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2010 PSDS Editorials

Under Pressure to Block Oil, A Rush to Dubious Projects
Yale Environment 360
By Rob Young
Published: June 3, 2010

In response to the widening disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, government officials have approved a plan to intercept the oil by building a 45-mile sand berm. But scientists fear the project is a costly boondoggle that will inflict further environmental damage and do little to keep oil off the coast.

Doubt global warming? The planet won't tell a lie
USA Today
By Orrin H. Pilkey and Rob Young
Published: January 7, 2010

A recent Rasmussen poll suggests that an alarming number of Americans believe scientists have falsified their data to sell global warming to the public. Add this to some embarrassing comments made in the e-mails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University in England, and it has been a long, hot autumn for climate scientists.

How High Will Seas Rise? Get Ready For Seven Feet
Yale Environment 360
By Rob Young and Orrin Pilkey
Published: January 14, 2010

As governments, businesses, and homeowners plan for the future, they should assume that the world’s oceans will rise by at least two meters — roughly seven feet — this century. But far too few agencies or individuals are preparing for the inevitable increase in sea level that will take place as polar ice sheets melt.Get ready for seven-foot sea level rise as climate change melts the ice sheets.

2010 PSDS In the News

Bobby Knows Best!
LA Coast Post
By Len Bahr
Published: June 15, 2010

But wait, a new Robert Young has now emerged as a media figure, not an actor playing a salesman but a coastal scientist playing the critical role of a policy advocate. This modern Robert Young, a coastal geology professor at Western Carolina University, has weighed in on Governor Jindal’s sand berm solution for saving our coast.

Our Views: Sand berms questioned
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA
Published: June 14, 2010

After much political tugging, the U.S. government is collaborating with the state on building sand berms to protect parts of the Louisiana marsh from incoming oil. The sand berm projects, championed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, remain controversial among scientists. It is not only federal agencies that believe the berms might not stand up to erosion or storms long enough to be effective, or will be very costly, or both.

Prof warns oil spill "fixes" need review
Raleigh News and Observer
By Barbara Barrett
Published: June 13, 2010

The state of Louisiana wants to build 45 miles of emergency sand berms to fend off oil lapping at its coastline. Western Carolina University geologist Rob Young thinks this is a bad idea.

Pipe boom plan at Perdido Pass: Engineers to build $4.6 million steel barrier to keep oil out of wetlands, waterways to north
Mobile-Press Register
By Guy Busby
Published: June 13, 2010

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. -- With lightweight boom no match for the swift current in Perdido Pass, a $4.6 million project will extend a barrier of steel pipes for more than half a mile in an effort to keep oil out of wetlands and waterways to the north.

White House lays out plan to restore Gulf Coast
Business Week
By Cain Burdeau
Published: March 5, 2010

The Obama administration on Thursday laid out a plan to deal with the catastrophic dangers of rising sea levels, hurricanes and erosion on the Gulf Coast, and backed efforts to invest in restoring barriers and wetlands in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Get Ready for 7 Foot Sea Level Rise by 2100
treehugger.com
By Matthew McDermott
Published: January 15, 2010

A quick update on the state of sea level rise projections. As you can tell from the title, it's not so good. Basically, by 2100 coastal areas should being prepared for about 7 feet (2.13 meters), that's what scientists from Western Carolina and Duke universities are saying.

Dredging undercuts state jetties study
nowsobserver.com
By Lynn Bonner
Published: January 19, 2010

The long-lasting fight over whether the state should lift its ban on new jetties on the coast has gone to scientists for refereeing. But they may have trouble coming up with an answer, too.

2009 PSDS Editorials

Rising sea levels: a strategy for N.C.
Raleigh News & Observer
By Orrin Pilkey
Published: November 29, 2009

Solutions for coastal erosion could include relocation, ban on development
Mobile Press-Register
By Rob Young
Published: October 25, 2009

The farmers count too
Topsail Voice
By Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young
Published: September 23, 2009

Global sea level is rising. There is no doubt about this fact. We have been measuring this rise on tide gauges for more than a century, and satellites have confirmed an acceleration of sea level rise over the last decade.

WNC shouldn't pay insurance bill for coastal mansions
Asheville Citizen-Times
By Andy Coburn and Rob Young
Published: July 16, 2009

The big buy
Mobile Press-Register
By Rob Young
Published: April 12, 2009

It's official; relocating coastal property is more cost-effective than trying to protect that property by building artificial beaches. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last month released its proposed projects for the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program, known by its acronym, MsCIP. The MsCIP was initiated after Hurricane Katrina to "reduce the vulnerability of the region."

Buyouts possible as Corps mulls controversial hurricane strategies
Jackson Clarion-Ledger
By Rob Young
Published: March 22, 2009

It's Official — relocating coastal property is more cost effective than trying to protect that property by building artificial beaches. Recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its proposed projects for the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program. The MCIP was initiated following Hurricane Katrina to "reduce the vulnerability of the region."

