For Fire Island, hard questions must be answered on beach erosion

Monday's storm provided yet another reminder of the precarious position of Fire Island residents who live next to the Atlantic Ocean. Once again, big waves of gray saltwater whipped by high winds raced up wooden stairways used by summer beachgoers — and eroded dunes carefully reconstructed by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in recent years. And that has inflamed the long debate over who should pay — and how often — for renovations doomed to eventually wash away.

The cost of Monday's damage seems anyone’s guess. The storm was the latest in a long series of Nor’easters, hurricanes and other tempests that have carved up Fire Island — and other parts of Long Island — over the decades. Superstorm Sandy alone cost $33 billion statewide in 2012 and forced Nassau and Suffolk county residents to spend an estimated $1.2 billion to rebuild their homes. Many millions more have been lost on so-called ‘no-name storms' that have also battered our fragile coastline. The beaches are arguably Long Island's greatest treasure. They are also a driver for much of Long Island's “blue economy” and, especially for Fire Island, the location of private homes. That creates problems when embattled residents look to government and taxpayers for solutions.

In recent years, the Army Corps has poured more than 2.3 million cubic yards of sand in Seaview, Fire Island Pines, Davis Park, Cherry Grove and other Fire Island communities. It’s part of the ongoing 83-mile, $2.1 billion Fire Island to Montauk Point project. Unfortunately but predictably, storms have ravaged the rehabbed beaches, prompting residents to ask for “emergency” repairs in the same areas where an estimated $200 million has already been spent. In October, the Corps said Fire Island didn’t qualify for emergency relief under existing rules. But earlier this month, the agency said it would reconsider the request, given the damage done to emergency vehicle routes along the beaches. Fire Islanders, meanwhile, have enlisted virtually every major New York politician representing their area in this fight.

That's not the way to resolve this problem. Hard questions must be asked and answered. Government policymakers have to look open-eyed at the huge costs involved with battling Mother Nature while trying to maintain our shorelines. Should taxpayers living miles from the waterfront be asked to repeatedly fund expensive projects that rehab beaches and, not incidentally, protect private homes? Should beachfront property owners be required to pay for their own protection or move away from endangered areas?

Now is the time to finally recognize the changing reality for Long Island’s shoreline and begin adapting to it. The answers won't be easy, but they will define our region for generations.