Projects for Sussex beaches and bays get federal monies

In what will be one of his last acts before he retires from political office in early January, Sen. Tom Carper has secured millions of dollars in funding for infrastructure and economic development projects for Sussex County’s beaches and bays.

Carper is the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chairman. His office issued a statement Dec. 18, saying the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024 passed the Senate by a vote of 97-1. WRDA 2024 is biennial legislation that authorizes flood control, navigation and ecosystem restoration projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Delaware and across the country. Carper introduced and passed the bill through the EPW committee earlier this year. The bill is now off to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. 

“As a coastal state, Delaware’s beaches, waterways and ports are the backbone of our economy,” said Carper in a prepared statement. “That’s why we worked hard to invest in the First State’s water infrastructure with WRDA 2024. This bipartisan legislation will direct the [Army] Corps to protect Delaware’s shorelines from the threats of climate change. It will also encourage ecosystem restoration and water resources research while supporting good-paying jobs up and down the state. I am proud of the bipartisan efforts it took to see this legislation across the finish line.”

WRDA 2024 will also reauthorize and update the programs of the Economic Development Administration. The EDA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce that invests in the economic development of distressed communities across the country.

Through its grant programs, EDA helps local communities plan for economic development activities, construct last-mile infrastructure, and mitigate the effects of short- and long-term economic challenges and disasters. EDA has supported many economic development projects in all three counties, including fostering a science incubator in New Castle County, creating a training center for automotive technicians in Sussex County, and improving the state’s parks in Kent County.

As part of these provisions, the bill will authorize and update the laws pertaining to certain federal regional commissions, and will establish two new regional commissions. One of these regional commissions, the Mid-Atlantic regional commission, includes Delaware under its purview.

WRDA 2024 aims to help Delaware in a number of ways:

• Establishes the Delaware Coastal System Program to promote efficiency and share resources among the many critical coastal hurricane and storm risk reduction projects throughout Delaware. The creation of this program for all of Delaware’s authorized beaches means the Army Corps and the state will be able to promote a more effective use of federal and state funds across projects, improve statewide planning efforts and reduce redundancies during restorations

• Reduces the local contribution requirement for renourishing Rehoboth, Dewey, Bethany and South Bethany beaches from 35% to 20%. The bill also reduces the local contribution requirement for renourishing Fenwick Beach from 50% to 20%

• Directs the Army Corps to reevaluate the Lewes Beach project to determine which additional areas should be included for beach renourishment along the Lewes shoreline

•  Adds Broadkill Beach to the Bay Beach Restoration Initiative so the state cost match to renourish Broadkill is reduced from 35% to 10% like the rest of the bay beaches

• Reduces the state contribution requirement from 50% to 10% for completing the Delaware Back Bay Study. This Army Corps study recommends projects to increase community resilience to coastal storms in communities along the Inland Bays, including several economically disadvantaged communities. To support these resiliency efforts, WRDA 2024 establishes that the federal government will be responsible for 90% of the cost of construction

• Authorizes feasibility studies for flood risk management projects for flood-prone Delaware communities including Milton and Wilmington

• Authorizes a new Delaware Inland Bays Watershed Study to comprehensively consider ecosystem restoration needs in the Inland Bays area

• Authorizes Delaware State University to conduct research on water resources and environmental quality in collaboration with the Army Corps

• Authorizes a new $25 million environmental infrastructure project for Delaware’s bay beach communities to help improve sewers, stormwater treatment systems, water storage and other related wastewater infrastructure

• Authorizes a new $25 million environmental infrastructure project for Delaware’s Atlantic beach communities to help improve sewers, stormwater treatment systems, water storage and other related wastewater infrastructure

• Authorizes a new $25 million environmental infrastructure project in Wilmington to help improve sewers, stormwater treatment systems, water storage and other related wastewater infrastructure

• Increases the authorized funding for environmental infrastructure projects in New Castle, Kent and Sussex Counties to $40 million for each county.