Coalition Opposes Army Corps' $52B Storm Surge Plan for NYC

The US Army Corps of Engineers’ $52B plan, unveiled in September, to protect NYC and low-lying areas of northern New Jersey from storm surges by building 12 huge sea gates along the waterfront and in inland waterways is drawing opposition from a coalition of environmental groups.

Ten organizations, banding together under the rubric NYC and NJ Urban Tributaries Working Group, made public a 14-page letter last week specifying their concerns about the plan.

The group says the plan, which the Army Corps began developing in 2016, is too narrowly focused on storm surges and does not address rising sea levels.

“The proposed plan largely misses the mark at protecting our communities from many aspects of future storms and climate change,” the coalition letter said.

If the plan is approved by city, state and federal officials—a process that may take up to three years—construction on 12 primary sea gates protecting Lower Manhattan, Hoboken, Brooklyn and Coney Island would begin in 2030 and take up to 14 years to complete.

In the nearly seven years it has taken the Corps to complete the plan—Congress cut off funding for it in 2017, then restored the funds in the 2021 infrastructure bill—estimates of the sea-level rise NYC’s harbor will be dealing with in coming decades have risen dramatically.

According to the New York City Panel on Climate Change, the latest estimates project the sea level around NYC will rise by as much as 2.5 feet by 2050—and could rise by another 10 feet by the end of this century.

The Urban Tributaries group’s letter said the Army Corp plan relies too heavily on storm surge gates; the group said that gates planned for inland waterways will cause environmental damage by disrupting tidal flow, sediment and marine habitats.

The group also said the construction of gates in several highly polluted waterways that have been the focus of a 20-year cleanup effort will lead to new contamination and sewage overflows.

Three of the storm surge gates in the plan would be installed in the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek in Brooklyn and the Hackensack River in NJ—federally designated Superfund sites.

According to the coalition, building gates at the three sites would unearth toxic contamination, damage work completed during the Superfund projects and would interfere with city and state efforts to mitigate sewage overflows at the Newtown Creek wastewater treatment plant.

“We oppose the Corps’ single-threat approach to tackling a multifaceted flooding issue in a highly complex urban environment,” the coalition’s letter said.

The group includes the Bronx River Alliance, Coney Island Beautification Project, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Guardians of Flushing Bay, Hackensack Riverkeeper, Hutchinson River Restoration Project, Newtown Creek Alliance, Save the Sound, Coalition for Wetlands and Woodlands, and NY/NJ Baykeeper.