Wallops Replenishment Project Eyed

WALLOPS — NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility along the Virginia coast, just south of Assateague and Ocean City, is the latest coastal area severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 to get extensive beach replenishment with a project to begin later this month.

During the devastating Hurricane Sandy, and later Superstorm Sandy, coastal areas throughout the mid-Atlantic from Virginia to New York and beyond suffered significant flooding and beach erosion. The federal Army Corps of Engineers along with state and local partners have since been systematically repairing the damage with extensive beach replenishment projects.

Already, beach replenishment projects have been completed in New York, New Jersey and Delaware, including the neighboring Fenwick Island, Delaware State Park and Bethany Beach areas. In Maryland, beach replenishment was completed in late spring of this year just before the season with the emergency repairs folded into the normal four-year cycle.

One of the few remaining damaged coastal areas to get emergency beach repairs in the wake of Sandy is Wallops Island, where NASA maintains an active space launch program. Wallops took a beating during Sandy. The federal Army Corps of Engineers, along with NASA and the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) last fall provided a funding mechanism to repair the eroded shoreline at Wallops and the project is finally ready to begin next week.

Roughly one million cubic yards of sand will be pumped from a designated borrow area on the outer continental shelf onto the beaches at Wallops Island. The project will provide material to resort more than two miles of beach and dunes that protect some of NASA’s most critical launch assets on Wallops. In addition, the ecosystem restoration project will create new shorebird and sea turtle nesting habitat.

Dredging operations will take place at an offshore sand borrow area managed by BOEM about 14 miles east of Wallops Island. The Army Corps of Engineers, working closely with NASA, expects the project will take roughly two- to three months to complete.

“BOEM’s contribution of sand for this federal facility will help maintain the physical integrity of NASA’s valuable launch infrastructure at Wallops Island and improve resiliency against future storms,” said BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau. “This project is an example of the federal family working together on the ongoing response to Hurricane Sandy.”