Newsletter #5 (3/17-3/23)

Welcome Sustainable Shorelines' Newsletter #5 (3/17-3/23) chronicling this past week's events on and about our coastlines.

As in every letter, I urge you to forward this e-mail to others concerned for our coasts.  To those friends without e-mail, please print this and give/mail to them.  The more people who know and the more they know about what is happening on our coastlines, the more likely we can influence this for the better.

Jerry Berne Sustainable Shorelines, Inc.

Sustainable Shorelines is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to documenting current environmental events on our shorelines, identifying and seeking to change those coastal policies and practices which are harmful and advocating protecting our coastal habitats and the ecosystems these support with methods proven to be environmentally sound and sustainable.

NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA
Both Duke's Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines and the North Carolina Coastal Federation had columns in several NC newspaper about the shell hash spewn onto Pine Knoll shores and Emerald Isle's beach by nourishment projects.  At Emerald Isle, some samples were almost twice (71%) the shell content allowable.  Increased tilling or removal of the areas effected may be required.  The Town also faces a hefty $250 (up to $2500) state fine for the hash.  In other hash news, the dredge also made hash of at least one endangered loggerhead sea turtle stopping its cutterhead for almost 5 whole hours.  Unfortunately for the turtle and those folk who want to preserve our coastal resources, both the PSDS and the Federation have fought vigorously against proven environmentally sound alternatives as Holmberg Technologies.

NC Coastal Federation's new coastkeeper, Jan DeBlieu, visited Nags Head to view a section of last year's nourishment.  She was dismayed by the incompatibility of the sediment and its inability to support native beach life forms.  She still does not disparage the practice, seeing it as "inevitable" and says it should just be done more carefully.  The Coastal Federation has a $700,000 operating budget, which includes 13 paid staff members and 400 volunteers.  Unfortunately, this well funded effort is going to actually help further degrade our coastlines by falling for the same old line, that erosion is natural and nourishment is the only solution.

PSDS also mentioned the mining of tidal deltas for nourishment sand, specifically the Shallotte Inlet for the Ocean Isle Beach project.  PSDS's sudden awareness that this causes damage to coastal ecosystems and adjacent islands to be starved of sand increasing erosion rates is encouraging.  (Of course, PSDS could have learned this early on if it had read Holmberg's articles on this subject over the last twenty years.)  At least four additional inlet tidal deltas (Bogue Inlet, New River Inlet, Tubbs Inlet and Rich Inlet) are being considered for mining.

The Brunswick County (NC) Commissioners rejected a 1% land transfer tax to raise needed funding for capital projects including beach nourishment.  Pender County approved a similar measure in February.

The Dare County Commissioners review of its Land Use Plan found no consensus on beach nourishment.  It did  find strong agreement on maintaining all existing navigational channels, though some see inlet stabilization as a losing battle with mother nature (and daddy dredging).

A bill in the SC General Assembly would remove state hurdles from putting muck into Calibogue Sound.  This effort to remove state oversight came about when the South Island Dredging Association first presented the idea of dumping muck into Calibogue Sound in 2000.  Then it met with opposition from state and federal regulators, as well as area residents.  Some legislators are rethinking this and have asked for more input from regulators on making the muck more palatable.

Not all the muck is fully muck.  The Hilton Head Town Council approved a contract with the Association to buy up to $300,000 ($6/CY) of sand to help rebuild a portion of beach in Sea Pines.

A 12-year-old case involving two oceanfront Cherry Grove, SC lots is drawing nationwide attention for its state Supreme Court hearing because of its role in the evolving definitions of a taking of property by the government that requires compensation.  Sam McQueen, a Galivants Ferry farmer, bought one lot at Cherry Grove in 1961 and the second in 1963. He let them lie until he applied for a bulkhead permit in 1991 because they were eroding. He was denied and then appealed the ruling.  The case worked its way through the system until three years ago, when the state Supreme Court said denial of McQueen's permit was not a taking of his property that required compensation.  Georgetown "environmental" attorney Jimmy Chandler's clients are arguing that if people own land by the shore that is washed away, "you just plain don't own it any more", the land wasn't taken by regulations, nature took it.  No one seems to be questioning if government practices and policies caused this "taking" by the sea.  McQueen will "absolutely" appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if he loses.

