Quick hits: Rail in N.C.'s future, but sandbags are not

N.C.'s future rides on trains
"Just a few weeks ago Congress, for the first time in 32 years, increased vehicle fuel economy standards.

"Just a few weeks ago in Mecklenburg County, residents voted overwhelmingly to keep a tax to help pay for improved mass transit.

"And just a few weeks ago, the Association of American Railroads released a report that 2007 was the U.S. railroads' second best year ever for total volume, intermodal traffic and revenue -- and oil hit $100 a barrel.

"People and businesses in this country and North Carolina are beginning to think differently about our transportation future," writes Scott Saylor of the North Carolina Railroad Company in a special piece to the Charlotte Observer. "Travel and shipping delays caused by crowded, dangerous highways, environmental pollution from exhausts, and soaring energy costs are weighing on public opinion and the political process. ..."

Sandbags no longer to hold back ocean along N.C. coast
"A state decision to enforce a coastal regulation requires property owners along the North Carolina coast to remove sandbags from land threatened by the creeping Atlantic Ocean," says WRAL's Bill Leslie.

"State officials argued that the implementation of the regulation only honored the intent for sandbags to be temporary guardians against the Atlantic. But homeowners said the loss of the protection of sandbags will ensure the destruction of their homes, many of which are retirement investments.

" 'This is going to be catastrophic for the homeowners, for the state, for everybody,' said Yogi Harper, the owner of both a beach house protected by sandbags and a business that installs them. ..."

1-year deadline on beach sandbags

Coastal counties in North Carolina have one year to remove sandbags from beaches, according to new rules by the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC).

The CRC, on Thursday, "showcased some real frustration over sandbags," according to the Wilmington Star-News.

"Sentiment ranged from making the bags biodegradable, which would limit how long they'd stay on the beach, to completely outlawing them."

Under North Carolina law, sandbags are supposed to be temporary erosion-control measures to buy time for property owners until a longer-term solution such as relocating threatened homes or a beach nourishment can take place.

But in many cases the "temporary" nature of the fabric bags, which were supposed to be limited to two years in the ground, has been lost.

Case in point is The Riggings in Kure Beach, where sandbags have protected the condominium complex from the encroaching ocean for more than two decades.

Now a deadline of May 2008 is looming for most of North Carolina's sandbags to be pulled.

Few expect a mass removal of the protective structures next summer, especially considering the amount of coastal property that could be put at risk.

State regulators agree that there are aesthetic issues with the sandbags, though the main problem is they don't solve the erosion problem "but simply shift it to another spot along the beach."

While any policy change or push to have bags removed is likely leading to a tussle with the General Assembly, which has overruled unpopular CRC decisions in the past, [CRC Chairman Courtney] Hackney said the sandbag issue is really a fundamental question of what North Carolina wants for its coast.

"We have been treating sandbags as hardened structures in everything but name," he said. "So the real question is, 'Do we want seawalls or beach?'

"And if the state wants beach, then we're going to have to come up with money to renourish the beaches. It's that simple."