As California beaches reopen, seawall construction becomes legislative battleground
In a move this month that outraged environmentalists and caught coastal regulators off guard, a Republican senator pushed forward legislation that would revise a key section in the state’s landmark Coastal Act and allow homeowners in San Diego and Orange counties to build seawalls by right.
Coastal armoring and disappearing beaches; By Gary Griggs
Coastal erosion or retreat is a natural ongoing process that has only become a problem because people have built structures or infrastructure in areas exposed to wave attack and erosion. Beaches, dunes, bluffs and cliffs are all temporary features that will continue to be shaped by wave, wind and tidal forces as well as a rising sea level.
Army Corps’ proposal for sand dunes in newest plan brings questions about cost, feasibility
A $32 billion plan for a coastal barrier system to protect the Houston-Galveston region, including 14-foot-high dune fields is seen as the latest innovation designed for Texas to engineer its way out of an existential crisis: a coastline gradually vanishing and increasingly vulnerable to massive storm surges and sea level rise.
Judge blocks exclusive, gated community from putting tons of rocks on public beach
Residents of an exclusive gated community who want to put tons of boulders on a public beach lost a court battle this week. This ruling comes as battles simmer in South Carolina over how to deal with the effects of global warming and rising sea levels.
Can 475 ‘sand cubes’ protect Capo Beach, CA from further erosion?
An estimated 475 sand cubes — 3-by-3-foot white plastic bags filled with sand — were being stacked next to one another along the eroding Capo Beach, CA where strong waves, high tides and a rising sea level have battered the area for years.
Shore fix in Cane unlikely to last, experts say, BVI
About a month ago, excavations began along the beach in the north end of Cane Garden Bay as part of a government project designed to protect a shoreline that slips further into the sea with each heavy swell. But two United States experts said that the method being used — stone-filled wire cages known as gabion baskets — probably won’t last long.
New walls aim to hold back rising seas off Tanzania
Coastal erosion and flooding threaten Dar es Salaam, one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities.
Holden Beach Says ‘No’ to Terminal Groin, NC
Terminal groins are wall-like structures built perpendicular to the shore at inlets to contain sand in areas of high erosion, like that of beaches at inlets.
The Texas Coastline Is Slowly Disappearing. Here’s How One Community Is Coping
The Lone Star State’s shoreline is experiencing one of the highest rates of land loss of any coastal area in the country due to a combination of subsidence, sea level rise and storm surges.