NC CONSIDERS HEMP SAND BAGS

COASTAL RESOURCES COMMISSION N.C. considers hemp sand bags Hemp among
materials that could help state's sacks of sand fade away

As the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission wrestles with what to do
about the proliferation of sandbags along the state's coastline, one
idea that's been floated is to make the bags biodegradable.

And one of the materials under consideration is hemp -- the
industrial, nonhallucinogenic cousin of marijuana.

In short, that would be one way to make sure the sandbags get rolled
up instead of becoming semi-permanent structures along the N.C.
coast. "If we did adopt this, we'd be dictating the temporary nature
of the bags by making them biodegradable," said Courtney Hackney, CRC
chair and a marine biologist at UNC Wilmington.

The CRC has placed a May 2008 deadline for the removal of most
uncovered sandbags along the coast.

Sandbags were originally meant to offer threatened structures
temporary protection, generally for two years, until a more permanent
solution could be developed.

Those final solutions usually were removal of the threatened property
or a beach nourishment project.

But regulators have been prone to issue extensions, and many towns
have successfully argued that they are pursuing a beach nourishment
project to fix their erosion problem.

The Riggings condominium project in Kure Beach near Wilmington, for
example, has relied on sandbags for protection since 1985.

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management recently ordered the bags
removed, a decision the homeowners are challenging in court.

The bags also have proliferated in many places, forming unattractive
and long, "hardened structures," since sandbags don't solve erosion
but simply force it elsewhere along the beachfront. Thus, it's often
only a matter of time before neighbors of a sandbagged property need
the bags themselves for protection.

If the schedule remains, homeowners relying on uncovered sandbags to
fend off the encroaching Atlantic could start getting removal letters
in the mail next spring.

State regulators estimate there are about 150 sandbag structures that
would need to come out, including 19 in New Hanover County, almost
all located on Figure Eight Island.

The unknowns Whether public pressure or the N.C. General Assembly
allows state Coastal Management to go ahead with the plan is a very
large unknown. Renee Cahoon, a CRC member and mayor of Nags Head,
where many of the visible sandbag structures are located, said the
impending deadline is already causing consternation in her town.

"It's not going to be fun," she said. That's led CRC members to
discuss a new approach to limiting the time future sandbags can stay
on the beach, which also could prompt more urgency in developing a
long-term solution.

One possibility would be to use natural materials like cotton or
burlap for the bags instead of polypropylene or polyester.

Those fabrics have long life spans. But the polyester fabrics often
soil marshes and other coastal areas when bags are ripped or wash
away. Using natural fibers would bring a built-in time limit to a
sandbag structure. It also would solve the lingering problem of
"orphaned" sandbags that are left behind on the beach, whether on
purpose or because they're buried. But one of the great unknowns is
how cotton or woven natural fibers, like flax or hemp, would hold up
in the harsh oceanfront environment. Natural fibers can decay quickly
if not treated and could be prone to attacks by microorganisms.

Coastal Management's Scott Geiss said the initial reports aren't
good, with 66 days a worst-case scenario given by industry officials.
But a 2005 Army Corps of Engineers study, prompted by the failure of
sandbags in Iraq, showed cotton and burlap bags kept their strength
well in a desert environment.

A dry desert, though hot and sunny like beach areas, is a much more
controlled environment than the salty and wet oceanfront. "There are
a lot of unknowns out there right now," Geiss said of the
practicality of using biodegradable sandbags.