Irene disaster dollars doled out to repair inlets

Two area inlets will benefit from federal funds allocated for dredging to repair damage caused by Hurricane Irene.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District announced Thursday that it has received nearly $28 million in emergency operations and maintenance funds for a list of coastal projects impacted by the August 2011 hurricane.

The funds will be used for activities including maintenance dredging at Morehead City Harbor and several shallow draft inlets and channels, including Bogue Inlet and New River Inlet.

"These communities were hit with millions of dollars in damage from the August 2011 storm and this is our opportunity to provide much needed federal support to restore these areas to their pre-storm conditions," Army Col. Steven Baker, Wilmington District commander, stated via the news release announcing the funds. “Completion of restoration efforts will significantly improve coastal navigation safety, and assist the United States Coast Guard in their search and rescue missions.”

The fiscal year 2012 emergency supplemental funds allocated to the Wilmington District will fund 16 projects, according to the announcement.

There is $500,000 in funding for dredging for each Bogue and New River Inlet. Other local projects include $2.3 million for Morehead City Harbor and $150,000 for the waterway connecting Pamlico Sound and Beaufort Harbor.

“This is very good news; we’re excited,” said Carteret County Shore Protection Manager Greg “Rudi” Rudolph, whose job keeps him active in beach nourishment and dredging issues. “There was no funding for Bogue Inlet in last year’s (federal budget) and local governments have had to make up for it.”

The Shore Protection Office and the town of Emerald Isle worked together last year to coordinate a cost-sharing plan to provide maintenance dredging for Bogue Inlet connecting channel. Under the plan, $91,000 in funds from Onslow and Carteret counties and towns surrounding Bogue Inlet served as a match to state funding for the dredging work.

Rudolph said that with the newly allocated emergency federal funds, it may allow them to keep the local funding in reserve.

The funding for the coastal projects received bipartisan support from the area’s Congressional delegation.

Sen. Kay Hagan, D-NC, and Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-NC, each issued news releases this week applauding the Corps of Engineers. Each made requests for the funding for the North Carolina projects.

“This money will fund critical infrastructure projects on our state’s coast, including operations and maintenance work that is still cleaning up the devastation from Hurricane Irene,” Hagan said in her statement. “North Carolinians depend on completion of these projects, and I will continue to fight for the livelihood of our coastal communities.”

Jones said that fishermen, boaters, commercial vessels and the military all depend on safe navigation through the channels at New River and Bogue inlets and called them “critical to the coastal economy.”

He said the inlets were eligible to receive funding through the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, which was signed into law Dec. 23 and provides $534 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “for necessary expenses to dredge navigation channels in response to, and repair damage to Corps projects resulting from a major disaster declared pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.”