Congress appears poised to provide $45 million to address erosion problems that have plagued the Camp Ellis community for years, members of the Maine congressional delegation said Wednesday.

Residents of Camp Ellis have been requesting help to address the erosion that floods the community and damages homes regularly during storms. At least 38 homes have been washed away over the years.

The $45 million is included in the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House and Senate are expected to vote on this week. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins pushed to get the funding into the defense bill.

If the bill is approved, the relief funds will go toward construction of a new jetty and replenishment of several hundred cubic feet of beachfront to buffer Camp Ellis.

“For generations, the residents of Camp Ellis and the City of Saco have had to contend with a relentlessly receding shoreline that has claimed dozens of homes,” Collins said in a statement. “The devastating erosion impacting this community was caused by the jetty constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers more than 150 years ago at the mouth of the Saco River, and it is long past time to rectify this mistake.”

“Camp Ellis and the surrounding Saco community have endured an extremely long wait for this funding,” Pingree said in a statement. “For 14 years, my staff and I have worked with the city of Saco and the residents of Camp Ellis to shore up this beloved area.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the jetty extending from the Saco River adjacent to Camp Ellis Beach in the 1890s, and expanded it in the 1950s. The jetty altered currents and sand deposition and is the primary cause of the severe erosion.

The $45 million will pay for a 750-foot spur jetty off the existing jetty, and to replenish 365,000 cubic yards of beachfront. Both the House and Senate are expected to approve the defense bill, according to Pingree and Collins.

Saco officials expressed relief at the news. City officials say they struggled for decades to get the Corps to acknowledge that the existing jetty is to blame.

“On behalf of the City of Saco, we are extremely elated with the language included in the NDAA regarding Camp Ellis. Our community continues to be challenged with ongoing costs associated with storms affecting Camp Ellis,” Saco Mayor Bill Doyle said in a statement, singling out Pingree and Collins for their efforts.

Several years ago, the Army Corps proposed building a 750-foot spur perpendicular to the existing Saco jetty. In 2007, Congress allocated $26.9 million for the project, but it was shelved.

Collins and Pingree wrote a letter to the leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works and the House Transportation and Infrastructure committees in September urging them to preserve a provision for Camp Ellis in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022. The Senate passed the act in July, including the $45 million for Camp Ellis, and it has been added to the defense bill. The provision also directs the Corps to “expedite completion” of the project. 

Residents of Camp Ellis have also been pleading for help for years as powerful storms and high tides carve away the shore of what was once a vibrant fishing village. In addition to homes being destroyed, roads have washed away, and the beach has been disappearing at a rate of several feet per year.

Perian Carpenter was a child when she stood in Camp Ellis with her family and watched as a house her father had worked on was swept out to sea.

“We were helpless to do anything,” Carpenter told the Press Herald in 2018. “We just need to get something done. It’s devastating when you see your friends and family losing property.”

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