Posted on February 18, 2026
Touring some of the Jersey Shore’s most eroded beaches last week, a senior U.S. Army Corps official said the federal government is preparing to provide “tens of millions of dollars” for rapid emergency repairs before summer crowds return.
Adam Telle, the assistant secretary of the U.S. Army’s Civil Works Division, toured beaches in Ocean City, Upper Township, Avalon and North Wildwood on Feb. 13, with U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist.
“We’re going to bring money into the district for beach nourishment, for these emergency areas, for the worst areas of erosion,” Van Drew said in Ocean City, the first stop on a day-long tour with Telle.
Any emergency work would be reassuring for Ocean City, Upper Township’s Strathmere section and Sea Isle City.
The proposal calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize beaches in Cape May County that were damaged the worst by coastal storms.
Sand loss accelerated last August during Hurricane Erin, which caused strong waves that carved out gaps at the shore. In October, two more storms, including a nor’easter, worsened the erosion.
“We’re optimistic that we can have the resources made available within a matter of a month or two, and the actual work and mobilization begins shortly thereafter,” Telle said.
The proposal would not require legislation to be passed by Congress, Van Drew said.
Officials in Upper Township, Ocean City and Cape May have recently declared local states of emergency over their battered coastline, suggesting that New Jersey seek money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for short-term solutions.
Van Drew said he believes the shore can be repaired without the Sherrill administration requesting funding from FEMA. The governor’s office was reached for comment but did not immediately provide a statement on the announcement.
Upper Township’s Strathmere section, an oceanfront neighborhood, endured ample sand and dune damage in the past months, prompting local officials to lobby for funding in Washington.
Workers assess beach and dune erosion in Strathmere, Upper Township, New Jersey, on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, after a second powerful storm in about two weeks battered the coastal community.
Township Mayor Curtis Corson, who has been one of the loudest voices for beach replenishment at the Jersey Shore, said his meeting with Telle and Van Drew on Wednesday was “positive.”
“I do think he understood where I was coming from, and I was very receptive,” Corson said in a phone call with NJ.com.
Separately on Wednesday, Van Drew and U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) announced a plan to permanently secure beach repair funding through the Coastal Trust Fund Act, which would designate $1 billion annually in the federal budget.
Under the legislation, the fund would draw primarily from federal revenue generated by offshore drilling. The federal government collects revenue from leases it awards to energy companies to drill mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has renamed the Gulf of America.
As of April 2025, the latest data, the U.S. has 2,227 leases, spanning 12.1 million acres, for energy companies’ use of its oceans, according to the Bureau of Ocean Management.
