Oral arguments are set to begin Thursday in Bald Head Island’s ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal parties over the erosion the island has experienced on South and West beaches.
The island’s government alleges the Corps is to blame per its development of a major shipping channel close to the shoreline more than a decade ago. A lawsuit the Village of Bald Head Island filed in December 2010 claimed the channel and its maintenance have caused chronic erosion that the Corps neglected to prevent.
It further alleged the Corps violated its agreement to provide the island beach-quality sand from the channel on a mandatory dredging schedule. The island expected that sand in winter 2010-2011, but the Corps didn’t come through per lack of programmed funding.
Either way, the Corps has argued the channel dredging is discretionary, not mandatory, and that its maintenance of the channel is primarily to ensure a clear and safe passage for ships—not to nourish Bald Head’s strand. It has also disputed that it is guilty in the erosion allegation. (See related story.)
Bald Head’s lawsuit against the Corps, originally filed in 2010, was dismissed in U.S. District Court in December 2011 before the village launched an appeal. It wants the case returned to District Court.
The parties will head to the U.S. Courthouse in Richmond, Va., Thursday morning for their oral arguments. A notification explained that each side in such cases is typically allowed 20 minutes.
According to a newsletter from the island’s primary property-owners group, Bald Head Association, erosion continues to scarf areas around the Point—where South and West beaches meet, near the shipping channel.
The group pointed to Bald Head Island Conservancy data that show some spots near the Point have lost as much as 50 feet of sand in roughly four months. Parts of West Beach may be eroding 5-feet weekly.
“There’s a scour spot on West Beach,” village Communications Director Karen Ellison said.
The village installed a 350-foot sandbag revetment wall late last year at the Point to slow the losses. In January, with Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars received following 2011’s hurricane season damages, the island transferred as much as 140,000 cubic yards of sand from Bald Head Creek to erosion hotspots on South and West beaches, but that was just a fraction of what constitutes a healthy renourishment.
Ahead is just that. This winter, the Corps is set to dredge beach-quality sand out of the the channel’s “inner bar” and spread it on Bald Head’s eroded strands. The plan involves more than 1.7 million cubic yards of channel sand. Because it’s a federal project, it will not cost the village anything.
The village is also pursuing the placement of a terminal groin at the Point. The N.C. General Assembly last year modified its ban on all hardened coastal structures to allow for up to four terminal groins—short, rocky walls that serve to maintain beach shape at inlets—following pleas from coastal communities like Bald Head Island that argued sandbagging and the continuous loop of pricey renourishments weren’t enough for the beach management toolbox.
Contact Ben Brown at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
