Who Pays For Eroding Coastlines?

Should taxpayers pay to safeguard coastal residents from the ocean or should beach towns shovel the sand themselves?

1 minute read

October 20, 2004, 7:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Although the Clinton administration made the first of several failed efforts to end federal funding of "beach renourishment" in 1995, a special order from President Bush to cut the $120 million-a-year program is heating up the rhetoric again. Now, for the first time, dozens of small coastal towns are joining a pending lawsuit to stop the gambit. The debate has been fueled by this summer's record landings of four major hurricanes, which destroyed miles of beaches and exposed the weaknesses - and costs - of coastal economies."

Thanks to Chris Steins

Tuesday, October 19, 2004 in The Christian Science Monitor

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