Funding for Hampton Harbor Dredging Could Come in 2019

Funding to dredge Hampton Harbor could come in 2019, a top Army Corps of Engineers official told U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in an appropriations hearing Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, chief of engineers and commanding general of the corps, said approximately $275,000 for designs for the harbor’s dredging could be secured this year. Approximately $4 million needed for the harbor’s dredging could then be placed into the Corps’ 2019 work plan, he said in a hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Shaheen, D-N.H., testified that the harbor’s recent shoaling had made water so shallow in parts that boats now struggle to go in and out. The harbor was last dredged in 2013, but she said a report from the corps shows some areas of the harbor are less than a foot deep. “There is a probability that, if we do nothing, this harbor is going to be come unusable in the very near future, maybe even in the next year,” she said.

Shaheen said despite being smaller than other harbors for which project funding is sought, the harbor is critical to New Hampshire’s coastal economy. The harbor currently supports 25 party-fishing boats, numerous lobster and commercial fishing boats and approximately 1,500 recreational vessels.

“What can be done to address the small harbors like we have in New Hampshire, that we have across the country, that don’t rank as high on the priority list as some of the bigger harbors but are absolutely essential to the economies of our states?” Shaheen asked.

R.D. James, assistant secretary at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, said smaller harbors find difficulty in acquiring funding because they often do not meet certain requirements like a tonnage minimum for transported goods. However, he said funding mechanisms do exist for lower-use harbors like the Hampton Harbor.

“It’s tough to reach into the budget to get the funding because of the requirements in the budget,” James said.

Harbor business owners and fishermen have said shoaling has caused sand to pile high enough to prevent boats from exiting and entering the harbor at low tides. Those who run trips for tourists on vessels like party boats and whale watches said their boats were stuck in the mud during some low tides, trapping them at the dock and frustrating customers.

Source: SeaCoastOnline