The
Texas legislature is in session, God help us all.
There is a plethora of bad bills.
But there are two in particular that benefit about 3 dozen
people and harm the other 21,000,000 Texans.
I live inland, why should I care? Your tax dollars are being
spent to "protect" people who have rent houses too
close to an eroding shore. Two-thirds of the Texas coast is
eroding at 2' to 10'+ per year. You can buy health insurance,
life insurance, and storm insurance. But you can't buy erosion
insurance. Coastal banks won't write loans on front row
property. If you want a loan, apply inland where bankers are
not familiar with the risk. If you can't insure it and can't
finance it - maybe you shouldn't do it. We're not against
development, but we insist on sustainable development. Our
goal is to be able to stand on the beach 30 years from now and
say, "we made the right decisions". There are
precious few places where that can be done today.
House Bill 1603 and it's identical companion Senate Bill 740
create a special exemption from the Open Beaches Act for a
small subdivision near San Luis Pass in Brazoria county.
Why should you care about this? They set a dangerous precedent
that can restrict public access to any beach in Texas. 50% of
our population live within 100 miles of the coast. Every year
more people move there, future public access depends on a
strong and complete Open Beaches Act.
Rep Dennis Bonnen and Sen. Kyle Janek authored the
bills. They claim there is "confusion" along the
coast about the property line which is caused by the fact that
the Line of Vegetation "can meander and change
dramatically over short and long periods of time. The goal of
this legislation is to set the property line more permanently,
so that no
confusion exists among any interested parties."
Our contention is the only "confusion" is in the
minds of those who refuse to acknowledge the Gulf of Mexico
has been moving towards Austin at 2' to 5'+ feet per year for
the last 25,000 years, and will continue to do so until the
next ice age.
These bills pander to people who, for years have excluded the
public from their "private beach" by towing cars of
people who are not tenants. They have also created and
exacerbated their erosion problem by illegally dumping rocks,
concrete, boulders, and even constructing a geotextile tube
that failed miserably within a year. All these attempts to
halt erosion actually caused the sand to wash away even
quicker.
We are urging everyone who feels the Open Beaches Act should
not be weakened call their State legislators to oppose these
bills.
For more info and photos that illustrate the issue, go to http://www.surfrider.org/texas/issues/2005-Leg/index.html
Thanks for your help.
Ellis Pickett
Secretary/Spokesman
Surfrider Foundation Texas Chapter
www.surfrider.org/texas
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