(This is a transcript of the remarks of Warren Judge, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, at the Sept. 4 board meeting.)

The update on the Oregon Inlet Bridge has been an agenda item at every meeting of the Dare County Board of Commissioners since 2002.  This has been the case because this board, as well as past boards, recognizes the urgency of the need for the replacement bridge as it is a clear and present threat to the lives, safety, and welfare of every child, parent, grandparent, friend, neighbor, visitor who lives, works, attends school, or visits Hatteras Island.

I would like to thank (state) Sen. Marc Basnight (D-Dare) for his efforts over the last several decades in trying to secure the replacement for the Bonner Bridge -- more specifically for his efforts over the last two years as this project has been mired down in the bureaucratic mud of governments.  I also wish to thank (U.S.) Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) for his efforts for more than a year now in doing everything possible to bring a successful conclusion to the need for a replacement for the Bonner Bridge.  I would like to thank (U.S.) Sen. (Elizabeth) Dole and Congressman (Walter) Jones, who respond to our calls and visits with their support and continue to fight for what is right for the safety and welfare of all who live work, attend school, and travel to Hatteras Island.  I would like to thank Lt. Gov. Beverly Purdue, who on Aug. 19 said, “We must replace the Oregon Inlet Bridge.  It is no less important then an interchange or freeway around the Triangle.” Finally, I would like to thank all of the Dare County residents who have worked on this project tirelessly to bring this issue to the forefront of the public’s attention and to the attention of our elected leaders from Raleigh and the governor’s mansion to Washington, D.C., Congress, and the White House.

There was a brief period of excitement and relief when news reached us Monday, Aug. 27, in the early evening that four agency representatives meeting that day as the dispute resolution board for the Bonner Bridge replacement project concurred that the phased approach/short bridge alternative is the least environmentally damaging practical alternative (LEDPA), and that Phase I of the project should be to construct a short parallel replacement structure adjacent to the existing Bonner Bridge as soon as possible.

However, fewer than 24 hours later, we received the news that 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 the review board decision meets the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.

I would like to direct several comments to the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Audubon North Carolina.  How dare you sit in your homes and offices in Chapel Hill, N. C., and dictate an issue of health and safety for the residents of Hatteras Island and Dare County?  How dare you put the lives, safety, health and welfare of our men, women, and children who live and work here and travel across the Bonner Bridge to Hatteras Island in risk every minute of every hour of every day until this bridge is replaced?  How dare you oppose a replacement project, when (Department of the Interior) Secretary Kempthorne has said, “A delay could constitute a clear and present safety issue for all concerned”?  You advocate more study and delay for a project that is 16 years overdue. We have had children enter kindergarten and graduate from colleges and universities during this same period of time. 

 Why does this matter so much to you?  It certainly cannot be about the environment.  Last year when hundreds of geese were killed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, on Pea Island, where were you?  No where.  We heard no protests. There were no calls to stop the murder of these innocent geese. There were no calls for a “study,” and there was no letter written to the Council on Environmental Quality.  It is time for the Southern Environmental Law Center and Audubon North Carolina to stop the obstruction of a life-safety issue for the people of Dare County, North Carolina, and the United States of America. 

One last question:  Are your organizations so arrogant that you feel you can bully your way with the Council on Environmental Quality?  I would argue that you have enough lawyers on your staff that you know that the Council Environmental Quality resolves disputes between federal agencies.  What is your standing as a federal agency to request such action? Aren’t you really just trying to delay the bridge replacement and endanger the lives of hundreds, thousands, millions of people?

On Thursday of this past week, there was an editorial in the (Raleigh) News & Observer.  We do not know the author of the editorial.  This writer calls the Bonner Bridge a “bridge to nowhere.”  Well, I would like to take this writer on and tell him about the Bonner Bridge.  Notwithstanding the fact that the writer knows nothing about North Carolina geography, and obviously does not have access to or can not read a map, but the Bonner Bridge is not a bridge to “nowhere.” 

The Bonner Bridge is a bridge to the Cape Hatteras National Recreational Seashore Park. It is a bridge to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.  It is a bridge to the villages of Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras. It is a bridge to the most “goodliest land under the Cope of Heaven.” It is a bridge to birdwatching, sea shelling, fishing, beach walking, surfing, windsurfing, kite surfing, Hollywood film locations. It is a bridge to America’s lighthouse and to the history and families that go back over 300 years and with families that still live and work on this island.  It is a bridge that takes people to work in the morning and home to their families at night.  It is a bridge that was built to connect us, not divide us.  How ironic that bridges are meant to connect, yet there are those in this great country of ours that want to use the bridge to divide us. The Bonner Bridge is a bridge to America’s beaches and the best beach in America.  The Bonner Bridge is a bridge to; it is certainly not a bridge to nowhere. 

To those of you who argue not to build the parallel bridge for fear that sometime in the future there may be a problem with Highway 12, I would like to ask the following question.  There is no greater threat of ocean overwash than north Rodanthe, yet this is where the 17-plus mile bridge will have its terminus.   Why would you propose a bridge to end in the same area that you argue is a reason not to build the parallel bridge?  Folks, I will answer that question for them.  They do not care.  These people want to delay the process.  Everyday that goes by and the bridge is not under construction, these organizations and agencies claim a victory.  Everyday that your children, wife or husband, loved one or friend is kept in ever present danger to their lives, health, and welfare, these organizations and agencies claim a victory.

