Dear editor:

Concerned Georgians should ask state senators to vote against HB445.

Of all the reasons for opposing HB445, the subversive bill weakening Georgia’s Shore Protection Act (SPA), perhaps the most compelling is the absence of highly relevant scientific information.

The bill is claimed to improve state enforcement of shoreline controls, yet extensive research on coastal erosion and other hazards, funded in part by Georgia DNR, is ignored in HB445.

Because HB445 proposes unprecedented, unwarranted exemptions for high-risk beachfront areas on Sea Island, one can only assume that scientific evidence of coastal erosion is flagrantly neglected to accommodate special-interest profits.

HB445 would undermine SPA safeguards protecting Georgia’s beaches and dunes, increase hazards to beachfront properties and recreational areas, and degrade habitat of sea-turtles and shorebirds. No wonder the bill is so widely and resolutely opposed. 

Over a half-million taxpayer dollars have been spent for scientific research on Georgia’s coastal hazards, which HB445 blatantly ignores.

David Kyler

Center for a 

Sustainable Coast