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Monday, September 14, 2009
Boomer with Attitude / News N.C. develops a case of terminal groins
Posted By John Grooms on Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Thanks soooo very much to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management. As reported in the Wilmington Star News, the DCM was supposed to create an impartial study to make recommendations on whether to use terminal groins (now there’s an unfortunate term) to manage erosion around inlets on the coast.
The state currently has a ban on such structures, but developers and realtors have been pressuring the state to allow them, in order to save valuable (i.e., you can’t afford it) oceanfront property, as well as some of the oceanfront McMansions they’ve built. Now, the DCM, run by Democrats who supposedly have the best interests of the average citizen in mind, have picked Moffatt & Nichol to conduct the study, which will cost the state $287,000.
M&N is a coastal engineering firm from California that plans ports facilities and designs “coastal structures,” so the results of the study are practically a foregone conclusion. Some members of the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission, and environmentalists, aren’t too happy about DCM’s move. For years, many coastal scientists have noted problems caused by hardened structures on beaches, namely that they simply take sand from other sections of the beach and, essentially, move the erosion around – which, of course, makes more people jump up and down to demand yet more terminal groins. To clear up any confusion, here are photos of two different types of terminal groins. We’re talking about the kind that doesn’t involve a bull.
Deliver Us From Weasels, a collection of 50 of John Grooms’ best columns and articles, will be published in November by Main Street Rag Press. The book will cost $14.95, but can be purchased in advance through Oct. 26 for $10 including shipping at www.mainstreetrag.com/store/ComingSoon.php
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