BlueNC has an excellent summary of the current rundown of coastal management in NC. Prognosis: not looking so good.
Some excerpts:
In case you haven’t been paying attention, the coast of North Carolina is a big deal. According to Stanley Riggs, the international expert in coastal management in the Geology Department at ECU, roughly $2.25 billion in direct dollars related coastal tourism flow into our state every year. That money – and our beaches themselves – are at risk.
Why? Because the sea level is rising. Riggs says that by 2025, if not sooner, we will have a tourist industry that’s swirling down the toilet because of stranded houses, septic tanks, demolished roads, gas leaks, and worse … the result of storms and hurricanes that are absolutely certain to hit our shores. Twenty thousand years ago, the North Carolina shoreline was 60 miles out to sea. The level has risen 140 feet in that time. It’s getting higher … and we’re seeing the impacts every day.
If the science doesn’t do it for you, how about fiscal sense? These types of projects are an out and out waste of taxpayer money. From the BlueNC post:
In the meantime, the budget crisis presents a unique opportunity for North Carolina to get its act together.
I believe recent conference scientists have revised the rising coastal waters theories to slow and halve any longterm impact.
@ childers
I’m not sure I follow your logic. Dr Stan Riggs of East Carolina University has said, and I quote from the above BlueNC post:
Riggs says that by 2025, if not sooner, we will have a tourist industry that’s swirling down the toilet because of stranded houses, septic tanks, demolished roads, gas leaks, and worse … the result of storms and hurricanes that are absolutely certain to hit our shores. Twenty thousand years ago, the North Carolina shoreline was 60 miles out to sea. The level has risen 140 feet in that time. It’s getting higher … and we’re seeing the impacts every day.
So longterm impact projections are currently *not* overly good, especially with our state’s population likely to rise.