United States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 April 12, 2019 Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite Commanding General and Chief of Engineers U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 441 G Street NW Washington, DC 20314-1000 Dear {tenant General Semonite: We write today in regard to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Army Corps) Cheesequake Creek Federal navigation channel located in Middlesex County, New Jersey. As Congress begins work on the FY2020 Energy and Water Appropriations bills, we write to request that the Army Corps include funding for the maintenance dredging of the Cheesequake Creek Federal navigation channel when drafting the FY2020 Work Plan. We hope you will give full and fair consideration to this request, Cheesequake Creek, a shallow-draft recreational channel, sits between two rock jetties and serves as an inlet from the Raritan Bay for hundreds of recreational vessels that utilize the five public marinas on the creek. In recent years, shoaling of the Cheesequake Creek has dramatically increased, impacting navigation, safety, and overall usage of the channel. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy had a significant impact on the depth of the creek moving large amounts of sediment over six years ago, Some reports have indicated that depending on the tide, some areas of the channel may have less than a foot of depth making navigation next to impossible. A number of vessels have run aground in recent years causing damage and requiring vessel operators to wait in some instances for hours for the tide to come in. In some sections of the channel, about half of the inlet is navigable causing outbound and inbound maritime traffic to share the same space and therefore impacting safety. It our understanding that the Cheesequake Creek was authorized in 1880 to a depth of five feet below mean low water and was last maintained by the Army Corps in 1948, In 1989, the State of New Jersey conducted maintenance dredging, but no maintenance has been completed in the last 30 years. The Army Corps estimates that there are currently between 6,000 and 6,500 cubic- feet of Sediment required to be dredged to meet that authorized depth Community support for this project is evident, We believe the dredging of the creek will not only increase recreation on the federal channel, but help to bring more business to the region and help to grow the local economy. Most importantly, the project will address significant safety concerns that currently exist for the hundreds of boaters that use the creek, ensuring recreation opportunities for generations to come.We appreciate your consideration of this request. We welcome the opportunity to discuss this possibility further. Please fecl free to contact any of our offices should you have any questions. : Sok Ab. J. Frank Pallone Member of Congress Sincerely, Cory A. Booker Robert Mengndez United States Senator United Stat ce: Maj. Gen, Jeffrey Milhorn, Commander, North Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Thomas Asbery, Commander, New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers