Jones Calls On CEQ To Keep It’s Commitment On Oregon Inlet
“The safety, property and livelihoods of thousands of North Carolina fishermen and boaters are at stake.”
Washington, D.C.- Third District Representative Walter B. Jones today called on the White House Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) to keep its commitment to maintain safe passage through Oregon Inlet. In a letter to CEQ Chairman Jim Connaughton, Congressman Jones urged the Chairman to ensure that the President’s upcoming budget will provide sufficient funding to keep the inlet dredged to its authorized depth year round and to maintain the channel markers in their correct positions.
“Commitments made to Eastern North Carolinians ought to be fulfilled before taxpayers are asked to fund costly new initiatives that will do little to improve their daily lives,” Congressman Jones said today.
The text of the letter appears below.
Dear Chairman Connaughton:
With the release of the President’s Fiscal Year 2005 budget coming soon, I’d like to remind you of the commitment you made to the people of Eastern North Carolina with regards to Oregon Inlet. When the Council on Environmental Quality released its decision to kill the jetty project on May 1, 2003, it also quoted you as saying:
“Although we are not moving forward with this project, we are committed to working with the local community to improve navigation of the channel. We will continue to work with their elected leaders on other actions that can be taken toward those goals.”
This statement is similar to commitments you gave to Senator Dole and me at that time. However, since then, navigation conditions at Oregon Inlet have been anything but improved. In fact, they have deteriorated dramatically. From late November to early December of 2003, at least 8 vessels ran aground as parts of the 14-foot channel shoaled up to only 2 feet.
As I communicated to you last May, without jetties, these unsafe conditions will be the norm unless the administration commits sufficient resources to keep the inlet dredged to its authorized depth year round and to maintain the channel markers in their correct positions. Therefore, I urge you to uphold the administration’s commitments by ensuring these activities are adequately funded in the President’s FY05 budget. The safety, property and livelihoods of thousands of North Carolina fishermen and boaters are at stake.