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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 23 November 2018

In this Nov. 10, 2018, photo volunteers hold a “Save The Light-
house” rally near the East Point Lighthouse in Maurice River
Township, N.J.
Associated Press.
University professor and country considered to be
leading expert on climate in danger from rising seas
change and sea level rise. include the Sand Island
That is a faster pace than Lighthouse at the mouth
for the past 2,000 years of Mobile Bay in Alabama,
combined, he said. the Morris Island Lighthouse
Horton and other Rutgers near Charleston, South
researchers project that by Carolina, and the New
2050, seas off New Jersey Point Comfort Lighthouse in
will rise by an additional 1.4 Virginia.
feet (0.4 meters). Around the world, en-
Tim Harrison is the editor croaching seas are draw-
of Lighthouse Digest, a ing nearer to the Orford-
Maine-based publication ness Lighthouse in Suffolk,
Rising sea levels threatening historic that maintains a “Dooms- England; the Troubridge
day List” of 53 lighthouses Island Lighthouse in South
lighthouses around the U.S. deemed to Australia; and the Kiipsaar
be in danger of being lost Lighthouse in Estonia. In
due to storms, erosion or 2010, the Half Moon Caye
other causes. Lighthouse in Belize was de-
By WAYNE PARRY, Associ- earthen walls. During nor- or cliffs being eroded by Rising seas have already stroyed by a storm.
ated Press mal conditions, the bay is storms and rising sea levels. forced the relocation of There are few easy answers,
MAURICE RIVER TOWNSHIP, about 40 yards (37 meters) “It’s happening faster than several lighthouses. financially or scientifically.
N.J. (AP) — Rising seas and from the lighthouse; aerial anybody had predicted,” In 1999, the National Park The East Point Lighthouse
erosion are threatening photos from 1940 show at said Jeff Gales, executive Service moved the Cape is already on the highest
lighthouses around the U.S. least four times as much director of the U.S. Light- Hatteras Lighthouse in Bux- spit of land around, which
and the world. Volunteers beach between the light- house Society in Hansville, ton, North Carolina, 2,900 is only a few inches above
and cash-strapped gov- house and the bay as there Washington. feet inland, at a cost of sea level, so moving it is not
ernments are doing what is now. While some of the lighthous- $11.8 million. In 1993, the an option.
they can, but the level of And during storms, the surf es continue to be relied Southeast Lighthouse on Nor is constantly dumping
concern, like the water, is pounds against an earthen upon for navigation, oth- Block Island, Rhode Island, and plowing more sand in
rising. wall just 10 yards (9 meters) ers have been supplanted was moved 300 feet inland. front of it.
New Jersey’s East Point from the lighthouse’s front more modern technology, In 2014 the Cape San Blas Patterson wants some
Lighthouse has been light- steps. and are treasured more for Lighthouse was moved sort of bulkhead or barrier
ing up Delaware Bay for “This lighthouse is in in- historical and tourism pur- from the edge of a storm- erected between the bay
the better part of two credible danger; it’s get- poses. prone peninsula on Flor- and the lighthouse to blunt
centuries. But those same ting worse and worse and Climate change hastened ida’s Gulf Coast to a park the force of the waves.
waters that the lighthouse worse,” Patterson said. by manmade greenhouse in Port St. Joe. A year later, Larry Hajna, a spokesman
helped illuminate might “The water is right there, of- gases is not only melting the Gay Head Lighthouse for the New Jersey Depart-
bring about its demise. ten within feet of the light- polar ice, adding to sea on Massachusetts’ Mar- ment of Environmental Pro-
With even a moderate-term house.” levels, but the warmer wa- tha’s Vineyard was moved tection, acknowledges the
fix likely to cost $3 million or She recently led a save- ters are expanding and 129 feet back from an lighthouse has been “very
more, New Jersey officials the-lighthouse rally to call some land formations sink- eroding cliff. vulnerable to storms due to
are considering what to attention to its plight and ing. Others were not so lucky. erosion” for years.
do to save the lighthouse. push the state Department Globally, sea levels have The Galveston Jetty Light- And he realizes the sand-
Nancy Patterson, president of Environmental Protec- been rising over the past house in Texas and the Sabi- bags the state and local
of the Maurice River Histori- tion to do something to century, according to the ne Bank Lighthouse in Loui- governments keep plop-
cal Society, says something save it before it falls into the National Oceanic and At- siana were lost to storms or ping on the shoreline are a
needs to be done now. bay. mospheric Administration, rising seas, and the Kauho- stop-gap measure at best.
State and local govern- It’s a threat affecting light- and the rate has increased la Point Lighthouse on Ha- But while affirming the
ments routinely shore up the houses around the country in recent decades. In New waii’s Big Island was demol- state’s interest in saving the
perimeter of the lighthouse and the world, including Jersey, seas have risen by ished after erosion nearby lighthouse, he notes that
property with 3,000-pound those in low-lying areas be- 1.3 feet (0.4 meters) over was deemed too severe to moving or protecting it with
(1360-kilogram) sand bags ing inundated by water, the past 100 years, said save it, Harrison said. rock-filled cages could cost
and hastily bulldozed as well as those on bluffs Benjamin Horton, a Rutgers Lighthouses around the several million dollars.q