here - Satellite Beach

Internet – Newspaper Archives Searches
CALVIN R. PECK, JR.
(Articles are in reverse chronological order)
Tab 9
A decision on Bald Head's request by the Army Corps of Engineers, which is the lead permitting
agency, is expected next week.
News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)
November 15, 2007
Rising seas worry beach officials
Author: Wade Rawlins
Rising sea levels will confront beach communities with complex challenges to remain tourist
destinations, and the towns will increasingly have to rely on their own resources when they run
into complications or crises, federal officials said.
About 150 local officials and representatives of coastal agencies attended a two-day conference
sponsored by the N.C. Beach, Inlet & Waterway Association, a coastal advocacy group, on rising
sea levels that are expected to accelerate in coming decades.
"I'm convinced now the future does include sea level rise, and that has to be taken into account,"
said Calvin Peck, manager of Bald Head Island, which has about 1,100 residences. Peck said
beach communities would have to take higher seas into account in planning development near
inlets and in flood-prone areas.
"We have not done that in the past," he said.
Scientists predict that rising temperatures from heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere will cause
polar ice to melt and seas to rise about 18 inches this century. Seas rose about 1 foot during the
20th century, though it was higher along some parts of North Carolina's coast.
Building up the sand
"All is not lost," said Harry Simmons, mayor of Caswell Beach and executive director of the
association. "We have options to deal with rising sea level, certainly in the next few decades."
As more expensive and larger houses have risen on North Carolina beaches, the option many
beach communities have sought is to widen their beaches with costly loads of sand, rather than
moving the houses away from the advancing ocean. Four coastal towns -- Wrightsville Beach,
Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Ocean Isle Beach -- are in a long-term federal program that
covers much of the costs of replenishing sand.
A number of other beach communities in Dare and other coastal counties are seeking to join that
program, but it has become hard to qualify.
Spencer Rogers, a coastal erosion specialist with N.C. Sea Grant, a research and education
program, said beach nourishment worked well in some communities with moderate erosion rates
and helped protect them from hurricanes.
Page 48 of 84