Dance Around Coastal Issues . . . 



Roger Schecter wrote in a March 19 

 memo to Preston Howard, director of 

 Environmental Management. 



"Basically," Schecter wrote, 

 "they are such a limited and impor- 

 tant resource that they should be 

 afforded the most 

 protection possible 

 under the law." 



Schecter also wrote 

 that Environmental 

 Management's propos- 

 als to classify some 

 wetlands based on the 

 classification of 

 adjacent waters might 

 lead to a lack of 

 protection for the very 

 waters that need help 

 most. 



Environmental 

 Management officials 

 say they're being 

 careful to ensure that 

 threatened waters, such 

 as those sensitive to 

 nutrients, are indeed 

 protected. The EMC 

 is expected to begin 

 considering the issue 

 in late summer or early 

 fall. 



Opposition 



at Oregon Inlet 



Out of state hands for now — 

 but of interest to commercial fisher- 

 men, geologists and environmental 

 groups — are the proposed Oregon 

 Inlet jetties. 



The 23-year-old controversy 

 over the project escalated again 

 recently, when Interior Secretary 



Bruce Babbitt visited North Carolina 

 to promote President Clinton's 

 national service initiative. 



During that visit, Gov. Jim Hunt 

 urged Babbitt to allow the project to 

 go forward. 



Steve Murray 



For years, the U.S. Department of 

 Interior refused to permit the project, 

 based on predictions that the jetties 

 would cause erosion at the adjacent 

 Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge 

 and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. 



But in 1990, under pressure from 

 Sen. Jesse Helms, R-NC; former Sen. 

 Terry Sanford, D-NC; and former 

 Gov. Jim Martin, then-Interior 

 Secretary Manuel Lujan granted 

 conditional permits for the twin mile- 

 long rock structures. 



In December, the CRC cleared 



the way for the project to bypass a 

 state ban on shoreline hardening by 

 altering its rules to allow such 

 structures — if their purpose is 

 protecting commercial navigation 

 areas of regional significance. 



The jetties have 

 remained stalled, 

 however, pending the 

 revision of an environ- 

 mental impact state- 

 ment and the appro- 

 priation of $84 million 

 needed for construc- 

 tion. 



Commercial 

 fishermen and many 

 northeastern North 

 Carolina officials have 

 continued to push the 

 project, saying it is 

 necessary to keep the 

 shoaling Oregon Inlet 

 open and safe for 

 people who make their 

 living harvesting the 

 Atlantic. 



But national 

 environmental groups 

 long have disagreed. 

 In the wake of Hunt's 

 request to Babbitt, those groups, 

 along with several North Carolina 

 scientists, have renewed their 

 objections, asking Babbitt to with- 

 draw federal support for the jetty 

 project. Among their predictions: the 

 jetties would exacerbate erosion on 

 adjacent Hatteras Island and the 

 project would increase fishing access 

 in areas they consider already 

 overfished. 



Babbitt has remained non- 

 committal, saying only that he would 

 study the issue. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 1 | 



