Dune project resumes in Margate following federal court ruling

MARGATE, N.J. (AP) -- Work on a beach replenishment project in Margate, New Jersey continued Friday morning after a federal judge ruled to resume the project after it led to ponds of bacteria-laden water.

Judge Renee Marie Bumb on Thursday granted the request by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to let the project continue.

The government went to court Wednesday to ask her to overturn a state judge's ruling last week stopping the project while the two sides tried to work out a remedial plan.

Bumb gave the Army Corps conditions including fencing off any areas with ponding of two or more inches of water.

The ponds of standing water are exactly what Margate residents had warned of in previous, unsuccessful litigation against the government's plan to build the protective sand dunes at the coastal town south of Atlantic City.