FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITIES IN SHORE PROTECTION 



The responsibility of the Federal government with respect to shore 

 protection is fixed, first, by the plain terms of Federal laws and 

 second, by the attitudes both of Congress and the White House to budgetary 

 raatterso Within these limits, the Corps of Engineers has some leeway. 



THE FEDERAL BEACH EROSION LAWS 



Public Law 520, 71st Congress o The first of these is Public Law 

 520, passed by the 71st Congress in 1930o It auttorized the formation 

 of the Beach Erosion Bsard and the conduct of cooperative studies of beach 

 erosiono The law provides that -the Chief of Engineers shall appoint to 

 the Beach Erosion Board four officers of the Corps of Engineers and three 

 civilians who shall be selected from state agencies charged with beach 

 erosion and shore protectiono The act outlines the functions of the Beach 

 Erosion Baard as being the conduct of beach erosion studies and further 

 requires that no money shall be expended under authority of the act in any 

 state which does not provide for cooperation with the United States and 

 contribute such funds or services as the Secretary of the Army shall deem 

 advisable o Subsequently this cooperation was fixed at fifty per cent of 

 the cost of any cooperative studyo 



Public Law ^^09, 74th Congress . Public Law 409 , 74th Congress, 

 approved in 1935, requires that whenever any study is made of proposed 

 inlet or river mouth improvements, the report should include infonnation 

 as to the configuration of the shore line for a distance of not less than 

 ten miles on either side of the improvement and determination of the pro- 

 bable effects on the shore of the proposed improvement o This law is the 

 basic requirement under •vrtiich reports on river and harbor improvements 

 (and in some cases, flood control improvements) at the mouths of rivers 

 or inlets are required to include information on the probable effect of 

 improvements on the adjacent shore lineo 



Public Law 166, 79th Congress o The principal feature of this act 

 is the authorization of general investigations at Federal expense o 

 Remember that Public Law 520, the first law relating to beach erosion, 

 provided for cooperative studies and required that the state contribute 

 funds or services to studies of beach erosiono Public Law 166 authorizes 

 the Federal government, through the Corps of Engineers and the Beach 

 Erosion Board, to make general investigations with a view to preventing 

 erosion of the shores of the United States by waves and currents and 

 determining the most suitable methods for the protection, restoration, 

 and development of beaches o The purpose of this act was to provide 

 authority for the Corps of Engineers to conduct basic research and general 

 investigations with a view to increasing the basic knowledge of the 

 science of shore protection, as contrasted with the study of remedial 



