Federal agencies spend millions every year replacing sand on beaches. Some experts say it’s a waste of tax money.
https://www.cbsnews.com/door/beach-nourishment/
by CBSnews
Federal agencies spend millions every year replacing sand on beaches. Some experts say it’s a waste of tax money.
https://www.cbsnews.com/door/beach-nourishment/
by CBSnews
2 comments
Here’s a preview of the CBS News investigation:
The sound of a three-mile-long pipe pumping 100 dump trucks worth of sand onto the coastline filled the air for two and a half months in the town of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina in early 2024.
It was part of a beach nourishment project, meant to replenish and widen beaches lost to erosion or storms. Paid for with federal tax dollars and completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the project in Wrightsville Beach cost around $15 million and is re-done approximately every four years.
“I do believe that beach re-nourishment is a necessity,” said Jeff DeGroote, a lifelong Wrightsville Beach resident who owns a surf shop/coffee house a block away from the water.
His livelihood depends on the beach, so it also depends on keeping the beach maintained through nourishment projects.
“There is a disadvantage with…what we’re doing here. The main disadvantage is cost, right? But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages,” DeGroote said.
But some experts believe the taxpayer money used for beach nourishment projects could be better spent elsewhere.
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It is a waste of money.