The Coastal Structure Debate—Public & Policy Aspects

Coastal structures have been used since antiquity to reduce navigation-channel shoaling and provide protection against wave action in harbors. For example, Herodotus in 440 BC described jetties built along the coast to prevent a navigation channel from shoaling. As sea commerce increased, harbors using breakwaters and jetties were constructed throughout the world. Major cities in the United States were built around ports because of the importance of maritime trade. The importance of navigation in the United States is seen in the “Commerce Clause” of the Constitution that grants the federal government significant rights to regulate commerce including vesting it with navigation servitude that imposes a dominant easement on navigable waters and is used to justify nonpayment of compensation to those who claim their properties have been damaged by government navigation projects. Coastal structures did not become controversial until the latter half of the 20th century when there was a significant migration of people to United States coasts. Coastal structures are now a center of controversy and policy continues to evolve as a result of intense public debate. This chapter discusses how the coastal-structure debate in the United States came to be and how policies are evolving to handle issues concerning the interactions of structures with shorelines.