Surfing from / July, 2015

The Wild Alaskan Lands at Stake If the Pebble Mine Moves Ahead

News, Pollution
Jul
31

The proposed Pebble Mine in southwestern Alaska is a project of almost unfathomable scale. The mine would cover 28 square miles and require the construction of the world’s largest earthen dam — 700 feet high and several miles long — to hold back a 10-square-mile containment pond filled with up to 2.5 billion tons of sulfide-laden mine waste.

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Photos: Spectacular Saltwater Marshes of the Eastern US

Celebrate, Inform
Jul
31

The extensive estuarine saltwater marshes of eastern North America are large, flat, grassy areas that are flooded daily by the semidiurnal tides of the Atlantic Ocean.

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Mystery Oil Sheen Discovered Off California Coast

News, Pollution
Jul
31

An oil sheen showed up in the Pacific Ocean, yesterday at Goleta Beach, Santa Barbara County , leaving officials baffled as to what caused it.

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Beach Towns Push to be Accessible to All, NC

News
Jul
29

Beach towns in New Hanover County, North Carolina, have made their shores more wheelchair-accessible in recent years, most notably with the big-wheeled chairs that glide easily across the sand.

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Rain, Storm Surge Combine to Put Coasts at Risk

Many more coastal residents are at threat from the meteorological double whammy of freshwater flooding and storm surge, (compound flooding events) which a new study finds is a serious threat for large stretches of U.S. coast, where more than half of the country’s population lives in densely populated areas and where development has been steadily rising in recent decades.

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Australian Humpback Whale Comeback: a ‘Symbol of Hope’

Australia’s humpback populations have recovered so well from years of devastating whaling that they could be delisted as a threatened species in a conservation success story scientists Tuesday hailed as “a symbol of hope”.

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African Ports Scramble for Land to Expand as Demand Rises

With competition for space is intensifying around Africa’s coastal cities as urbanization gains momentum, ports are using dredged material and reclaiming land to expand container terminal capacity.

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Disastrous Sea Level Rise Is an Issue for Today’s Public – Not Next Millennium’s

The bottom line message scientists should deliver to policymakers is that we have a global crisis, an emergency that calls for global cooperation to reduce emissions as rapidly as practical.

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Such Quantities of Sand

Asia’s mania for reclaiming land from the sea spawns mounting problems.

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Sand Mining

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    Controversial beachfront sand mining operation along Monterey Bay to close

    June 27th, 2017

    The last coastal sand mine in the United States, a facility on Monterey Bay that scientists say has caused significant erosion of beaches in the area, will close in three years under a settlement agreement announced Tuesday with California officials.

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    Council committee wrestles with sand-mining bill, Hawaii

    June 21st, 2017

    A Maui County Council committee is considering ways to regulate sand extraction in the county in light of a recent Central Maui sand excavation and export case that came under fire from members of the community.

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    As day of reckoning closes in on Cemex, the city of Marina prepares to attack.

    June 7th, 2017

    In the fight to shut down the Cemex sand mine in Marina, the lines in the sand have been drawn. Diplomacy, up until now, has not borne fruit, and a looming battle is starting to take shape. On June 6, City Council voted 5-0 to authorize City Attorney Rob Wellington to explore legal options that would argue that the Cemex mine is a “public nuisance” due to its erosion impacts

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    An Evaluation of the Ongoing Impacts of Sand Mining at the CEMEX Lapis Sand Plant in Marina, California on the Southern Monterey Bay Shoreline; By Robert S. Young, PhD

    May 29th, 2017

    The City of Marina commissioned this report to assist in its management and decision‐making for coastal property and resources within the City’s jurisdiction. This report provides a review and synthesis of available documentary information and scientific literature addressing the impact of current sand mining activities within southern Monterey Bay.

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    The world is running out of sand

    May 23rd, 2017

    It’s one of our most widely used natural resources, but it’s scarcer than you think…

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    Dubai set to build $1.7b man-made islands Marsa Al Arab by 2020

    dubai-artificial-islands1

    May 18th, 2017

    Dubai is growing again, and again it’s building into the sea.

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    Concrete, or Beaches? World’s Sand Running Out As Global Construction Booms

    May 12th, 2017

    A crucial component of concrete, sand is vital to the global construction industry.

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    Cemex sand mine accused of damaging Monterey Bay Coast

    May 9th, 2017

    Scientists and environmentalists are accusing Cemex, the world’s second largest building materials company, of doing serious harm to the Monterey Bay beach by removing massive amounts of sand. The company claims its sand mining business is legal, but the beach is shrinking, and the California Coastal Commission is threatening to shut down the operation.

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    Archive / Sand Mining