Orrin Pilkey opposing groin on Pawleys tonight at Waccamaw Library, 6 pm

Excerpt from Pawleys Island: Agencies oppose south end groin by Charles Swenson at the Coastal Observer:

Federal and state agencies are recommending denial of Georgetown County’s request to build a rock groin on the south end of Pawleys Island. They say there is no need for the project, and that it could harm wildlife habitat along the shore.

A public hearing on the project was scheduled for June 24 by the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, which must approve the permit.

The county’s permit request also drew a comment from Orrin Pilkey, an emeritus professor of earth science at Duke University and long-time critic of beachfront development.

“The parking lot is not falling in and if it was it could be moved,” he wrote. But he said the most important concern is that the new groin will trap sand that would otherwise go to downdrift beaches and lead to erosion.

“Groins elsewhere in many places in the world have had a profound impact on the downdrift beaches, often leading to the installation of more self-defense groins and seawalls,” he said. “The potential impact on communities that already have an erosion problem is huge.”

The hearing on the county’s groin permit is schdeuld for June 24 at 6 p.m. in the Waccamaw Library conference room.