NEW JERSEY — People are asking questions about a storm protection proposal for New York and New Jersey that would be one of the most massive and expensive flood control projects ever undertaken in the United States, aimed at preventing the kind of catastrophe caused by flooding from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
In a public hearing Wednesday night on the US Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed $52 billion project, some wanted to know where all the water impeded by the locks would go.
Others wanted to know why the plan no longer solves the problem.
And one had a direct question for the Army Corps.
“When has the Army Corps of Engineers ever defeated Mother Nature?” asked David Merwin, who lives in a Raritan Bayfront community in Old Bridge, New Jersey. “Where did you make a project where you won?”
The hearing at a yacht club in the working-class community of Raritan Bay was one of the first public hearings on a massive storm protection plan introduced by the Army Corps in September.
The agency proposes building movable barriers and gates in bays, rivers and other waterways in the two states hardest hit by the October 2012 storm.
Includes the construction of sea gates in various industrial canals, bays, and other urban waterways in New York City, the tidal straits separating Staten Island from New Jersey, and at the mouths of New Jersey’s Hackensack and Passaic rivers in the Meadows Region .
The gates would remain open during calm times and could be closed when major storms approached. But the proposed barriers have drawn opposition from homeowners who worry about what they would look like, and environmentalists concerned about the negative effects on water quality and natural ecosystems.
Coastal barriers, including flood walls, levees and elevated walkways, would be built in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan in New York, and in Jersey City and Newark in New Jersey.
The plan also includes the integration of natural solutions such as the restoration of wetlands and the creation of “living coasts”, with features such as oyster colonies designed to mitigate the force of the waves arriving at various locations to complement the engineering projects carried out by men.
Work will not start until 2030 and will not be completed until 2044.
The plan tentatively chosen by the Army Corps was one of five options which ranged from doing nothing to doing much more than currently proposed.
The most ambitious option would include more flood control measures in more places in New York and New Jersey, including 7.4 miles (12 kilometers) of flood barriers along the coasts of the two states centered on New York Harbor which would be by far the longest storm barrier in the world, according to the Corps.
That plan would cost more than double the option currently considered: $112 billion.
However, it did get some support at Wednesday’s meeting. Sara Jane Millard, a London native who lives in Manasquan, New Jersey, asked Army Corps representatives why they don’t choose the larger option. Her community has been devastated by Sandy.
“It would solve the problem of the whole area, millions of people,” he said. “They’re engineers and they’re wonderful, and they know how hard it is to get politicians to spend money. But the people whose homes could be razed want it done.”
Bryce Wismiller, project manager for the Army Corps, said there are two main reasons why the larger option hasn’t been chosen.
“A huge cost and a huge amount of time,” he said.
The agency uses a cost-benefit analysis to see how much damage a project could prevent versus what it would cost to build, Wismiller said. Using these calculations, the Corps has tentatively chosen the current option, she said.
Bruce Hoch of West Orange, New Jersey, said Sandy was one of the costliest storms in US history, adding that it could be a good reason to spend more to protect more.
“Sandy caused $70 billion in damage,” he said. “I could do a cost-benefit analysis (to back it up).”
The more expensive option would benefit 94 percent of the study area in the two states; the option currently chosen would benefit for 62%.
The Corps will submit its final recommendation on the project to Congress in late 2024, Wismiller said.
