U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe today introduced legislation to support the restoration effort at Camp Ellis Beach in Saco.
The Camp Ellis Beach Restoration Act would authorize $25 million in federal funding in order to ensure that the Army Corps of Engineers will have the funds necessary to fully protect the residents and beachfront at Camp Ellis.
“The safety and well-being of the people of Camp Ellis and Saco depend on successful action by the Army Corps of Engineers,” said Senator Collins. “We must take into account that the problem was caused by the federal government and the Army Corps through the construction of a jetty that has caused devastating erosion to the shoreline.”
“The shore residents of Camp Ellis are in eminent danger of losing their homes and time is not on our side,” Senator Snowe said. “We must take immediate steps to reverse the devastating erosion caused by an Army Corps of Engineers project by ensuring the Army Corps has the resources it needs to save the shoreline and beachfront homes from further destruction.”
More than 100 years ago, the Army Corps built a jetty extending out from the Saco River, adjacent to Camp Ellis Beach. An Army Corps study confirmed that this jetty has altered the pattern of currents and sand deposition and is the primary cause of the devastating erosion of Camp Ellis. Erosion at Camp Ellis has caused around 36 houses to wash into the sea in the last century. Houses that are now in danger were once six or more houses back from the oceanfront. The 1998 shoreline had receded 400 feet from where the shoreline stood in 1908.
Wave-modeling studies have indicated that the construction of an offshore breakwater, a spur coming off the jetty, or both, are likely needed to protect the shoreline from further erosion and destruction of property.
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