BUXTON, N.C. (WAVY) — Hurricane Erin washed away a lot of the oceanfront at Hatteras Island, unleashing even more oil and structural pieces left behind by a decommissioned naval base.
For more than a year, local leaders and eventually the Army Corps of Engineers, have worked to remove this pollution from the past. But the swells from Erin made the already dynamic site even more challenging.
Pictures sent to 10 On Your Side by the Army Corps showed the mess left behind by the swells of Erin, and many chunks of asphalt were also a part of the mess. The Corps said they are containing oil contaminated soil newly exposed by the storm, but constant tidal flooding and a downed power line made this site hard to physically get to, as it changes daily.
“Every time you go to that site, due to the dynamic nature of the ocean and the shoreline, it is going to have changed,” said Dave Hallac with the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
A 100-foot asbestos pipe was revealed, but crews contained it and got it ready for disposal. They lost somewhere between 50 to 100 feet of their oceanfront to the hurricane waves, according to Hallac, and many pieces of infrastructure washed away and flowed into the southern part of the island.
The Army Corps is working on a second phase to this emergency response action to remove more petroleum-impacted soil and groundwater along the beach. They originally planned on doing comprehensive sampling at the entire site this fall. But now, they said this could be delayed, since the need for emergency removal keeps coming up. If sampling does get delayed, a spokesperson from the Army Corps said it would likely happen in December or January.
“It’s a very complicated place to work,” Hallac said. “It’s rapidly changing, but we’re working really well as a team with the Corps and we appreciate their efforts.”
Cape Hatteras National Seashore is taking public comment on potentially repairing the southernmost jetty directly south of the former naval base. A public meeting on the proposed project is set for next Wednesday.
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