Growth Threatens America's Coasts

"Hurricane Katrina revealed the extreme danger of living near the water. But it also cast a spotlight on the rapidly changing nature of the entire U.S. waterfront. In a single generation, land along the nation’s fragile coasts has been gobbled up, concentrating wealth at the shore, threatening the environment and putting millions of people and property valued in the billions at risk.

A three-month Gannett News Service examination of the public policy and personal decisions that have fueled this relentless expansion found that the federal government has no policy to control coastal growth, although it does have individual programs that promote living in communities prone to floods, storms and erosion."