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Jun 19, 2013 10:42 AMThe project will mobilize as soon as the summer crowds are gone the week after Labor Day.
The DEC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which coordinated approvals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and other federal agencies, gave the project the go-ahead to begin as early as September 1, as long as special measures are taken to protect against harming endangered sea turtles and sturgeon that migrate through the area in the early fall.
The consultants planning the project, Aram Terchunian of the Westhampton Beach environmental firm First Coastal and Tim Cana of the North Carolina-based company Coastal Science & Engineering, which is overseeing the work, said that bidding for the project, which was opened by Southampton Town last week, will put the start date for the work into the first week of September. The project is expected to take three to four months to complete if the autumn weather cooperates.
The September start is expected to reduce the cost of the work, because more dredges will be available, since most such projects around the country are restricted by environmental regulations from ocean dredging until later in the fall. In the Northeast, protections for sea turtles and sturgeons typically prohibit large-scale dredging work until after November 15, but the restriction can be lifted if dredges are fitted with protective devices and follow strict operating protocols to protect against unintended harm to marine life. Mr. Terchunian said the dredges will be fitted with a turtle-exclusion device, similar to a cow catcher on a train locomotive, and will be required to be in contact with the bottom whenever they are operating to avoid sucking in marine species.
“Interaction with sea turtles is exceedingly rare,” Mr. Terchunian said. He noted that work on the rebuilding of beaches in West Hampton Dunes in the 1990s also was done within typically restricted dates by taking similar measures to ensure the work did not interfere with wildlife.
The project plans call for approximately 2.5 million tons of sand to be sucked from natural stockpiles a mile offshore and pumped ashore along a six-mile stretch of beach between Flying Point in Water Mill and the Southampton Town boundary with East Hampton.
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Are all the contracts signed already and are public documents?
"As will be explained further in this week's story, Nature, the town and project organizers have told me they are hoping they will be able to get waivers from the seasonal dredging and beach work restrictions. If you'll recall, the WHD project back in 1995 was done in summer. They can get around the various restrictions by either proving that there will not be a conflict or by accommodating for it. For example, ...more in WHD I believe they had plover observers on hand throughout the project, to make sure ...more that no plovers were present etc. The March-November prohibition is due not just to plovers but to flounder breeding offshore and something to do with a rare beach plant (that's the main hold-up in the late summer and early fall I believe). If they can prove that plovers or this rare plant isn't present in the project zone they might be able to escape those restrictions. It will be up to the DEC and USFWS so whether they will get around it or not remains to be seen. It's important to them, I'm told, both because of the calm seas around the summer monts and because the dredges are cheaper to hire when not a lot of work is going on elsewhere due to the restriction windows."
Terchoonian cashing in again selling nothing but BS