Georgians deserve better on shoreline protections

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp should veto the Shore Protection Act to ensure Georgians get the benefits of research they paid for.

This legislation has been controversial for good reason. Not only is the 25-foot setback offered by the bill arbitrary, but it’s been deemed “acceptable” to legislators because that standard is used in another completely different regulatory context — a 25-foot wide buffer required along rivers and wetlands in Georgia’s Soil Erosion & Sedimentation Control Act. Yet the risks and wave energy in oceanfront areas are far more severe than along wetlands and rivers. However familiar the 25-foot standard may seem, simplistically transferring it from one law to another is perilously illogical.

Although property rights are a concern, they must be balanced against the public’s interest in protecting the sand-sharing system, which sustains beaches and dunes that help safeguard shorefront property and popular recreational areas along Georgia’s coast.

By locating hard structures, including patios and decks, as well as houses, too close to the ocean, major hazards are more likely and wave-energy deflected by hard materials will cause greater harm to surrounding areas, both developed and natural. Property damage, disaster recovery, and beach restoration will be more costly as a result of an amended Shore Protection Act, thereby unfairly subsidizing unwise high-risk development with taxpayer dollars.

South Carolina’s shoreline regulation incorporates erosion-rate factors in well-balanced methods applied to support responsible, science-based regulatory decisions. The scientific study referenced inSouth Carolina’s procedures is similar to studies that have been done in Georgia, at a cost to taxpayers of over $500,000.

But, unlikeSouth Carolina and similar procedures adopted in North Carolina, Georgia’s proposed protections summarily ignore the science. Surely such willful rejection is unwise, regardless of political rationalizations, especially when these other states offer reasonable, proven alternatives for applying scientific findings.

Unless pragmatic shore-front safeguards are adopted, higher costs will be incurred by both private-property owners and general taxpayers due to damages caused by coastal storms, as sea level rises and weather events become more extreme.

We encourage concerned citizens to contact Gov. Kemp and urge him to veto the Shore Protection Act and direct the Department of Natural Resources to prepare science-based methods for regulating Georgia’s oceanfront areas.

David Kyler is the executive director of the Center for a Sustainable Coast, based on Saint Simons Island.