The Defense Department is enlisting a familiar weapon in an effort to protect $13 billion worth of property in Avalon and Stone Harbor from nature's attacks - the sand grain.

Almost certainly, a substantial portion of the 600,000 cubic yards of sand that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to pump on the Seven Mile Island beaches, as early as this week, at a cost of about $7 million is going to disappear from view with the next storm waves.

It happens all the time, and that's one reason sand-pumping has become a public symbol of the perceived futility of trying to lock in the nation's restless coastlines…

…The nation has spent $80 million to $100 million annually on shore-protection programs in the last decade, estimates Howard Marlowe, a lobbyist who has been instrumental in keeping the federal sand-dollar pumps operating.

He said that, initially, Obama was resistant to beach projects, but that he had noted a distinct recent softening. "There was a little convincing that was done," Marlowe said.

Simmons said the nation should spend more on beaches, perhaps $300 million a year, and that it needs to find a permanent funding method. He said the loss of beaches would be a tremendous blow to people who want the option of visiting them.

How would they react, he asked, if they were told: "You can't go to the beach, because there's no beach to put your towel on, there's no hotel for you to rent"?
 

Walton County Officials Lobby for Funds to Widen U.S. 331

By Angel McCurdy
Daily News
March 15, 2011

Walton County commissioners hope their constant reminders of the need to widen U.S. Highway 331 will lead to more funding.

County commissioners Sara Comander and Scott Brannon made their case to federal transportation officials in Washington, D.C., last week while attending the National Association of Counties Conference.

“We always want to keep 331 on people’s minds,” said Ken Little, the county’s citizen services director. “We’ve been working to get it four-laned since the 1960s. A lot of progress is being made. We just need to keep it on the front burner.”

Commissioners spoke with Stephanie Kopelousos, the former secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation, about the importance of widening the highway and the need for another bridge over Choctawhatchee Bay to handle normal traffic and improve hurricane evacuation.

“Having the benefit of former Secretary Kopelousos’ insight and knowledge of our road issues as she works with Congressman (John) Mica on the federal Transportation Authorization Bill should put Walton County in a good position,” Comander said.

Mica, who represents Florida’s seventh congressional district, chairs the House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Little said Walton County’s relatively small population is connected to the funding issue.

“Our population is much smaller than a lot of counties,” Little said. “But when we get spring breakers and our summer vacationers, our functional population goes up. Hopefully, this will lead to some good things for our county.”

California State Senator Lois Wolk honors Carol Davis of Give Every Child a Chance at the annual “Woman of the Year” event held by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.

The Woman of the Year event was started in 1987 by Assemblywoman Bev Hansen (R) and Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D), who noticed that the California Legislature had no events planned for the month of March, Women's History Month. In celebration of the contributions to society made by remarkable women throughout California, Hansen and Tanner arranged to invite one woman from each Senate and Assembly district to come to the Capitol and be honored for their accomplishments. The women were to be recognized as Woman of the Year in a formal ceremony on the floors of the Senate and Assembly. This yearly event, sponsored and organized by the Women's Caucus, is greatly anticipated by all Legislators today.