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TODAY Wednesday 11 March 1998 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
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TODAY Wednesday 11 March 1998 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
TODAY IN THE WORLD: Save Our Beaches!
I live on a thin island, thirteen miles long, girded on one side by the widest American river east of the Mississippi and on the other by a finger of the Atlantic Ocean. The fresh water from the river and the salt water from the ocean finger mingle in a vast bay that features both a deep central channel and tidal flats that once sheltered the largest concentration of oysters on the continent. The views are stunning. The climate of the island is equable, though somewhat rainy to many tastes. The abundance of water allows for a natural groundcover of lush hardwood forests, punctuated by ponds and other wetlands.
My dwelling in this demi-paradise is situated no more than 200 yards away from the ocean finger, which the natives, in their innocence, call the East River. To access its shore I penetrate three layers of razor wire surrounding the abandoned Bellevue Hospital for the Insane, cross four lanes of the FDR Drive, and reach a gentlemen's accommodation with Abdel at the parking lot cantilevered over the water.
Though I don't own my dwelling (remember, contributions to Liberty Tree are tax deductible), I feel an upwardly-mobile solidarity with beachfront owners. One day, maybe a time-share... But what if you buy a summer place on the shore and a big storm comes along and washes away half your equity? You're not going to look for help? What's the government for if not to protect the hard-earned investments of its citizens?
Congress appreciates this logic and keeps appropriating significant sums to the budget of the Army Corps of Engineers for beach restoration projects. The biggest example is a $200 million effort to pump sand from under the ocean onto the shore of New Jersey. Hey, it's only going to waste out there. Similar projects are underway in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida. President Clinton says he wants to cut back, but that Congress ties his hands. Yesterday the AP reported that the White House was forming a "working group" with restoration backers to see if some "common ground" with environmentalists and taxpayer groups could be discerned.
State governments are involved as well. In North Carolina, enviros are afraid that the state will abandon its new anti-seawall prohibition now that it's faced with a big lawsuit from some condominium developers insisting on their constitutional rights to build a steel barrier between their $22 million investment and an inlet of the ocean. Don't bet against the developers' chances in court.
These beachfront issues are only going to get worse. For one reason, the climatologists seem to agree that the future probably will feature more big beach-washing storms than the present. For another, more and more people are crowding the shoreline. According to SeaWeb, a new study shows that 37 percent of the world's humans lives within 60 miles of a coast. 49 percent live within 120 miles. 13 percent are seeking accommodations at Asbury Park.
TODAY ON THE SITE
Read the latest Grove? Liberty Tree's free electronic newsletter -- tossed on your front porch by cyber simulations of cheerful 11-year-olds riding a Schwinn bicycle -- features an exclusive by Donella Meadows explaining why she and 99% of all organic growers are furious about the proposed standards recently issued by the US Department of Agriculture. I knew they were mad, but I now I know WHY they're mad; a great piece of first-person reporting. So subscribe, wouldja?
Recent "Today" columns:
3/10: Die Gruenen und der SDP
3/9: In Search for the Holy Grail of the Forests
3/6: My Doom, Your Gloom
3/5: The Great D. P. Moynihan
3/4: "An Earthquake in Insurance"
3/3: Salmon Farming
3/2: Our Friends the Duck Killers
2/27: Trust El Nino
2/26: That Darn Triple-A
2/25: Cutting a Deal on Endangered Species
2/24: Fire? Again?
2/23: Garbage
2/20: Population Rebellion in the Sierra Club
2/19: The Trouble With Cattle
2/18: Optimistic Feds and the Future of Kyoto
2/17: The New Great Game
2/13: Windmills
2/12: Stuart Eizenstat's Smart Bomb
2/11: Alligator in the Coal Mine
2/10: Inconvenient Public Opinion
2/9: Remember Penn Station
2/6: Adam Smith and Automobile Efficiency
2/5: Clean Water, Naturally
2/4: Roll, Storms, Roll
2/3: Land Purchase Fever
2/2: Groundhog Day in the Persian Gulf
1/30: Trees and Hormones
1/29: Things To Come (2)
1/28: Things To Come
1/27: 'Bye, 'Bye Brazil
1/26: Jaywalking and Jaydriving
1/23: Good Biotech, Bad Biotech
1/22: No More Roads
1/21: Swordfish
To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.