BUXTON, N.C. — There's a lot currently happening on the Buxton oceanfront, like houses being relocated and the area preparing for beach nourishment and jetty repair projects in June. This week in Edenton, News 3 was able to ask North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein some questions related to challenges facing Hatteras Island, and we traveled down to Buxton to see what our neighbors had to say.
News 3 will be including all four questions we and fellow Outer Banks media outlet The Island Free Press were able to ask during limited time with the governor. News 3 also sat down with Buxton native Jeff Dawson, whose family history in the area goes back hundreds of years, to hear what he had to say.
The first question News 3 asked was about Stein's thoughts on recent legislation introduced in Raleigh to overturn the state's hardened structures ban.
"The concern with hardened structures is what they may do to preserve in one area, they substantially worsen in another area. And so I'm really going to look to geologists and marine scientists to help advise us on what makes sense," said Stein.
"Once you let those jetties exist, and then you let them fail, you cause catastrophic damage to the oceanfront. The main point I would like to make about the hardened structures is, it's not just about jetties. It's about near shore reefs and creating marine habitat and providing stability for the highway, which is not just a couple houses that fell in, it's the whole islands economy," said Dawson.
Another question News 3 asked is about our neighbors locally feeling the state needs to be involved more, with Stein going back to his and Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey's push last fall for Congress to pass Rep. Greg Murphy's legislation that was introduced a year ago.
"We lost dozens of properties in the last few years on the Outer Banks, and it's terrible. We have a rising sea. What we need to do, and I've urged Congress to pass a law that Congressman Murphy proposed, which is to allow the National Flood Insurance Program to actually pay a homeowner of a house that's about to fall into the ocean before it falls in the ocean. Right now, they can only get reimbursed for the loss of their property once it's destroyed, which creates all kinds of environmental damage and is much more costly to clean up. So what we should be doing is allowing homeowners to get rid of their home, to have their property purchased by the government, so that they can either move it to another place or take the home down before it tumbles into the ocean," said Stein.
"I think there's a lot of time and energy being wasted on that bill where they should just be looking at the real problem and fixing the issue at hand, which is the man-made erosion," said Dawson.
As far as what the state can do to preserve and protect against the ocean's encroachment on America's first national seashore and the livelihoods of our neighbors on Hatteras Island, Stein had this to say.
"The challenge is, we can't stop the ocean. So then the question is, what do we do? We can try to delay it by doing more beach renourishment and there was just millions of dollars put on the beach a couple years ago, and unfortunately, a lot of that is already back into the ocean. The other thing we can do is help move properties off the water's edge back, just like they did with the lighthouse 20-30, years ago. And so the one thing you can't change is the ocean, but we can take actions to try to mitigate the hardship, and what I want to do is partner with the federal government. Clearly, they're the ones with the resources. The state simply doesn't have the money to do all this by itself. But do everything we can to preserve it, because to your point, it is a critical part of who we are as North Carolinians," said Stein.
"I think he's correct in asking the federal government for help, they were the ones who put the jetties in. The state needs to acknowledge that our tax dollars go to the state as well, and we all need to collaborate and work together hand in hand, rather than passing the buck. I think we're all still trying to work towards the same goal and get the right thing done, not lose this valuable part of North Carolina," said Dawson.
News 3 also asked about the state's beach nourishment fund that Dare County leaders have called on state leaders to start putting money into. Outer Banks leaders have said they have growing worries that years down the line, they are not going to be able to fund the projects on their own here locally.
"When the federal government provides beach renourishment money, it requires a match from the state and the local and so this requires a collaboration, and the General Assembly is meeting on the budget as we speak and so this is absolutely something we can talk about," said Stein.
News 3 and fellow media outlets were only able to ask a few questions in the time we had with the governor, but are committed to continuing to ask the governor more questions on these issues in the future.
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