SANDBAGS MADE OF HEMP GET AN AIRING

Panel Looks for Biodegradable Coastal Policy

Call it the Cheech and Chong bag.

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,
non-hallucinogenic 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 North
Carolina coast.

"If we did adopt this, we'd be dictating the temporary nature of the
bags by making them biodegradable," said Courtney Hackney, CRC
chairman and a marine biologist at the University of North Carolina 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 coastal
towns have successfully argued that they are pursuing a beach
nourishment project to fix their erosion problem.

The Riggings condominium project in Kure Beach, 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 move it along the beachfront. Thus, it's often only a
matter of time before neighboring areas to 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 on Figure Eight Island.

Whether public pressure or the General Assembly allows 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.

Or as Cheech and Chong might say, there's still a good chance the
concept could go up in smoke.