3609 Hwy 24 (Ocean) | Newport, North Carolina 28570

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2001

Todd Miller, executive director
252-393-8185
toddm@nccoast.org

Outlook for Southeast
Released by Coastal Federation

     Ocean, NC - The North Carolina Coastal Federation has just released a Regional Outlook of key environmental issues that citizens and local governments in the southeast region will confront over the next year. The southeast region includes the counties of Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender.
     According to Todd Miller, Coastal Federation's executive director, "The outlook for the southeast is, in a word, growth!" Brunswick (5th), Pender (6th) and New Hanover (9th) were among the fastest growing counties in the state during the last decade. New Hanover is also the second most densely populated county in the state, with 805.83 persons per square mile. Only Mecklenburg County, which contains Charlotte, is more densely populated. Brunswick, Pender and New Hanover also led the region with the largest growth in new permanent housing in the coastal region since 1990, at 51.67%, 44.47% and 41.64% respectively.
     One of the Coastal Federation's top priorities is to keep North Carolina's beaches public and unspoiled. With the exception of Sunset Beach, which is gaining sand, every beach in the southeast region is seriously eroding.
     "With only a couple exceptions, it does not appear that there are enough sand deposits to sustain renourishment efforts in this region for very long," said Ted Wilgis, the Cape Fear CoastKeeper. Sea level rise and storms have already taken their toll on oceanfront development, costing taxpayers billions of dollars in disaster relief. Wilgis said, "Beach towns should begin planning a staged retreat from the sea rather than spend money on sand like there's no tomorrow."
     A second Coastal Federation priority is to protect and restore water quality and habitat. With more and more houses, along with roads to get to them and schools and shopping centers to serve the people in them, it all adds up. When stormwater rushes off the land, it pollutes streams and floods low lying areas. Brunswick County leads the southeast growth bonanza with a 43.5 percent increase in permanent population since 1990.
     Two new wastewater systems are planned for Brunswick County: one serving the southern area was required to seek a Phase I NPDES stormwater permit; and another serving east and west Brunswick County that has refused to seek a Phase I stormwater permit or even to conduct a rigorous Environmental Impact Statement.
     "There's no use pretending, new wastewater treatment systems are a catalyst for more growth, and poorly planned growth will cause more violations of federal and state clean water standards. If we don't prevent stormwater pollution through effective growth management programs, local governments will forever be paying through the nose for flood mitigation and stream restoration later," said Miller.
     A third priority for the Coastal Federation is to achieve environmental law and order. According to the Coastal Federation, wetlands are being ditched and drained at an alarming rate. In 1998 the state Division of Water Quality publicly announced it would not enforce its own wetlands rules for five months. This prompted a free-for-all in which more than 80 landowners drained almost 10,000 acres of wetlands in southeastern NC. Some of these developers drained wetlands under the disguise of timbering their land.
     "Ever since that fiasco, State and Federal regulators have been chasing down developers who in their haste violated the federal Clean Water Act and state Sedimentation and Erosion Control rules. The State should get serious and throw the book at these lawbreakers, including the ones who contributed heavily to Governor Easley's campaign," said Wilgis.
Achieving cost-effective land use practices is a fourth priority for the Coastal Federation. 
     "Southeastern NC is being bulkheaded to death," said Tracy Skrabal, senior scientist at the Coastal Federation. Bulkheading or hardening of estuarine shorelines results in loss of wetlands, leaching of toxic chemicals into marine environments, and increased erosion to areas adjacent to the walls that kills the marsh. When the marsh disappears, so do numerous estuarine-dependent fish and shorebirds that depend upon these coastal fringes for their survival.
     Preliminary data from a NC Division of Marine Fisheries study indicate a two-thirds increase in bulkheading and riprap in Futch Creek in New Hanover County. Bulkheads and riprap covered 21 percent of the shoreline in 1984; it now covers 35 percent. "The Division of Coastal Management needs to hold the line on bulkheading and create a general permit for natural alternatives to shoreline protection, along with incentives for property owners to use it," said Skrabal.
     The Coastal Federation included its Regional Outlook as a part of its 2001 State of the Coast Report. For a complete copy of the 2001 State of the Coast Report, call toll-free at 800-232-6210 or go to the Coastal Federation's web page at www.nccoast.org.