Tangier Island may receive $25 million to help save its shorelines.

A long-awaited, large-scale fix could soon move tons of earth to help save Virginia’s Tangier Island from disappearing beneath the Chesapeake Bay.

But Congress will have to move first.

The latest version of the U.S. Senate’s 2023 appropriations bill includes $25 million for a project that would repurpose dredge spoil into earthen barriers along Tangier’s shoreline. Officials say the aim is to shield the island’s most vulnerable spots from further erosion, a longstanding problem exacerbated by sea level rise.

“It’s very, very early in the process,” said Greggory Williams, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official based in Norfolk. “It’s very conceptual at this point.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, visited the island Aug. 31 to tout the home-state funding proposal. He acknowledged that several hurdles remain for the bill, including passing the full Senate vote and then getting rolled into the House’s appropriations package. But he is optimistic.

“The good news is we finally have a way in the budget to get not just a little bit [of money] but a lot,” he told a group of about a dozen Tangier residents gathered under an awning next to an ice cream shop on the island. . .

If the project goes forward, sand and muck would be hauled from the Cape Henry Channel at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Williams said. The Army Corps dredges the channel regularly to maintain navigation for large vessels bound for the ports of Baltimore and Virginia.

Where that dredged material would be placed is far from decided, but officials point toward two leading candidates. One is on the eastern side of Tangier, where the land has crept so far inward that residents say saltwater routinely sprays onto homes. The other is along the northwest side of a marshy island, just north of Tangier, that is splitting in two.

“Essentially, you’re trying to reduce the energy of the waves coming in,” Williams said.'>>>

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