County warns businesses to stop mining sand, Maui

While sand mining is not illegal here, some community members are concerned about the resource being depleted and shipped off-island and archaeological damage. Mayor Alan Arakawa is among the concerned, saying the sand is needed for Maui projects and replenishing beaches.

Adjust beach replenishment to minimize maritime dead zones

Beach replenishment is an expensive and temporary method of maintaining barrier-island beaches. As the post-Hurricane Sandy rebuilding of all the beaches along New Jersey’s 127-mile Atlantic coast nears completion, an additional potential cost is becoming clear: Replenishment might be creating dead zones on land and at sea.

Fishermen, beach builders fight for underwater sand hills

Just a few miles off New Jersey’s coast is a series of underwater hills on the ocean floor, made of perfect-quality beach sand tens of thousands of years old. The value of these ancient sand hills to sea life, fishermen, scientists and beach-building engineers has set up a fight between those who would protect them and those who would mine them. And that battle is expected to intensify as rising sea levels are expected to magnify.

Beach renourishment sand could affect coral reefs off Broward; Fla.

Dump trucks returned to the Fort Lauderdale beachfront this month to finish a $55.6 million job rebuilding eroded beaches. But beneath the surface just offshore, the new sand could bury and harm acres of coral reef and extinguish tiny life forms that cling to the reefs or hover around them.