Talking Points

• North Carolina is blessed with 320 miles of coastline and 19 inlets that are both a public trust and an economic resource, contributing billions of dollars of economic impact to the state.

• Inlets can be nature at its most mercurial. Shifting inlets have resulted in enormous losses of public beach access, property, and business and infrastructure, costing counties and towns all along North Carolina's coast hundreds of millions of dollars in reconstruction cost and lost tax revenue.

• Leaders of inlet communities in North Carolina need a long-term solution to help stabilize beaches at inlets. A blue ribbon National Academy of Science study supports the use of terminal structures (also known as terminal groins).

• Every state in the U.S. except North Carolina and Oregon give coastal management authorities this tool to deal with the problem of shifting beaches at inlets.

• Beaches adjacent to inlets in North Carolina at Ft. Macon and Pea Island are already successfully protected by terminal structures, as they have been for decades.

• Terminal structures are not seawalls or coastal armoring. Terminal structures are not jetties. The purpose of a terminal structure is retention of sand on the beach at inlets. A properly designed terminal structure is usually unobtrusive and permeable.

• By stabilizing the shoreline, it can enhance public beach access, and reestablish nesting areas for endangered sea turtles and shore birds.

• The Coastal Resources Commission would be empowered by this legislation to approve a terminal structure only after the completion of a full engineering and environmental review - a thorough public process that gives all stakeholders the opportunity to be heard and provide input.