Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Carteret County, North Carolina, have signed an agreement to provide up to two million cubic yards of sand from federal waters for the towns of Emerald Isle, Indian Beach and unincorporated Salter Path.
According to BOEM, the project is part of the county’s fifty-year Bogue Banks Master Beach and Inlet Management Plan.
“ BOEM and the county modified an existing planned agreement for a nourishment project on Bogue Banks set for the winter of 2018-2019 to include the impacts of Hurricane Florence, which hit the state in September 2018 ,” they stated in the latest release.
Commenting the news, Greg Rudolph, Carteret County Shore Protection Manager , said: “Hurricane Florence was the storm of record for Carteret County and the beaches are our main flood defense and the linchpin of our tourism economy. It was fortuitous we were already working with BOEM to secure a sand and gravel lease for a beach nourishment project. We were able to modify our plans in short order, and now look forward to the start of construction of this very important project this spring.”
The project will reclaim dredged navigation material from the Morehead City Harbor Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site (ODMDS), portions of which lie in federal waters, to renourish approximately 5.2 miles of beach.
Material is periodically placed in the ODMDS following navigation dredging. Material that has beach quality characteristics is placed in a separate portion of the ODMDS from material that is not suitable for beach placement. This makes the material suitable for beaches available for future use, BOEM said.
Dredging is expected to begin in early spring 2019.