Hudson River, on the left is New Jersey and on the right is Manhattan, New York. Photo Attribution: My Beyond My Ken - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53325701

 Press Release Submitted to: The Hudson Reporter

In June 2017 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) sought comments from the public on their final Environmental Impact Statement for a preferred alternative to address storm surge and rainfall flooding near Hoboken. Adequate funds are not available to construct defenses against both sources of flooding and NJDEP phased the project to construct storm surge defenses immediately then address rainfall flooding as funds became available over about a 50-year period. Ken Rood, M.S., Senior Reviewer with Environmental Review, Inc. provided comments on July 17 suggesting that the phasing should address rainfall flooding first. Rainfall flooding occurs every five to ten years but storm surge flooding is infrequent and may not occur during the 50-year period needed to acquire funds for the second phase. Tom Price, Director of Environmental Review, Inc. said: “Apparently the Hudson River Project lacked strategic planning which should have identified rainfall flooding as the highest priority for allocation of resources.” For a full version of the comments provided by Environmental Review, Inc. click the link  http://www.envreview.org/index.php/new-jersey/143-rebuild-by-design-hudson-river-project-feis-3