Oregon Inlet Dredging Plan on the Table

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Wilmington District has received an application from Dare County seeking Department of the Army authorization to perform year-round maintenance dredging of the federal project within Oregon Inlet and associated connecting channels, located in the Town Nags Head, Dare County.

The 2,500-acre project near Nags Head includes the waters between the southern tip of Bodie Island and the northern portion of Pea Island, the ocean bar channel extending offshore and the connecting channels and waters on the Pamlico Sound side of the existing Bonner Bridge, according to a public notice from USACE.

Comments received from the public, agencies and officials, Indian Tribes and other interested parties will be considered by USACE to determine whether to issue, modify, condition or deny a permit for this proposal.

Maintenance dredging is currently performed by the Wilmington District dredge fleet and the county plans to operate under the 2004 Finding of No Significant Impact, or FONSI, to utilize the new dredge on a year-round basis at Oregon Inlet.

The annual volume of dredged material from the Oregon Inlet bar, as well as the connecting channels, is expected to be 900,000 and 1 million cubic yards. Nearshore disposal sites under this authorization would be the same as what is currently authorized by USACE.

The deadline for submitting the comments on this project is March 6, 2019.