Recent Nor'easter renews debate over beach replenishment
Friday, November 20th, 2009
New Jersey is still assessing the damage from last week's Nor'easter. The state may seek an emergency declaration from the President that would unlock money for beach restoration funds.
But there is disagreement over the value of these programs.
Steward Farrell, director of the Coastal Research Center at Richard Stockton College says the beach replenishment projects are worth the expense.
Farrell: It's extremely important if we want to continue living right at the oceanfront and deriving the income and benefits from the fact that people come to the shore to spend time, recreate, and enjoy it.
But Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, says it's time to reconsider beach replenishment.
Dillingham: The sand very rarely stays on the beach after the storms and requires investment of millions of dollars of public monies every couple years to make sure that the houses will remain protected.
Dillingham says a better long term solution would be for the government to buy those beach front homes, move them back from the coast, and restore wetlands which serve as buffers against storms.
I agree with Tim, the costs associated with beach replenishment are getting out of hand and will only escalate over time as easy sources of beach quality sand vanish and the project managers have to go further and further out to sea or worse to land sites to locate this rapidly diminishing commodity. Fla. is already experiencing this dilemma and its just a matter of time that the same situation will arise on other east coast project sites. In areas where its still possible to move back and build buffer zones we should start planning to do this. The move back of the famous Hatteras lighthouse in the late 90's signaled the general retreat from the rising sea levels to come , because of the warming.