How wealthy homeowners are endangering Hawaii's beaches

For decades, homeowners in Punalu‘u watched from large picture windows as locals sunned on the beach and dove for octopus amid the coral reefs of northeast Oahu.

But year after year, the ocean inched closer and closer to their wooden beach houses, and by 2006, it was threatening to claw them away.

Two homeowners asked the state for permission to erect mounds of sandbags along the beach for protection.

Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources agreed, with one key condition: The emergency measures would be temporary. Such shoreline structures can hasten beach erosion, and state officials were trying to ensure that didn’t happen. The homeowners had a few years to come up with long-term plans for their homes and remove the sandbags.

Read more: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/12/05/hawaii-news/how-famous-surfers-and-wealthy-homeowners-are-endangering-hawaiis-beaches/