Federal funding to replenish Grand Strand beaches not expected until 2018

Tons of sand stripped from Grand Strand beaches during October’s record-setting rains won’t be replenished for several years due to an unwilling political climate in Washington to secure the needed funding, local officials say.

The 25-mile strip of beach that stretches from North Myrtle Beach through Myrtle Beach and beyond to Garden City Beach is part of the Army Corps of Engineers beach replenishment project, so it was blocked from receiving emergency funding from FEMA.

Local officials approached Congress about making a direct appropriation, but Washington is still grappling to pass a budget for the 2016 fiscal year, and with most of the funding decisions already in place for the Dec. 11 deadline, there’s little chance the money could be added to the next budget.

“Moving money to the Myrtle Beach Shore Protection Project … means some other locality or project loses, making securing funding that much more politically challenging,” said Pat Dowling, spokesman for North Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea concurred: “Changing that allocation at this late date would mean that somewhere else’s appropriation would be eliminated or reduced. Apparently, that’s not a palatable political choice right now.”

Officials say the best alternative to win funding from the federal government is to focus on the next scheduled replenishment project in 2018, so local and state officials are already coordinating to lobby Congress for that pot of money.

The Grand Strand operates on a 10-year cycle of sand renourishment, a project established in law by Congress. However, the money to actually pay for the projects is not automatically budgeted, Congress must appropriate the funding each decade.

Then it’s up to state and local governments to come up with matching funding. Officials say they will be seeking the same funding match formula as was approved in 2008 – 65 percent federal funding, 17.5 percent state funding and 17.5 percent local matching dollars.

The last renourishment project cost $30 million to replace 750,000 cubic yards of sand.

Last month, the trifecta of record rainfall, abnormally high king tides, and the passing of Hurricane Joaquin offshore caused significant beach and dune damage, Kruea said.

“We’ve been able to repair much of that damage here in the City of Myrtle Beach, but still reported a loss of 290,000 cubic yards of sand to the US Army Corps of Engineers,” Kruea said.

Horry County beaches lost about 200,000 cubic yards of sand between Myrtle Beach State Park and one mile within the Georgetown County line, said Kelly Lee Brosky, spokeswoman for the county government.

The Army Corps of Engineers is still working on the damage assessment for the county, and North Myrtle Beach does not have the total number of how much sand was lost to the storms.

Dowling estimated that 80 percent of the sand deposited in the 2008 renourishment project was washed away in the Cherry Grove area, about 60 percent in Windy Hill to a portion of Crescent Beach and about 50 percent of the central reach in the Ocean Drive area.

Audrey Hudson 843-444-1765

@AudreyHudson

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 9:17 PM with the headline "Federal funding to replenish Grand Strand beaches not expected until 2018."