Equipment pulled from LI for project near Mar-a-Lago returns

A dredge transferred earlier this year from Long Island to a non-emergency project near President Donald Trump’s Florida resort has returned to the South Shore and resumed repairs on beaches damaged by superstorm Sandy in 2012, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday 

A second dredge that had been transferred to the project near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort will return to Long Island on Friday, Schumer (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference in Manhattan.

“We are glad the dredge is back,” the Senate minority leader said. “It never should have been diverted for a non-emergency project in the first place.” 

The Army Corps of Engineers said its contractor, Weeks Marine, will complete work in Point O’ Woods and Ocean Bay Park on Fire Island, part of the Fire Island to Moriches Inlet Stabilization Project (FIMI), as scheduled by June 19. 

“We will finish dredging and sand placement at Fire Island this June and then proceed to Monmouth County, N.J., to complete remaining contracted work there.” said Col. Thomas D. Asbery, commander of the corps’ New York District.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), whose district includes the Fire Island communities hard hit by Sandy, applauded the Army Corps for resuming the work. 

“I look forward to the Army Corps completing yet another important victory for Long Islanders, finishing the Fire Island to Moriches Inlet Stabilization Project by the previously contracted date.” 

The Trump Organization did not return requests for comment.

A Schumer spokesman, Angelo Roefaro, said the senator is  “hopeful” that the Long Island work will be completed by June 19. “Those ships should never have left Long Island in the first place,” Roefaro added. 

Schumer criticized the Army Corps in February after the dredges and their crews were pulled from Long Island to work on a project near Trump’s resort. 

“The South Shore of Long Island and the communities on Fire Island still deal with the daily threat that the occurrence of another extreme weather event similar to the scale of Sandy could bring catastrophic levels of devastation,” Schumer wrote in a Feb. 23 letter sent to Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding officer of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Schumer said Sunday that he and other local officials made “a big stink” after the dredges were transferred because the work they were doing on Fire Island needs to be completed before hurricane season.