Coast Watch: Return of the “Terminal Groin”
The beach-killing idea that will not die is back for another round on the barrier islands of the southern North Carolina coast.
So-called “terminal groins,” large rock jetties jutting out from the beach through the surf line, temporarily catch drifting sand in some locations, only to accelerate erosion nearby. These proven bad ideas are once again under consideration by some of the region’s beach towns. As usual, the towns are under pressure by beachfront building owners to protect their structures regardless of the impact on the beachfront or island as a whole.
Coastal conservationists including the NC Coastal Federation are not happy about the prospect of seeing more of these ill-advised hard structures damaging more of our state’s natural coast. Read more of the details here.
More environmentally destructive “beach hardening” on our coast is one of the damaging changes to our state’s environmental protection rules allowed since the current state legislative leadership claimed control of the NC General Assembly in 2011.