There are those who argue over the expense of maintaining and repairing Highway 12 on Hatteras Island.  I ask you to investigate what the state of North Carolina spends on other weather-related problems around the state.  Let’s look at the ice storms that gripped and immobilized Raleigh and the triangle several years ago.  Have any of you investigated that expense?  Furthermore, why did you not practice your position of retreat and let nature take its course?  Why not ask the state and NCDOT to let the weather warm up and melt the ice -- no need to put down caustic damaging chemicals, which will poison our streams with contaminated water runoff.  Why remove fallen trees from the roadway? Let nature naturally decay those trees, and several decades from now, the wind will have blown away the final remains of the decaying tree. 

The tragedy that happened last month in Minneapolis is unforgettable, and we offer our most sincere sympathy and prayers to all those who suffered the death of loved ones, family, and friends.  And we wish a successful recovery to those injured.  We also want to praise and thank all the hundreds of emergency rescue personnel who put their lives in danger to save others in the aftermath of this bridge collapse. 

The images of this tragedy haunt me everyday.  I ask all of you here today and all of you who will watch this meeting, “Are you not haunted by the images of tangled steel and concrete incasing vehicles?  Are you not haunted by the images of cars and trucks that were crushed under the weight of the falling bridge materials?  Are you not haunted thinking about the panic of the people in those vehicles, first trying to survive the fall, then the falling debris, and then the water of the river?  Are you not haunted by the image of that school bus, carrying our most precious children, wedged between debris and a burning truck?”  What a horror.

I do not mean to upset any of you, but just for a moment image a tragedy such as that on the Bonner Bridge.  Now imagine that if you survive the fall, you survive falling debris. You survive escaping from your vehicle, you fight and survive the currents of the inlet and somehow get to shore, with the injuries you have suffered.  If you reach the shore on Pea Island, you will have to be flown off, as there would be no bridge for emergency services to take you out by vehicle.  Everyone will have to wait on helicopters. 

The time is now to act.  We would like to ask any and all agencies and organizations that have issues to sit down and be a part of the solution and quit being a part of the problem.  We are not asking you to sit down to study and stall the project any longer.  We are asking you to sit down and work with NCDOT and together make plans to repair anything that is hurt or damaged in the process.  We ask that everyone join together and protect the lives, health, and safety of our men, women, and children.  Let’s be builders and not obstructionists.  

To the people of Dare County, to the people of North Carolina, to people of America, we need your help.  We need you to start calling, faxing, and emailing your Congressmen and Congresswomen and your Senators.  Remember the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States begins, “We the people.”  It is going to take all of us working together for what is right.  We the people who care about the life, safety, and welfare of millions of people who use the bridge every year: We the people who have endured the agony and frustration of delay after delay. We the people who have watch our government agencies, and more particularly non-governmental agencies, recklessly delay a project creating a clear and present safety issue for all concern: We the people who have been victimized by organizations and agencies, as they discriminately choose to stall some projects but not others.  We the people must stand up and be heard. We must say enough is enough. The time to act is now.  REPLACE THE BRIDGE NOW.
 
To my colleagues on the Board I would like to propose the following. 

In closing, to our elected representatives in Washington, D.C., please join together and enact legislation authorizing NCDOT to construct the bridge alternative selected by the Dispute Resolution Board as the LEDPA.  To all governmental, regulatory, and permitting agencies, stop the bureaucratic delay, stop endangering our lives any longer and work with NCDOT to construct the bridge. And to all the other organizations that choose to stall and delay this project, stop it! You have had 16 years.  It is now time that our men, women, and children who travel to and visit Hatteras Island rest in the comfort that help is on the way. 

Today we call on all of us who live and call Dare County home and all our friends and visitors to Dare County to join us to tell all those in charge and in the way that we will not accept anything less than the immediate commitment to construct the replacement alternative choice of the Dispute Resolution Board.

We can argue about cost, location, sand and ocean overwash.  We can argue about location of the roadbed, pollutants, what might happen 10 years, 20 years, and 50 years from now.  But all of that is nothing compared to one human life or one human injury. Whether you live in Hatteras village or Duck, whether you live in Frisco and Buxton, or Stumpy Point or East Lake, Manns Harbor, Wanchese, Manteo, or Roanoke Island, whether you live in Avon or Colington, or Rodanthe, Waves or Salvo or Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, or Nags Head, it is now time for all of us to speak with one voice.  Support or hard working elected leaders in Washington, D.C., and tell those who are working to delay and obstruct the construction of a replacement bridge to STOP IT.

Thank you all for listening and thank you for the effort you will extend in the days ahead as we seek protection for the lives of all who travel this bridge.

Check out Warren Judge's comments on YouTube
 
The statement that Wareen Judge, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, made at the Sept. 4 meeting about the Bonner Bridge quagmire  is now available on video at YouTube.   It is in two parts because of  YouTube limits.  The video was taken by Bob Boyer of Frisco.
Check it out at:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIYW0jbOK-I
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3-SDlVQAjk