EDITORIAL LBI BEACH PROBLEM GROWS
Published: Friday, May 4th 2007 Beach replenishment, attacked both by environmentalists as a sand subsidy for oceanfront homeowners and by some of those same homeowners who complain about new dunes obstructing ocean views, is controversial enough these days. But add 900 or so still-dangerous World War I and World War II-vintage projectiles and fuses to the mix, and the sand-pumping issue really gets explosive. Yes, we said 900. After an amateur metal-detector hobbyist discovered a handful of possibly explosive fuses in the new sand pumped onto the beaches in Surf City, the Army Corps of Engineers immediately shut down the beach and subsequently began a magnetometer scanning operation to detect any remaining ordnance. Slowly, the total crept up to approximately 200 then, in one week, the Army Corps discovered an additional 700 devices on the new beach in Surf City and part of Ship Bottom. Said Army Corps spokesman Khaalid
Walls, It's looking like when these munitions were dumped after World
War II, they were dumped in mass quantities.
So how does a snafu like this occur? And how can shore towns and beach goers be assured it won't happen in future projects? The old munitions came from the offshore site where the new sand for the beaches was pumped from. Unfortunately, the military commonly dumped old munitions into the ocean in the bad old days when anything you didn't want anymore was dumped into the ocean. The problem is well-known so the Army Corps routinely conducts a magnetometer scan of the borrow area. The scan for the Surf City project showed no munitions. So, task No. 1 for the Army Corps: Figure how that happened. Because the borrow site appeared to be clean, only a standard 4-inch screen was used on the dredge's intake pipe. Using a smaller screen, which has to be cleared more often, adds time and cost to a beach-replenishment job. But that brings us to task No. 2 for the Army Corps: From now on, use a smaller screen on all sand-pumping jobs. It's not clear what percentage of the 900 items found are still explosive, but this fiasco on Long Beach Island means that it's possible the beaches may not be reopened by Memorial Day, although federal, state and local officials are promising the work will be finished in time. Municipal officials also are wisely putting together a plan on how to react if more munitions are found this summer. There has even been some talk about a digging ban on the beaches. Nothing like a carefree day at the shore. We believe that, in general, beach replenishment is necessary maintenance of a key piece of the state's infrastructure. Thanks to New Jersey's beautiful beaches, the state has a thriving tourism industry. Furthermore, such projects come with requirements for increased public access and more public restrooms. But the work is expensive and controversial
even when the Army Corps doesn't leave the beaches littered with unexploded
ordnance. This cannot be allowed to happen again. Beach-replenishment critics
don't need any more ammunition.
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