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Perspectives
Sandbag Coast
Sandbagging our Coast
Along the North Carolina coast, a full-scale sand war is under way.
A state judge has told one community that it can keep the sandbags it uses to harden its beachfront property. Another judge has told a number of other communities that the coastal-resources officials can begin removing their sandbags.
Towns up and down the coast want to install groins that will hold sand in place. And a University of Florida professor recently testified that something called a "terminal groin" may work without harming surrounding beach towns.
In the hallways of the Legislative Building in Raleigh, lobbyists for various beachside interests are working hard to relax state laws against hardened surfaces while environmental lobbyists and people with some sense of nature argue just the opposite. Beachgoers wonder if there'll be any public beach left for them to enjoy.
A margarine-maker once ran a TV ad with a punch line that entered the public lexicon: "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." But in this war, people think they can fool Mother Nature. They won't get away with it.
Sandbags, groins or reinforced sea walls won't keep the natural power of the Atlantic Ocean from moving sand around on North Carolina's shorefront. A hardened surface or a groin may protect one stretch of beach, but it does so at the expense of nearby beaches.
Some beachfront property owners argue their case because they fear their homes will be washed into the sea. Others argue they cannot afford the high and repeated costs of restoring beach sands that have washed away. While it is easy to sympathize with these advocates, it would be unwise to grant their wishes.
The state of North Carolina cannot build an Atlantic Wall from north to south. Once one piece of beach is fortified, the ocean will just cause increased erosion on another.
The state's folly was in ever allowing to be built on sand the million-dollar castles that now crowd our shoreline. It is not easy to tell property owners that they cannot take protective measures, but it is time for the state -- and that means the legislature -- to act forcefully. It should strengthen the law to stop construction in fragile areas, and regulators should start ordering the removal of sandbags.
Much is at risk here. If private-property owners are allowed to fortify their bastions, the likely victims will be their neighbors and the public's beaches. It's time for the legislature to end this sand war with environmental efforts that will preserve the beaches for all of us.
This article was originally published as an editorial in the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal on February 16, 2009.
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