Share this article
The Town of East Hampton (NY) has secured $1.1 million needed to continue the Montauk Inlet Dredging project.
According to the East Hampton Supervisor, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the town has allocated $1.1 million from its Host Community Agreement with South Fork Wind to fill a federal funding gap and ensure the dredging of Montauk Inlet moves forward, after Washington fell short on delivering the full commitment.
The federal government committed $9.5 million, and the town had already invested $1.5 million under its 2022 Project Partnership Agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers.
But when bids came in higher than expected, USACE informed the town that an additional $1.1 million was required. Federal officials set September 10 as the deadline to secure those funds in order for preliminary work to move forward.
Without the town’s intervention, the dredging would have been canceled, cutting off safe access to the harbor, threatening Montauk’s maritime economy, and undermining public safety. The window for dredging is October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026.
The long-planned USACE Lake Montauk Harbor Navigation Improvement Project, will deepen the channel to 17 feet. This dredging is critical not only to Montauk’s long-term maritime economy and coastal protection, but also to public safety.
Montauk Harbor is the only deep-draft port between New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Cape May, New Jersey. It serves as a critical port of refuge for commercial and recreational vessels and supports Coast Guard operations that protect the entire region.
Without regular dredging, access to this harbor of refuge is compromised, putting lives, commerce, and coastal resilience at risk.