
DATE: Wednesday, October 29, 1997           TAG: 9710290658

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BUXTON                            LENGTH:   65 lines

PLAN TO MOVE LANDMARK SEES LIGHT OF DAY CONGRESS OKS A GRANT TO STUDY MOVING HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE INLAND

Folks who want to slide the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse away from the sea will be beaming this week.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate approved a bill allocating $2 million to study moving the spiral-striped beacon. The House approved the same appropriation last week. President Clinton is expected to sign the federal budget within five days.

``The Clinton administration has been supportive of moving the lighthouse all along,'' said Peter Hans, a spokesman in Sen. Lauch Faircloth's Washington office. ``We expect him to approve this money with no problems.''

Standing 208 feet tall and weighing almost 3,000 tons, the black-and-white lighthouse is the tallest brick tower in the country. It has clung to the coast for 127 years - warning mariners away from dangerous shores of the Outer Banks. But the beach that buffers the beacon from the Atlantic has eroded to only 120 feet wide.

Since 1970, officials have spent more than $2 million trying to hold the shoreline in place with sand bags, sea grass and other stabilization projects.

But in December, a group of North Carolina State University professors said if the lighthouse is not moved soon, it will topple into the ocean. The pine timbers shoring up the brick beacon's base are beginning to rot, they say. They estimate another $10 million is needed to relocate the lighthouse about a half-mile inland.

Experts say they're sure they could slide the tower upright on rails similar to those used to move and launch space shuttles.

But some state residents fear the lighthouse might fall during a move. They want to save the lighthouse where it's stood since 1870. And they're trying to convince federal officials to use taxpayers' money to build another groin to deflect waves from around the beacon's base rather than studying a move.

``The Save the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Committee is unalterably opposed to any attempt to move Cape Hatteras Lighthouse because it is high risk, expensive and unnecessary,'' said Hugh Morton, a Linville photographer who leads the opposition group. ``The fourth groin to offset the erosion at the lighthouse . . . has been the preferred solution to protect the lighthouse.''

On Saturday, Morton plans to host a meeting with U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr. and other officials to discuss alternatives to moving the lighthouse.

``We're well aware of other opinions about moving the lighthouse,'' said Hans, whose office helped initiate the federal funding to study the move. ``Senator Faircloth plans to hold a public hearing after the first of the year to field other opinions about what to do. And he'll probably hold that meeting on the Outer Banks.

``Everyone's on the same page about trying to save this historic structure. The question is: `What is the best way to do that?' '' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

EFFORTS TO SAVE THE LIGHTHOUSE

Since 1970, officials have spent more than $2 million trying to hold

the shoreline in place with sand bags, sea grass and other

stabilization projects.

But in December, a group of North Carolina State University

professors said if the lighthouse is not moved soon, it will topple

into the ocean.

Experts say they're sure they could slide the tower upright on rails

similar to those used to move and launch space shuttles.

But some state residents fear the lighthouse might fall during a

move. They want to save the lighthouse where it's stood since 1870.