Corps Proposal for Gulf Draws Criticism From Scientists

Ambitious federal plans to repair the Gulf Coast and defend it against future hurricanes are coming under fire from many coastal scientists who say they would only perpetuate a costly and wrongheaded approach to storm management.

he projects are still in the planning stages by the Army Corps of Engineers, which has been ordered by Congress to present its long-term, comprehensive plans by the end of 2007.

In addition to short-term repair projects, the corps is considering large and elaborate systems of walls and barriers, offshore breakwaters, dune reconstruction on offshore barrier islands, levees and mechanical barriers or gates that would close across inlets to keep surging storm waters out.

Many scientists have long objected to seawalls, other coastal armor and even some beach restoration projects as costly interventions that can damage the very beaches they are supposed to protect. But they say the larger projects will have the same effects, only worse.

“The most shocking thing to me is that they would even consider some of the things that they are considering,” said Robert J. Young, new director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, a project of Duke and Western Carolina universities.

from the NY Times