The high cost of preserving vulnerable beaches for tourism amid hurricanes

The US has spent some $9 billion to rebuild beaches since 1923, a Western Carolina University database shows

As lawmakers consider disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Florence, projects to rebuild North Carolina’s shrunken shorelines are likely to get a healthy chunk of government money.

To their advocates, these so-called beach nourishment initiatives are crucial steps in buffering valuable oceanfront properties from storm damage and boosting local economies that rely on tourism.

But such projects replenish the same vulnerable areas again and again, and disproportionately benefit wealthy owners of seaside lots.

Moreover, pumping millions of cubic yards of sand onto beaches can cause environmental damage, according to decades of studies. It kills wildlife scooped up from the