Folly Beach, SC is the selected site for Sea Grant researchers who say they can predict the physical impacts of dredging the ocean bottom for nourishment sand. There are three major considerations: 1) A location close enough to be economically feasible; 2) sand must be a suitable grain size; and 3) sand has to be sufficiently distant from the shore so that its removal doesn't modify currents and waves which could make the existing erosion process worse. Biological impacts have to be considered as well.  Three sites near Folly have been evaluated for impacts. Last nourished in 1993,  Corps says it is overdue for renourishment, but no funds are allocated.  (My commentary:  Sea Grant does not seem to be aware of the 2000 Pea Island, NC studies by the University of Arkansas and the NCGS which demonstrated areas of erosion could be predicted by bending of the wave fronts as these crossover underwater topographic features (in this case, shoals three miles offshore).  This focuses wave energy on particular spots along the coast - resulting in development of erosion "hot spots."   Further, Minerals Management Studies determined in studies begun in 2000 and released in 2002, that "When a shoal is flattened (by dredging), the degree of wave energy concentration is likely to be reduced, resulting in greater wave energies hitting the coastal area. This may result in increased coastal erosion or unwanted, detrimental changes in longshore or nearshore current patterns.   Significant coastal impacts could also be expected during storm events in that increased wave energies which might have been somewhat dissipated by the presence of the shoal would now impact the coastal area with greater forces.") And in Bluffton, SC, the All Joy Beach on the May River has been renourished with 450 CY of sand for $4600.  If we have to have nourishment projects, let's keep 'em this size and few.

FLORIDA AND GEORGIA
Penascola's $20 million, 8.5 mile renourishment is underway again after a 3 month equipment delay.  Contractor Bean-Stuyvesant is required to be finished by May 1 or pay $5000 a day.  As turtle season begins on that day, any nest found must be moved.  Nothing about the potential for hashing incoming/outgoing turtles is mentioned.

March is Seagrass Awareness Month in Florida.  Seagrass is essential to sealife ecosystems and water quality.  It also is frequently harmed by the occasional boat propeller and, even more so, by dredging for sand and channels.  Its self recovery is slow and transplanting it to move it from the path of the dredging equipment has not proven highly successful.

Jacksonville Beach is spending $900000 to sift through its recent nourishment sediments to remove tons of debris, shells and clay balls.  Great Lake Dock and Dredge, under a renegotiated contract wuith the Corps (upwards, apparently) which was expected to begin again this week using sand that has built up around the mouth of the river after being swept there by tides.  Because there's not enough sand for a complete restoration, city officials and coastal engineers agreed to pump the quality sand onto the neediest beaches.  (Time and lack of sand has run out for the project, however, and the Corps pull its plug today, 3-24, with no expectation of returning to the project until 2005).

About eight months ago, Ray Green of Paradigm Learning with the help of Treasure Island's Beach Stewardship Committee, developed a board game about beach revegetation.  "Plant Our Beach" comes with a glossy game board, question cards and a points system. Members of the Sunset Beach Civic Association have played the game, and so have some city officials.  The game points out that Miami Beach visitors spent $500 for every $1 the city spent on beach management.

Sarasota County begins is dredging project to reopen Stump Pass near Englewood, FL despite warning of its erosive effects on area beaches and negative impact on local sealife.  New Jersey-based Weeks Marine bid $3.99 million for the first phase of the project. Weeks has a history of safety, environmental and renourishment quality problems. The whole project, which includes maintenance dredgings, is expected to cost state and county taxpayers $11.6 million over the next eight years.

At Marco Island, FL the Coastal Advisory Committee recommended that the Hideaway Beach nourishment project be restarted as a new project after the lack of a erosion control line was determined not to be a requirement.  Hideaway was the only beach not requiring tilling to soften the compacted sand from earlier renourishments to allow turtle nesting.

