In wake of hurricane, rich towns get $15 million for sand
Quotes Orrin Pilkey

05/29/04
By Gilbert M. Gaul
The Washington Post

Also published on 5/30 and 5/31 in: Houston Chronicle, Seattle Times, Charlotte Observer, Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Wichita Eagle, Columbia State, Winston-Salem Journal, Wilmington Morning Star, Tallahassee Democrat, Myrtle Beach Sun News, Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune.

EMERALD ISLE, N.C. — The morning after Hurricane Isabel hit in September, Town Manager Frank Rush dashed off an e-mail.

"The town of Emerald Isle was extremely fortunate, and sustained very little damage," Rush wrote on Sept. 19 to town officials. "Beach erosion ... is minimal."

Yet Emerald Isle turned to the government for help. After the resort was declared part of a federal natural-disaster area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded nearly $1.5 million for street signs, tennis-court lights and sand for the resort's carefully manicured beaches.

"I have a great deal of difficulty using FEMA for wealthy beach towns getting money for sand," said Emily Farmer, former mayor of the town of 3,500. "Emerald Isle basically uses FEMA as an insurance policy."

It is not alone.

Dozens of wealthy beach towns and coastal communities received tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded disaster relief after Isabel, records obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act show.

The bulk of the money was used to clear debris and pay for emergency workers' overtime. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, however, were used to repair flagpoles, signs, bike paths and ballparks. And, in what some environmental groups and regulators say is a troubling development, the federal agency is paying for an estimated $15 million worth of sand.

Emerald Isle "was a declared area and they were an eligible applicant and they were funded," said Paul Wilson, a disaster-recovery specialist in FEMA's Atlanta office. Agency officials did not respond to requests for additional comment.

Why is the disaster-relief agency paying for sand? Under FEMA policies, beaches such as those in Emerald Isle are viewed as part of the public infrastructure, similar to a water plant or an electric utility. As long as beaches are maintained and there is a federally declared disaster — such as a hurricane — a community can apply for funds to replace washed-away sand.

The rationale is that FEMA-funded beaches and sand dunes protect property and reduce storm damage. But some environmentalists say that FEMA, by paying for sand, is encouraging risky development in places that people should be avoiding, and exposing the federal treasury to an endless cycle of bailouts.

"There is no emergency if you stay out of harm's way," said Orrin Pilkey, a Duke University geologist and longtime critic of federally funded beach fills. "It's only when people build on the shoreline that it becomes dangerous and you get all of these other problems."

Many towns would have turned to the Army Corps of Engineers in the past. Although better known for building bridges and dredging harbors, the corps also has served as the largest source of federal sand dollars for eroding beaches. Since the mid-1950s, it has spent an estimated $1.5 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars on sand.

But those projects have been criticized in recent years as wasteful, and the Bush administration's new budget has called for an end to new projects.

So beach towns are looking for new sources of funds. Some, including Emerald Isle, are turning to FEMA.

"We view the beach as part of our infrastructure," said Rush, the town's mayor. "Obviously, the reason folks come to Emerald Isle is that we have a nice beach out there."

Rush noted that FEMA also makes payments — in the event of a natural disaster — to people who live near flood-prone rivers or in earthquake zones. Paying those who live near an eroding shoreline is no different, he said. "Everyone in this country lives in a dangerous place."

North Carolina for nearly three decades experienced a relatively quiet period of hurricanes. But that trend reversed in the mid-1990s and the coast since has been buffeted. The hurricanes and subsequent disaster-relief payments have prompted increased efforts by beach towns to build up their shorelines.

Erosion rates along the Outer Banks vary, sometimes within towns. Areas in Kitty Hawk, South Nags Head and Rodanthe have lost most of their beaches, leaving vacation homes defenseless against the surf.

Dozens of homes were condemned after Isabel undercut pilings, exposed septic systems or swept them off concrete slabs. FEMA is spending millions of dollars in Nags Head to create an emergency dune to protect rental properties in an area where condemned houses lean into the surf.

Dave Clark, director of public works in Nags Head, said the emergency berm will buy homeowners time as the town and county explore other ways to shore up the beach.
FEMA also has approved berms for Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, but is negotiating prices. In Hatteras Village, the agency paid for a berm but declined to say how much. It paid $6.2 million to fill in an inlet cut by Isabel near Frisco.

The Dare County beach towns are seeking a 50-year commitment from the Army Corps of Engineers to widen their beaches with sand pumped from offshore. The plan has been approved, Dare County Planner Ray Sturza said, but there is no money appropriated in the federal budget.

The beach towns hope to persuade Congress to put money back in the budget for beach fills. Meanwhile, the county is thinking of doing its own sand replenishment, which would make it eligible in the future for FEMA aid.

And a growing number of property owners are taking matters into their hands. After Isabel, hundreds hired contractors to bulldoze sand into protective barriers in front of their oceanfront homes. Under state law, bulldozers are supposed to scrape down only one foot into the sand. But there aren't enough regulators, and no one knows how much sand actually was moved.

Media contact: Tim Lucas, 919/613-8084 or tdlucas@duke.edu