NASA Seeks Permit for Major Wallops Island Shoreline Restoration Project

NASA is seeking federal authorization for a major beach restoration project designed to protect government and commercial spaceflight facilities on Wallops Island from storms and shoreline erosion.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Norfolk District announced Monday that it is reviewing NASA’s application for permits under the Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act. The proposed work would affect approximately 15,000 feet, or nearly three miles, of Atlantic Ocean shoreline at the Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County.

According to the application, the project is intended to reduce the risk of damage to facilities operated by NASA, the U.S. Navy and the Virginia Spaceport Authority’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, commonly known as MARS.

The proposal would authorize NASA to dredge as much as 2.5 million cubic yards of sand from an unnamed offshore shoal. The sand would be pumped through a temporary hydraulic pipeline and placed along the Wallops Island shoreline using mechanical equipment.

NASA is also seeking authorization to construct as many as four new breakwaters in the nearshore area between existing breakwaters. The structures would be designed to reduce wave energy and help retain the restored beach.

No environmental mitigation is proposed because NASA considers the work a restoration project. The agency has begun or completed consultations with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service concerning historic properties, protected species and essential fish habitat.

NASA would be required to implement any protective measures identified through those consultations. Water-quality certification from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality may also be required before a federal permit can be issued.

The project is not near a federal navigation channel, according to the Army Corps.

The permit has not been approved. The Corps said the information in the public notice was supplied by NASA and has not yet been fully evaluated for compliance with federal regulatory requirements.

Before deciding whether to issue, modify, condition or deny the permit, the Corps will consider the project’s potential effects on water quality, fish and wildlife, historic resources, navigation, shoreline erosion, recreation, flooding and other public-interest factors.

The public may also request a hearing, but requests must explain specifically why a hearing is warranted.

Written comments will be accepted through September 2. Comments may be submitted through the Army Corps’ Regulatory Request System or mailed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, 803 Front Street, Norfolk, Virginia 23510-1011.