Posted on December 22, 2021
Thousands of acres of salt marshes that buffer the South Atlantic coast from hurricanes, sustain the seafood industry and bolster the tourism economy are in danger of washing away, victims of booming development and limited government oversight that have made the threat of sea level rise more menacing.
State regulators in the Carolinas and Georgia have issued at least 28,000 permits during the past three decades to build, expand, replace or repair docks, bulkheads, piers and other structures in tidelands that hug the coast, a McClatchy investigation has found.
In some cases, developers transformed unspoiled coastal areas into exclusive high-end communities, with long docks running hundreds of feet through salt marshes. In others, property owners added to the glut of existing buildings, docks and bulkheads already lining some of the region’s most visible salt marshes.
Federal data obtained by McClatchy show a 22% increase in developed land within one-half mile of salt marshes in the three state-region since 1996. For areas within 300 feet of marshes, the rate of development increased by 18%, according to data analyzed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Coastal regulators, restrained by laws that make development easy, often approved work in tidelands with limited review, McClatchy’s investigation found.
Those efforts occurred as local governments welcomed expansive new development along the states’ tidelands, putting more pressure on state government agencies to process permits.
And amid the growth, sea levels rose at increasing rates.
Sea levels have increased along much of the Carolina-Georgia coast by about 3 millimeters per year, on average, in the past century, say scientists at NOAA’s Charleston office.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE!
