Where Sand Is Gold, the Reserves Are Running Dry

[steve2470]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/us/where-sand-is-gold-the-coffers-are-running-dry-in-florida.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — With inviting beaches that run for miles along South Florida’s shores, it is easy to put sand into the same category as turbo air-conditioning and a decent mojito — something ever present and easily taken for granted.

As it turns out, though, sand is not forever. Constant erosion from storms and tides and a rising sea level continue to swallow up chunks of beach along Florida’s Atlantic coastline. Communities have spent the last few decades replenishing their beaches with dredged-up sand.

But in South Florida — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties — concerns over erosion and the quest for sand are particularly urgent for one reason: there is almost no sand left offshore to replenish the beaches.

In these communities, sand is far from disposable; it is a precious commodity. So precious, in fact, that it has set off skirmishes among counties and has unleashed an intense hunt for more offshore sand by federal, state and local officials who are already fretting over the next big storm. No idea is too far-fetched in this quest, not even a proposal to grind down recycled glass and transform it into beach sand. The once-shelved idea is now being reconsidered by Broward County.

[rl6214]

1. They can come to my place in far west Texas, I'll sell them all they can haul off

[grilled onions]

2. Every part of the country is running out of something

sand,land(space)water or other resources. We have such serious issues in this decade yet the nay sayers say "therer is no global warming(talk about heads in the sand)...fracking is good says the ones who make sure they bring bottled water to the site and the big shots make sure they never live around the drill sites...land means taxes and I see areas which have small homes,mobile homes, and they are always being threatened with being pushed out because bigger homes means bigger real estate taxes,bigger homes means property values go up. It's just too damn bad that many who have little should be pushed out of their living space because others always want more and don't care if the rest have less.

[agent46]

3. Actually

I really like the ground glass beach idea. It could spark a recycling industry craze and, if done right, could usher in an era (however temporary) of fantastically colored beaches. The more colorful, the rarer the glass, the pricier the real estate.

It's all going under anyway at this point. Might as well make high-tech art out of it.

[CK_John]

4. Time to make a deal with the Saudi, lots of sand. Start a barge train across the waters.

[enough]

5. And the ability to move sand from one place to another? That is beyond gold,

that is oil.