MID-ATLANTIC
The New Point Lighthouse near Gloucester, VA is to be included in the Reconnaissance Study Phase of the Chesapeake Bay Shoreline Erosion Study to be conducted soon by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  One of the efforts that will be considered, and the one favored lighthouse Preservation Task Force Committee, is using dredge material from various local dredging projects to fill in around the island.  The use of dredge material for restoration would not only create wildlife habitat but would solve the problem of disposing of something that's generally considered "burdensome waste" according to a local politician.

NORTHEAST
In New Jersey, the Meadowlands landfill-to-golf project, similar to the Bayonne project, is using soils and sediments, some toxic, dredged from the New York Harbor to "cap" its landfill. Some environmental groups support the layering project as a method of halting leaking tainted water and gases into the ecosystem, but are concerned about creating a "toxic wedding cake".

In Old Saybrook, CN the Corps is seeking public comment on its proposed maintenance dredging of the North Cove, which was last dredged more than a decade ago.  The 252,000 cubic yards of silt/clay material is acceptable for disposal in the Long Island Sound as the town does not have any location for it.

The Gloucester, MA Board of Health voted against a stay of its disputed harbor dredging regulations.  These give the board authority to halt dredging to require toxicity tests of dredge removals.  Some members are concerned that the dispute may cause delays in maintenance dredging.  The Corps stated that it did not consider itself bound by the municipal regulations of the Board of Health, and might chose not to work in Gloucester while the jurisdictional and political dispute raged.  Board members called the Corps engineer's statements both arrogant and outrageous and " exactly why (we need to regulate dredging)."

The Providence River in RI is to beginning its 18 month, $43 million dredging by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company.  The authorized Federal navigation project will make the river channel 40 feet deep and 600 feet wide for 7 miles.  A Corps' engineer (the same one who riled the Gloucester board) said it will make the river and harbor more efficient, improve navigation safety, and protect the environment.  Of the 6 million CY, 1.5 million will be placed in Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cells, 215,000 cubic yards of clean sandy material will be used as fill at Fields Point for Johnson and Wales University with the remainder will be placed offshore.

GREAT LAKES
At Green Bay, WI, the Cat Islands are to be "restored" with 2 million cubic yards of sediment dredged from the 16-mile shipping channel — two miles of the lower Fox River and 14 miles of the bay.  The PCB-laden sediment, "clean" according to the Corps, cannot exceed the contamination already in place on the island.  Some groups say this project is just a cheap way of disposing of these without the cost of containment and creates a more toxic trap for wildlife.  The current islands create a freshwater estuary at the mouth of Duck Creek, functioning as a barrier island chain protecting the wetlands from wave action according to the FWS.

GULF
King Milling, the banker in charge of LA's Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation, says 2000 square miles of wetlands have been lost in the last 70 years and another 40000 are in danger from channelization of the Mississippi River.  More than 160 million tons of sediment each year are dropped off the edge of the continental shelf.   Saying this cannot be ignored, Senator Landrieu compared this loss to the external threats to national security.

At Constance Beach, LA a $19.5 million state and federal project completed March 9 pumped tons of sand from five miles out to create a new 5.5-mile-long, 300-yard-wide beach just west of Holly Beach. Weeks Marine also removed tons of concrete chucks and other debris put along the shore to help stop the erosion.  Many residents along the stretch of coast hope the work will be expanded east to the Cameron jetties. 

In neighboring MS, dredging on the Pearl River was completed after concerns about mercury accumulation in the sediment held up the project for years.  Supposedly a one time project, Port and Harbor Commission officials are lobbying to have the corps declare continued maintenance of the Little Lake channel a "mandated project".

At Ship Island, MS a breakwater adjacent to the Ship Island pier in the Mississippi Sound is being considered to give boats protection from sudden squalls on the barrier island and provide a habitat for fish.  The state's own marine geologist says it could worsen beach erosion and imperil historic Fort Massachusetts.

