STOP THE WOLF BAY BRIDGE! ACT NOW!
On March 15, 2020, in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak, the City of Orange Beach applied for a U.S Army Corps of Engineers Permit to construct a “Transportation Corridor” in Josephine. This “corridor” would be a roadway connecting the proposed Wolf Bay Bridge landing at the eastern tip of Wolf Bay to CR 95 just above CR41 West.
This is NOT just a wetlands permit as it appears, but Orange Beach’s attempt to gain the needed Corps permit to build the roadways that would connect a bridge to CR95, even though no bridge has been permitted, at least not yet.
We MUST stop this Permit from being approved. The deadline for Public Comment is April 13, so we need every person to write the Corps of Engineers TODAY to protest this Project, demand that the Corps deny it until an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is completed and that a Public Hearing on this Project must be conducted.
Without going into extensive detail, an EIS takes into consideration not only the negative impact on wetlands, but includes the impact on every contributing factor the Project represents, including residents’ quality of life. This Permit only takes into account the effect on the wetlands (and not people), so the most important thing here is that we must demand that an EIS be done first, before any Permit is granted.
Do your part. It’s easy. Here’s how:
1. Send an email to the Corp’s Project Manager, Dylan Hendrix at dylan.c.hendrix@usace.army.mil and copy ADEM at coastal@adem.alabama.gov . You must us the following subject line: SAM-2017-00752-SBC
Keep the message simple, stating that you oppose the Transpiration Corridor, that you insist that an Environmental Impact Statement be completed and that a Public Hearing be held BEFORE the Permit is approved.
2. Make sure that EVERYONE knows about this back-door process which Orange Beach is using to try to build the bridge and the impact this project will have on our community. Call neighbors and friend and encourage EVERYONE to write. Numbers matter, and the more objections the Corps receives, the better our chances of stopping this needless project.
Thank you, and please, do this today, before it’s too late-literally.