Examples of Beach Hardening in NC: Oregon Inlet

Contrary to what you might have heard, North Carolina is not the only state in the US that has a statewide ban on hardened structures. The other: Oregon.

So why not talk about Oregon Inlet (in NC, along the Outer Banks) that separates Pea Island from Bodie Island.

From an article on last session's bill (SB599) published in 2008 in the N & O:

The terminal groin built in 1992 at Oregon Inlet to protect the Bonner Bridge, for example, has required a total of 8 million cubic yards of sand to combat downdrift beach erosion along the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. The erosion rate continues at a pace faster than before this erosion control structure was built [emphasis mine].

And there's also this gem, from this 2008 post to the Progressive Pulse:

Promoters argue that the terminal groin will not create problems, which is not true. The very phrase “terminal groin” is a lie of Baron Munchausen proportions! It was a term first used incorrectly at Oregon Inlet to avoid the inflammatory word "jetty" after a long nationally- prominent societal battle over jetty construction. After 25 years' worth of evidence had accumulated indicating that building a jetty at Oregon Inlet wouldn’t work, the state said, “We're not building a jetty – we're building a terminal groin.” And just as predicted, the 3000-foot Oregon Inlet jetty has created immense and very costly erosion problems.