At Gulf Shores, AL a recent seminar on protecting and preserving coastal environments featured AL Department of Environmental Management discussing "massive" nourishment projects.  These include smaller projects by private contractors where  ADEM officials require sediments be the same grain size and color as what was on the beach and be free of gravel, clay material and debris (remember what happened in Jacksonville, FL).   Efforts in Baldwin County, involve 6.5 million cubic yards of sand to be dredged from the Gulf and placed on 13 miles of beaches. The estimated cost of the project would be $21 million to $25 million, though funding sources are not yet known. The Corps recently changed its practice of placing sand dredged from Perdido Pass. It had been putting the dredged sand near the jetties on the west side of the pass.  Now, it will be pumped about a mile west of the outlet.  This places it farther down the beach, away from the jetties that block tides and currents, allowing the material to be moved by the waves along the coast to continue the "natural" process of deposition according to the Corps.  Gulf Shores officials are also working on a beach-renourishment project to pump 887,000 cubic yards of sand from Little Lagoon onto areas of West Beach.

WEST
At Coos Bay, OR a public hearing Thursday on proposed rules for the management of clean dewatered sediment as clean fill was held. The rules would allow clean, dry sediment meeting set parameters to be exempt from state solid waste disposal permit requirements.  The rule will affect people involved in the dredging, dewatering or final disposal of sediment including ports, dredge operators, dewatering facility operators and property owners who benefit from the fill.

At Langois, OR the FWS removed fencing protecting plover habitat because erosion changed the shape of the beach making it "poor nesting habitat".  A new site along the New River owned by the county is to be the new nesting ground allowing opening the old site to the public.

At Carlsbad,CA Cabrillo Power won NOAA's Walter B. Jones Memorial Excellence in Business Leadership Award for Coastal and Ocean Resource Management environmental award for its efforts to manage Aqua Hedionda Lagoon through an established dredging and beach sand replenishment program.  The company also participates in other programs including wetlands restoration and invasive algae eradication.

In inland Sacramento, marine scientists are seeking to create a network of marine reserves to benefit the recovery of fish stocks.  A January report by the Pew Oceans Commission said reserves encompassing entire ecosystems are needed to help the ocean recover from overfishing, pollution, erosion, coastal development and offshore oil drilling and mining.

INTERNATIONAL
Shipping on the Saint Lawrence Ship's Channel is threatened by the Canadian government's refusal to continue maintenance dredging unless the shipping industry assumes all costs including current deficits. Shippers currently pay a significant portion of this.  The industry warns of hugh economic and political fallout if the government does this saying, "says that dredging of the channel constitutes "an essential public service, not only to the shipping industry, but to the economic and strategic interests of the country as a whole."

In Guatamala, the protected Manchon-Guamuchal wetland is threatened by the cutting of mangroves, pollution and illegal hunting.  The beach, the turtle hatchery and the mangroves are contaminated with toxic waste runoff from agriculture and related industries that threatens the ecosystem.  Protected from the Pacific by a 100 meter sand bar, the loss of the mangroves may allow erosion.

Meeting in New Dehli, India, this week, marine biologists, scientists and experts attempted to evolve an action plan for conservation of marine biodiversity. Coastal areas are increasingly under pressure from anthropogenic activities with the major areas of concern being over-exploitation of coastal resources and the impact of land-based activities and ship traffic. Increasing population, besides economic and industrial growth, have created pressure on coastal resources with some areas becoming highly polluted due to urbanisation and tourism, industrial waste, chemical waste from fertilizers and pesticides and silt from degraded catchments. Untreated sewage and non-industrial waste account for more pollution than industrial effluents. Aquaculture activity in some parts of the country has also exerted considerable pressure on the coastal resources. The mining of sand from the seabed results in increase of turbidity in the ambient water affecting organisms and their productivity by limiting the availability of light. Construction relating to port development alters the sediment transport mechanisms in the coastal zones and resulting in erosion.

In Taipei, TaiPower's main nuclear plant's wharf is causing "jetty effect" erosion to Fulung Beach.  The EPA did not allow Taipower to act on its solution to this finding its proposal had not been researched. This involved transferring sand from the wharf to the beach. The offshore sand pumped by Taipower is currently dumped near the wharf.  The company pumped several times the EPA allowed volumes of offshore sand for its construction.  Residents say the EPA should not endorse Taipower's proposal because it would allow the company to pump more sand, now stuck by the breakwaters built for the wharf.  The Premier has promised to scrap any construction causing erosion.