Coastal Conservation Plan Sparks Fight Over Sand

Beach communities that rely on dredging to replenish protective dunes object to expanded federal protections. Environmental advocates are pushing back with warnings about the possible ecological damage from beach replenishment projects that they call sand mining.

$18 million sand project to restore 3.5 miles of beach, Florida

Work began this week on the largest beach renourishment project in the Port Canaveral area of the five that have occurred since 1995. The $18 million, federally funded project will restore sand to 3.5 miles of beaches, stretching from Port Canaveral’s Jetty Park to south of Cocoa Beach Pier.

North Topsail Beach, NC: before and after hurricane Florence

Topsail Beach is an engineered beach, which gives it greater access to recovery funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It is facing an expense of about $6.4 million for Florence repair to the berms. Full beach restoration will cost about $17 million.

Is pumping more sand onto NC beaches causing deadly currents?

A growing number of scientists and coastal engineers worry that there’s a serious downside to beach nourishment: Unnaturally altered beaches could pose an elevated risk of injury to the very tourists that sand replenishment was meant to attract.