Chapel Hill – The Southern Environmental Law Center and Audubon North Carolina have asked the federal Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to investigate whether or not the Bonner Bridge project, as laid out by yesterday’s review board decision, will violate federal law. Such a violation will undoubtedly delay the project’s ultimate completion.

“By ignoring the critical questions about what to do with the ever-eroding Highway 12 south of Oregon Inlet, state and federal agencies have punted on the most serious and important questions surrounding Bonner Bridge’s replacement. Not surprisingly, because the law requires that the agencies address these issues, their tactic is likely to delay the ultimate completion of the entire project” said Amy Pickle, attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The agreement at yesterday’s meeting to move forward with the plan to build a short bridge next to the existing Bonner Bridge – Phase one of DOT’s plan – avoided answering if, how, and when other phases of the project would be carried out. In order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, those phases must include a more reliable transportation alternative than the existing Highway 12.

Noting that such alternatives are “problematic,” the agencies would not commit to their ability to grant permits for any future phases, and in fact, were not even able to identify what future phases would include.

“It is clearly impractical and illogical to pretend that the bridge and the connecting road are separate issues,” said Chris Canfield, executive director of Audubon North Carolina. “This approach tries to pass on problems in a piecemeal fashion to future decision-makers.”

The National Environmental Policy Act requires that the replacement of Bonner Bridge fulfill a stated purpose and need to provide continued daily and emergency access from Bodie to Hatteras Island and to improve the reliability of Highway 12 in light of future shoreline movement.

In a stunning admission, the four agencies that made up the state and federal review board concluded that the replacement of Bonner Bridge with a short bridge built parallel to the existing bridge will not provide the reliable daily and emergency access that it must in order to meet the project’s stated purpose and need, as required by NEPA.

“If they’ve already conceded that the short bridge by itself will not meet the needs of the project, and no one knows what subsequent phases of the project will look like, what they will cost or when they will be completed, how can yesterday’s decision result in anything but further delay? We are hopeful that CEQ can prevent this train wreck and get the process back on track,” said Pickle.

CEQ, an independent agency that is charged with implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, has the power to monitor a project for its NEPA compliance and to ultimately stop projects that violate the federal law.

A repair project is expected to start this fall that will guarantee the safety of Bonner Bridge for the next 10 years while a replacement bridge is designed and constructed.

Audubon North Carolina is the state office of the National Audubon Society, representing 9 chapters and 10,000 members in the state. Audubon focuses on conserving birds, other wildlife and the habitats we share with them through science, education and collaborative approaches to sound conservation policies.