DESCRIPTION: This coastal storm risk management study (CSRM) covers the New York & New Jersey Harbor and tidally affected tributaries encompassing all of New York City, the Hudson River to Troy, NY; the lower Passaic, Hackensack, Rahway, and Raritan Rivers; and the Upper and Lower Bays of New York Harbor, Newark, Jamaica, Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays; the Kill Van Kull, Arthur Kill and East River tidal straits; and western Long Island Sound. This focus 
area feasibility study is one of nine that the USACE North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS) Report, issued January 2015, identified for further study. This study is authorized by Public Law 84-71, June 15, 1955 (69 Stat. 132) which directs the examination of damages in coastal and tidal areas due to coastal storms such as hurricanes “and of possible means of preventing loss of human lives and damages to property, with due consideration of the economics of proposed breakwaters, seawalls, dikes, dams, and other structures, warning services, or other measures which might be required.”
The New York & New Jersey Harbor region was severely impacted from Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. While several specific studies and projects by USACE, other federal agencies as well as state and local agencies have subsequently been performed or initiated within the study area following Hurricane Sandy, the broader New York & New Jersey Harbor and tributary region lacks a comprehensive plan for managing future potential coastal storm risks facing the region, including those from predicted sea level and extreme weather events. This study’s goal is to develop such a plan from the federal perspective and in a systems context.
STATUS: The study’s feasibility cost-sharing agreement (FCSA) was executed with the States of New York and New Jersey, represented by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, on July 15, 2016. In addition to these two non-federal study sponsors, several other agency stakeholders, including New York City, are partnered with the study.
USACE has scoped the study in coordination with the non-federal partners and other regional agency stakeholders resulting in a working study estimate of $19.4M and six years to complete the study with the issuance of a Chief of Engineer’s Report. This study cost and schedule was given an interim exemption from the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) on October 31, 2018.
The initial focused array of alternatives have been formulated ranging from harbor-wide coastal storm risk management methods to land-based, perimeter CSRM methods, with three alternatives between. All alternatives are anticipated to also include complementary non-structural measures and natural and nature based features as appropriate. To be conservative, all other ongoing studies and projects by USACE and other agencies that can reasonably be expected to be implemented by 2020 are assumed to be in place as part of this study’s assumed future “without project” condition. Using USACE work plan and non-federal sponsor contributed funds, the study released an Interim Report on February 19, 2019 which identified the preliminary economic, environmental, engineering and other studies performed to date of these alternatives. Nine public meetings were held throughout the study area from March 2019 to November 2019 to present this report's findings.
The Interim Report indicated that substantial coastal storm risk remains in vast regions of the study area even with the other planned efforts assumed to be in place. Further studies are now underway to proceed to identify the Tentatively Selected Plan to be documented in the Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement, using Corps work plan and non-federal sponsor contributed funding. The TSP will identify which suite of CSRM measures appear to best manage coastal flood risks that remain in the region from the federal perspective, consistent with USACE planning guidance.