2009 PSDS in the News

Insurance ratepayers on hook for major storm
Charlotte TV station WCNC
By Stuart Watson
Published: September 22, 2009

If a storm the size of Hurricane Hugo hit the North Carolina coast, homeowners all over the state could be on the hook for an assessment to pay for any wind damage exceeding $3 billion.

Book Review – The Rising Sea: Goodbye to the coast
Star News Online
By Ben Steelman
Published: September 19, 2009

Orrin Pilkey has a distinct talent for making people mad. From a safe, tenured post in Duke University’s geology department – and in such books as “The Corps and the Shore” – Pilkey has been bedeviling the Army Corps of Engineers, coastal developers, officials and property owners on barrier islands for the better part of three decades.

Bill for sand-trapping groins passes Senate, gets stuck in House
Star News Online
By Gareth McGrath
Published: July 21, 2009

East Coast May Feel Rise in Sea Levels the Most
Washington Post
By David A. Fahrenthold
Published: June 8, 2009

Sea levels could rise faster along the U.S. East Coast than in any other densely populated part of the world, new research shows, as changes in ice caps and ocean currents push water toward a shoreline inlaid with cities, resort boardwalks and gem-rare habitats.

Base NC's coastal protection on science, not monied interests
Asheville Citizen-Times
Published: June 4, 2009

If the North Carolina Senate has its way, decades of sound coastal management will be sacrificed to benefit owners of exclusive beachfront houses, most of which are investment properties or second homes. The integrity of the beaches that belong to all North Carolinians will be forever undermined if the House passes two bills approved by the Senate in recent weeks.

For Early Hurricane Forecasts, Consult a Telepath
Wall Street Journal
By Carl Bialik
Published: April 29, 2009

If analysts did no better than predicting stock prices would equal the average of the last five years, one would hope they'd find a different career -- or at least take their work private while they refined their techniques. That's the sorry track record of climatologists who each year predict the number of hurricanes that will threaten the Caribbean and Southeastern U.S. before the storm season begins on June 1. Yet their seasonal forecasts continue to garner headlines in the spring as reliably as groundhogs and their shadows.

Corps to offer 'relocation'
Jackson Clarion-Ledger
Published: March 22, 2009

Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, yet today the Federal Emergency Management Agency says 2,364 families are still living in trailers, mobile homes and hotel rooms. At the direction of Congress, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has conducted a comprehensive two-year study to determine what can be done to reduce the effects of another hurricane along the Mississippi coast. The result of that massive study is called the Mississippi Coastal Improvement Plan.

Lack of rain stunts recovery of some vital wetlands damaged by Hurricane Ike’s storm surge
Houston Chronicle
By Matthew Tresaugue
Published: March 18, 2009

Even one of the wettest places in Texas is in need of rain. Here along the upper Gulf Coast, amid a landscape of shallow ponds and grassy flats, it’s a particularly bad time for a dry winter. Without the usual rainfall, the region’s freshwater and brackish marshes cannot flush the saltwater dumped by Hurricane Ike six months ago. As a result, the withering wetlands are covered by dead cattails and cord grass.

Surfers Deal a Blow to a Beach Dredging Project
New York Times
By Cornelia Dean
Published: March 8, 2009

Terry Gibson grew up surfing the waters off Palm Beach, Fla., and loved its beaches and prized breaks. “The reefs here in this area, and the sand bars that attach to them, form these perfectly shaped waves,” he said. “When it’s good, it’s incredibly good.” So when the Town of Palm Beach proposed a beach repair project that Mr. Gibson thought posed a threat to those prized breaks, he and other surfers challenged the project in court.

Surfrider defeats Palm Beach Florida beach fill project
Global Surf News
Published: March 3, 2009

The Surfrider Foundation won an important victory yesterday when Administrative Law Judge Robert E. Meale denied the town of Palm Beach a Joint Coastal Permit for the Reach 8 beach fill because of the project’s potential to harm environmental resources and the local economy dependent on them. This ruling will help reform beach management practices, not only within the state of Florida, but also throughout the U.S.

Offshore energy panel on the mark
This Old State
By Jack Betts
Published: January 22, 2009

You never know how well special study commissions will perform in Raleigh, but at first look, the Offshore Energy Exploration Study Committee named by Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney has good leadership for a difficult job.

Report identifies states most at risk to rising seas
Miami Herald
By Wade Rawlins
Published: January 22, 2009

A new federal report concludes that Florida and Louisiana are the states most vulnerable to sea-level rise, followed by North Carolina and Texas.

5 Policy Changes Obama Should Make Now: Analysis
Popular Mechanics
By James B. Meigs
Published: January 22, 2009

The Obama team enters office with one of the thorniest agendas of any administration in memory: managing two wars, rebuilding tattered infrastructure—and coping with a world-class economic crisis. However, just like a homeowner moving into a new house, the administration needs to do some work immediately, while other jobs can be postponed. And then there are a few tasks so obvious—and affordable—that tackling them immediately is a no-brainer. To help the administration get started, here are five relatively simple policy changes to implement right away.