Shore towns get no federal dollars for beach replenishments for the first time in almost 30 years

Congress typically allocates between $100 million and $200 million each year for beach replenishment initiatives — projects that dredge sand from the ocean floor or other places and deposit it onto U.S. coastal beaches to combat erosion.

This year, however, the federal budget earmarked zero dollars — marking the first complete funding halt for such projects since 1996.

And it’s possible that zero might carry over into next year as Congress debates spending priorities.

Already, two beach projects scheduled for the Jersey Shore in 2025, as well as projects in Maryland and Delaware, were canceled for lack of funding.

“This is the first time in 29 years this has happened,” said Scott Wahl, the business administrator for Avalon.

“That means that Avalon will not get a hydraulic fill,” said Wahl, referring to the process using large pipes to pump excavated sand from the ocean to nearby beaches. “You’re looking at tens of millions of dollars.”

The Philadelphia office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for managing the projects in the Shore towns visited most heavily by Philadelphians and South Jersey.

Steve Rochette, an Army Corps spokesperson, said the Philadelphia district had two projects eligible for funding in 2025 for “periodic nourishment” — Avalon and Stone Harbor, and the north end of Ocean City. (Both were last nourished in 2023.)

Ocean City, Md., was scheduled for a project in 2025, but received no funding, according to a list provided by the nonprofit American Coastal Coalition. Bethany, Rehoboth, and Dewey Beaches were also scheduled, but received no money.

In 2026, Rochette said, other New Jersey projects are eligible for funding as the budget is being formed for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Those projects included one in Cape May, and a single project that includes work in Ocean City, Sea Isle City, and Strathmere.

Communities in Maryland and Delaware are also scheduled for beach replenishments in 2026.

» READ MORE: How much sand has been brought in to battle erosion on New Jersey beaches? Enough to fill 62,000 Olympic swimming pools.

Rochette said the Army Corps continues to monitor and survey beaches in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, whose districts represents southern New Jersey Shore towns, said he is advocating for renewed beach funding in 2026.

“At the same time, we are looking to make beach replenishment more sustainable,” said Van Drew, a Republican. “We are working on solutions to reduce the cost of replenishment and mitigate erosion.”

Van Drew does not sit on the House Appropriations Committee, which determines federal spending.

The Army Corps is about halfway through a 50-year schedule of beach replenishment projects.

Typically, towns, states, and federal government partner to pay for beach replenishment projects. The Army Corps uses a formula to determine how much each must pay.

But the federal government pays the overwhelming share.

For example, the Army Corps paid Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company of Oak Brook, Ill., nearly $29 million in 2023 for the last dune and beach fill project in Avalon and Stone Harbor.

The company dredged sand from Townsends Inlet in southern Sea Isle City, pumped it through pipes, and graded it onto engineered dunes and berms designed to protect the beaches from coastal storms. About 231,000 cubic yards of sand was placed in Avalon, and 464,000 cubic yards in Stone Harbor, effectively widening beaches between the base of the dunes and the water line.

A similar project scheduled for this year won’t happen. The cuts are already having an impact as erosion continues unabated.

This year, without federal help, Avalon scraped 39,000 cubic yards of sand with heavy equipment at its own expense from the middle part of town where it tends to collect after storms. It trucked the sand to the north end, said Wahl, the Avalon administrator.

Wahl said Avalon is lucky that it can sometimes tap its own beach. Other towns, he said, don’t have enough beach, or sand.

Wahl said individual towns and the state can’t afford to tackle big beach replenishment projects. Without federal help, they won’t get done, he said.

Wahl and other Shore town officials know that beach replenishments are often criticized as taxpayer-funded gifts to wealthy communities. But he said the towns have a big economic impact on the state and so the beaches need protection.

New Jersey does not break out tax revenue by region, but the Shore is a top generator.

In 2024, visitors spent a record $50.6 billion in New Jersey, producing $5.4 billion in state and local tax revenues, reducing the tax burden by $1,545 per household in New Jersey, according to the state’s Division of Travel and Tourism.

“We look at the beach not as an expense, but rather as an investment that pays rich dividends for resiliency, recreation, and fuels the economic engine on both the state and federal levels,” Wahl said.

He said that keeping New Jersey’s barrier islands from eroding is important environmentally. About one-third of Avalon’s beaches are protected nesting areas for shorebirds and migrating birds.

Dan Ginolfi, executive director of the American Coastal Coalition, an advocacy group for beach communities, said Army Corps funding is vital because it has experts to determine where sand should be placed, design the projects, bid for contractors, and manage operations.

Ginolfi said that cutting funds can create problems down the road.

For example, advocates are currently pushing for funding in 2026 for projects that didn’t get done in 2025. But those projects could have to compete against each other for limited money and time.

Beach replenishments typically take place over winter and are timed for environmental reasons, such as bird migrations. So they are spaced accordingly.

But there are only a small number of dredging companies capable of doing the work and they are mostly booked. Projects need to be scheduled not to bump into each other.

“If we can’t get those projects done in a certain amount of time,” Ginolfi said, “it increases the demand on the dredgers. The cost of dredging is already sky-high, and that just snowballs to where beach nourishment gets very, very expensive.”

The American Coastal Coalition sent a letter in June to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R., Tenn.), chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, asking for at least $200 million for Army Corps’ beach projects.

“It’s just too expensive for any state or locality to carry on these projects on their own,” Howard Marlowe, the coalition’s founder, told The Inquirer. “New Jersey could afford to do one or two projects on its own, but it can’t afford to do all the ones that need to be done.”