[First Reprint]

SENATE RESOLUTION No. 84

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MARCH 20, 1997

By Senators BENNETT, CIESLA, Palaia, Kyrillos, Scott, Singer and Lynch

A Senate Resolution requesting the United States Congress to restore funding for ongoing shore protection projects in New Jersey.

Whereas, The Clinton Administration has not included $2,400,000 in its FY 1998 budget request for ongoing shoreline studies under the New Jersey Shore Protection Program undertaken by the United States Army Corps of Engineers; and

Whereas, The funding of these studies is critical to accomplishing shore protection programs on schedule and reducing the impacts of erosion and storms on New Jersey's beaches and coastal communities; and

Whereas, The elimination of federal funding would effectively cancel the comprehensive beach restoration projects needed by coastal communities to protect lives and property; and

Whereas, The elimination of shore protection projects and the resultant damages would severely impact the economic base of New Jersey's coastal tourism industry, with a corresponding dramatic reduction in tax revenues, not only to the State of New Jersey but also to the federal government; and

Whereas, Shore protection has demonstrated an enormous return on public investment, with significant economic and sociological benefits to coastal states and the nation as a whole; and

Whereas, Without federal funding participation, neither coastal communities nor the State of New Jersey can independently afford to fund a shore protection program comparable to that proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers; and

Whereas, The State of New Jersey has agreed to match the funding requirements of the federal program, and has formally requested, through the Maritime Advisory Council in the New Jersey Department of Commerce and Economic Development, that the reduced federal funds be restored to the FY 1998 budget; and

Whereas, The United States Congress has, for the past two years, strongly opposed the Administration's new shore protection policy and has restored the proposed funding reductions each year; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

    1. The Congress of the United States is hereby requested to restore in full the $2,400,000 reduction in federal shore protection funding proposed in the President's FY 1998 budget request.

    2. Duly authenticated copies of this ¹[concurrent]¹ resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested by the Secretary of the Senate, shall be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, the respective Chairpersons of the Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, each member of the United States Congress elected from the State of New Jersey, the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Requests U.S. Congress to restore shore protection funding in federal FY 1998 budget.