Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Black Sand Pumped On Inlet Beach No Cause For Concern; Sun Will Eventually Naturally Clean Dredged Material

OCEAN CITY — Despite its dark, coarse appearance, the thousands of cubic yards of nearly black sand being dredged and pumped onto the beach at the Inlet this spring will naturally bleach out in the sun before the arrival of summer crowds.

The Army Corps of Engineers last week began dredging federal channel around the Inlet as part of a larger project the agency has been working on through much of the winter. The massive project is part of the Army Corps’ routine maintenance of the federal navigation channels throughout the resort area.

The channels silt in over time through natural and man-made processes and need to be routinely dredged to a depth and width to support the area’s commercial and recreational fishing and boating industries. The required dredging serves the dual purpose of maintaining the channels to the appropriate depth and width while delivering material to sand-starved migratory islands and beaches in and around the resort area.

More

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is such a waste of taxpayers monies, if OC wants to do this, then let OC businesses pay for it!

Anonymous said...

1237-OC businesses supply the state with more tax dollars than anything else on the eastern shore. As such, the state is protecting the businesses it should.

Anonymous said...

12:37pm, I'm terribly sorry you feel it's a waste, however this is a Federal Project and paid for by the Feds. The dredging of navigational channels has been a Federal business for over 200 years. Some monies do come from the state & county, but in comparison to what theArmy Corps puts out, it's insufficient at best.
This will also not only benefit the charter boats and rec boats, but mainly benefits the larger, deeper drafted commercial fishing vessels more so than any of the above. It also replenishes both OC beach and Assateague beach by helping barrier heavy surf and tidal surge from storms.
So you see, it's not quite a waste of taxpayers money.
Had this been done 4-5 years ago, Maryland would not have lost nearly 100-120 million in revenue from the clam fleet owned by Jack Miles. But now the great state of New Jersey gets that.
Now that was a waste my friend!

Anonymous said...

OC is a waste, it was listed a couple of years ago as one of the top ten most expensive resort communities for families, on the east coast! I save more money and have more fun in Myrtle Beach.
The Caravel rents suites overlooking the beach for $75.00 a night. Plus loads of things to do, that don't revolve around being in a bar!