June 1, 2009 by ncsierraclub
Orrin Pilkey, always good for a blog quote, authored an article in the Fayetteville Observer this weekend. A primer:
As time passes, the beach continues to retreat in front of the wall, narrowing until it eventually disappears. The lost beach means that breaking waves can no longer transport an adequate amount of sand to adjacent beaches — that is, the sand supply from these beaches is removed and their erosion rate increases. This can lead to a need for more seawalls, which is why seawalls, whether sand bags or concrete, are a no-compromise issue. If you allow any, you must eventually allow all, which would be a disaster.
…
As the density of development along our shoreline increases, challenges to good beach management will be ever more common as beachfront property owners try to save their houses at any cost — including the loss of the beach. The legislature needs to have a vision for the future of our beaches and continue to recognize that jetties sacrifice much for the sake of preserving houses of people so devoid of vision that they actually built next to an eroding ocean beach.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach hardening, coastal management, financial considerations | Leave a Comment »
June 1, 2009 by ncsierraclub
The Wilmington Star-News just ran another article on hardened structures at the coast, this time raising questions about the cost:
… as the controversial legislation moves to the state House, where it is expected to receive a more critical look than it did in passing the Senate, the deciding factor on whether the low-slung structures ever get built might not be environmental considerations but another type of green – money.
Posted in Beach Hardening in NC | Tagged beach hardening, coastal management, financial considerations, sea level rise | Leave a Comment »
May 27, 2009 by ncsierraclub
An editorial ran in the Wilmington Star News the other day. It’s recommendation: should federal funds for beach renourishment disappear, the state needs to foot the bill. From the article:
To date, the federal government and local governments have borne the cost of expensive annual beach rebuilding projects. But with the economy in the doldrums and pressure to cut spending, the federal government’s share of those funds may blow away.
If that happens, North Carolina could lose millions of dollars used to pump sand onto eroding barrier islands. State and local policy makers would then face a daunting choice: Come up with the money to continue the program, or let nature take its course.
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May 20, 2009 by ncsierraclub
BlueNC has an excellent summary of the current rundown of coastal management in NC. Prognosis: not looking so good.
Some excerpts:
In case you haven’t been paying attention, the coast of North Carolina is a big deal. According to Stanley Riggs, the international expert in coastal management in the Geology Department at ECU, roughly $2.25 billion in direct dollars related coastal tourism flow into our state every year. That money – and our beaches themselves – are at risk.
Why? Because the sea level is rising. Riggs says that by 2025, if not sooner, we will have a tourist industry that’s swirling down the toilet because of stranded houses, septic tanks, demolished roads, gas leaks, and worse … the result of storms and hurricanes that are absolutely certain to hit our shores. Twenty thousand years ago, the North Carolina shoreline was 60 miles out to sea. The level has risen 140 feet in that time. It’s getting higher … and we’re seeing the impacts every day.
If the science doesn’t do it for you, how about fiscal sense? These types of projects are an out and out waste of taxpayer money. From the BlueNC post:
In the meantime, the budget crisis presents a unique opportunity for North Carolina to get its act together.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach hardening, coastal management, sea level rise | 2 Comments »
May 20, 2009 by ncsierraclub
The News & Observer just ran an excellent op-ed by Orrin Pilkey of Duke University.
One choice excerpt:
It is clear from global experience with seawalls on eroding shorelines that seawalls destroy beaches. It is not a controversial concept. Sandbag seawalls are no different from concrete seawalls in that respect. The destructive effect can be seen on a number of North Carolina beaches, such as South Nags Head and Kitty Hawk, where the sandbags have caused the beach to narrow and in some cases to disappear altogether. The property owners who have constructed these walls might have temporarily protected their homes, but they have stolen the public’s beach.
Another:
Ironically, just a few years ago the legislature voted unanimously to ban the construction of new, permanent erosion-control structures from our ocean shorelines (including inlets). There were no dissenting votes in either chamber![...]It was, and is, sound fiscal, environmental and management policy.
Posted in Beach Hardening in NC | Tagged beach hardening, coastal management | Leave a Comment »
