of Engineers deputy director for Wilmington District, said. ``For 1997, we're hoping to get $62.5 million in the federal budget. At the end of this fiscal year, we'll cease operations and maintenance on non-substinence ports and channels. Substinence has not yet been defined. But only projects of national significance that pay into the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund would continue to be cleared by the Corps.''
Ports where goods - not fish - are brought into the docks, such as Beaufort and Wilmington, pay into the Harbor Trust Fund, said Shuford. Other waterways, such as Oregon and Ocracoke inlets, cannot join the trust fund or start paying federal taxes on seafood landed there even if officials at those docks want to. One audience member at Thursday's hearing said the policy ``flies in the face of the state's legislative coastal development initiative that tries to regulate and spread out growth to various areas along North Carolina's coast.''
Other public participants - including representatives from Dare County, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Manteo and the Oregon Inlet Waterways Commission - challenged the Corps' policies, saying they were inconsistent with other federal efforts.
Federal money helps expand roads and bridges to bring people to the beach, they said. But now it won't help to keep those beaches from eroding into the ocean. Federal funds help clean up waterways and sounds. But if the inlets close, those inland fishery nurseries will become polluted and beaches could flood.
State taxpayers financed a seafood park in Wanchese with the understanding that federal officials would keep clearing and, eventually, stabilize Oregon Inlet. But since jetties never were built to stop shoaling - and now the Outer Banks' primary passageway to the Atlantic is at risk of losing federal funds to keep it clear - the investment at the seafood park could be lost, said Roanoke Island charter boat Capt. Arvin Midgett.
``A lot of money will be wasted,'' Midgett said. ``A lot of people's dreams will go down the drain. I haven't seen the effort from elected officials that I think could be brought to bear on changing these policies.''
Dare County Commissioner Doug Langford said federal officials seem intent on cutting their budget, but many of the tax burdens for paying for beach nourishment and waterway clearing projects will be shifted to state and local levels. ``We're going to do everything we can to turn this around,'' Langford told the crowd at the aquarium. ``These channels are the livelihoods for families in this area. It's ludicrous.''
Rather than letting the federal government take away funding for such projects completely, Morris said, state and local officials may want to offer to pay part of the beach nourishment or channel clearing costs.
In the meantime, officials said, citizens need to write congressmen expressing their concerns about the potential federal cuts.
``We're going to turn up the noise level on this,'' Dare County Planning Director Ray Sturza said. ``If they're going to take away some of our projects, they're going to hear from us.'' MEMO: NO CLEARING
Albemarle-area waterways that the Corps of Engineers plans to stop
clearing in 1997 include:
Channel from Back Sound Lookout to Rodanthe
Chowan River
Edenton Harbor
Mackay Creek in Plymouth
Ocracoke Inlet
Oregon Inlet
Pamlico and Tar River
Pamlico Sound channel
Perquimans River
Roanoke River in Plymouth
Rollinson Channel, between Oregon Inlet and Wanchese
Scuppernong River in Columbia
Silver Lake Harbor in Ocracoke
Stumpy Point Bay
Waterway between Pamlico Sound and Beauford Harbor
Waterway connecting Swan Quarter Bay and Deep Bay
WHOM TO CALL
People who want to protest policies that would halt federal funding
for beach re-nourishment and channel-clearing projects throughout
northeastern North Carolina may contact elected officials. The state's
director of water resources, John Morris, is helping coordinate state
efforts to contact federal officials. His phone number is (919)
733-4064; fax, (919) 733-3558; address, P.O. Box 27687, Raleigh, N.C.
27611.
Influential officials from the Albemarle area include:
The Honorable Sen. Jesse Helms
403 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
TEL: (202) 224-6342
FAX: (202) 224-7588
The Honorable Sen. Lauch Faircloth
702 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154
Fax: (202) 224-7406
The Honorable Rep. Eva Clayton
222 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515-3301
Phone: (202) 225-3101
Fax: (202) 225-3354
The Honorable Walter B. Jones Jr.
214 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3415
Fax: (202) 225-3286
Mr. Martin Lancaster
Assistant Secretary for Civil Works
Department of the Army
108 Army Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20310-0108
Phone: (703) 697-8987
by CNB