THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608290409
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 41 lines
The U.S. Department of Interior has sued the state to force removal of 4,000 sandbags protecting portions of North Carolina Route 12 on Hatteras Island from Atlantic waters.
The action, filed Aug. 14 in U.S. District Court, demands that the state remove the sandbags within 30 days and pay all related court costs.
Both the federal government and the state are in agreement that the sandbags are ``hardened structures'' that cause severe beach erosion and were permitted for only a short period.
The state issued the permits, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara D. Kocher said Wednesday. ``They just have failed to follow the special use permits that dictated removal.''
However, the state is barred by a state court decision from taking away the bags. Dare County Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett in a February ruling granted a continuance of a temporary restraining order requested by the county. The order allowed the sandbags to remain along a 3.5-mile strip of beach within Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation and the state Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources planned to remove the bags after a flood-prone portion of the two-lane road was relocated farther from the seashore. Permits granted by the Interior Department to place the bags required they be removed by June 1996, one year after road construction began.
But Dare County contended that the barriers lining the seaward-side of Route 12 are essential to the safety of the 5,000 Hatteras Island residents because they protect the roadway from ocean overwash. The highway is the only route to the mainland and northern Dare County from Hatteras.
The federal government's attempt to intervene in the county action against the state was turned down in Dare County Superior Court in July.
Dare County Attorney Al Cole said that decision left the federal agency with no other recourse but to sue if it is determined to get rid of the sandbags.
``This doesn't really come as a surprise,'' he said.
Cole said the county will file its own motion to intervene in the federal lawsuit. by CNB