FIA Summer Wrap-Up for FI Tide, by Jerry Stoddard, President, FIA

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FIA Summer Wrap-Up for FI Tide

For those new to the Fire Island Inlet – Montauk Point shore protection project (FIMP) or not involved in day-to-day developments, progress seems agonizingly slow. To those closer to the process, the pace of events this year has quickened and a successful conclusion is in sight.

The reason for the progress is simple: active involvement by our political representatives. Here are some examples:

• Both Brookhaven and Islip Towns have worked with the island communities in support of the 2008 self-help projects. Islip, in particular, has taken the lead with state and federal emergency management officials. The hope is that, should the short-term projects be quickly wiped out by a severe storm, they may qualify for grants to rebuild if a declaration of a disaster is forthcoming.
• Even more significant, all five affected townships (the above plus Babylon, Southampton and East Hampton) have joined forces in support of FIMP and asked the New York State agencies involved to meet with them. The Supervisors noted in a letter to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) that “the south shore towns will ultimately be the recipient of beneficial or negative outcomes of the plan.” They made it clear they want DEC to consult with them on key decisions.
• The Congressional delegation has also weighed in heavily on the side of getting the FIMP project completed. Congressman Tim Bishop organized a tour of Fire Island beaches by Army Corps and Interior Department officials on July 19. It was an opportunity for island residents to point out that there are three Fire Islands – the recreational beaches at each end, the communities and the Wilderness Area, and it is not reasonable to expect that all three can be managed under a single set of environmental guidelines. Mr. Bishop said he intends to make sure decisions are made in a more timely manner than they have been. If field level managers can’t agree, he thinks their bosses should be required to make the decisions for them, and sooner rather than later. He made the same point at the FIA summer meeting and met with involved agencies in County Executive Steve Levy’s office to make it again.
• On July 27, Congressman Steve Israel compared Great South Bay to the Mississippi River near New Orleans. He has told mainland constituents as well that a Katrina-type storm would devastate Long Island and can’t be allowed to strike an unprotected coast here. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Congressman Israel is well-positioned to help secure FIMP funding.
• At Fire Island Pines on August 2, Senator Chuck Schumer repeated his strong support for the 08 community projects as well as for the FIMP. As the leader of his party’s fund-raising effort in the Senate, Mr. Schumer will be able to call on his colleagues to support the project.
• Senator Hillary Clinton has been otherwise engaged recently. But she has shown her support in the past, including by inviting County Executive Levy to testify before the Environment and Public Works Committee, which reviews Corps projects and of which she is a member.
• State and county legislators have also shown support for the communities. Assemblywoman Ginny Fields is a regular at FIA’s summer meeting and works hard for Fire Island. The same is true for Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington and our two state Senators, Owen H. Johnson and Caesar Trunzo.
• Agency executives are feeling pressure from our elected representatives. The Assistant Secretary for Fish & Wildlife and Parks, Lyle Laverty, has shown he is open to discussion about allowing for more protection of the community areas of Fire Island. Mr. Laverty was the senior DOI official on Congressman Bishop’s July 19 tour. His counterpart from the Army, John Paul Woodley, led a similar helicopter tour in mid-April this year. It is clear from numerous comments that the Corps of Engineers dreads the prospect of a major storm hitting the Long Island coast without adequate shore protection in place after a $25 million study and two decades of planning effort.

In the middle of all this is the Fire Island National Seashore. Theirs are the “boots on the ground,” to coin a phrase, and the managers know the park can’t be successful until the beach erosion issue is settled. The details of how it is resolved may be less important than residents and managers reaching agreement on a path forward.

Some see Albany as the biggest remaining problem – specifically DEC and the Department of State (DOS), which can label the FIMP “not consistent” with state coastal policies. FIA needs someone with good contacts in Governor Paterson’s office to point out that it is the new DOS policy proposals that need to be looked at. So far they seem more concerned with implementing the views of regional offices of Department of the Interior than what is best for Long Island or the Fire Island National Seashore.

Locally, DEC seems OK with both the 08 community projects and the FIMP. But recently letters from James Tierney, Assistant DEC Commissioner and, separately, from regional managers of Interior, seemed to ask the Corps of Engineers to rethink key parts of the FIMP yet again, after years of study and delay. They seem to want the Corps to adopt an approach based on “withdrawing support from traditional methods of shore protection.” FIA sent a strongly worded letter to the Commissioner stressing that, in FIA’s view, there is no scientific support for such a policy; it is not a policy in place in any other state, so far as FIA is aware; and it could make possible a Katrina-like disaster on Long Island.

Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior has asked the Corps of Engineers to embark on a new study “of the impact of inlet dredging” on Fire Island. An August 7 Newsday article reported Senator Schumer’s strongly adverse reaction to the idea: “The letter seems to say ‘go back to the drawing board and study what would happen to the whole Seashore area without any dredging’,” Newsday quoted the senator.

Separately, Interior Department officials responded in June to a February 2006 request by the Corps of Engineers for a reaction to the Corps FIMP “alternatives.” The department said it didn’t have enough information to reply to what the Corps had sent, and requested the Corps instead “evaluate” a plan to provide a lesser level of protection to the Fire Island part of the FIMP project than to other areas. It is questionable, to FIA at least, if the Corps has authority to do that. It seems the mid-level Interior officials know their own bosses would not be prepared to take the political heat for recommending something that could result in such disastrous consequences for the region.

And the five town Supervisors made it very clear in their August 11 meeting with DEC and DOS, FIA is told, that no community area within the FIMP project is to receive a lesser level of protection than any other.

Any fair assessment of developments in 2008 would conclude that a lot has been accomplished and property owner interests have been well represented. And progress will continue. Congressman Bishop has said he plans to bring the agencies together again, before the end of summer.

That will not be, however, until after the Tide stops publishing for this year. FIA‘s work will continue, of course, into the fall and winter, and beyond. To keep members better informed, the Association web site (www.fireislandassn.org) is in the process of being refurbished. In a month or so FIA members will be able to check in regularly for reports.

Jerry Stoddard, President, FIA