Final Hours for Cape Hatteras

In the next six to eight weeks, the final decision concerning Cape Hatteras
Lighthouse will be made. In the following article you will see why we are
concerned that members of the Interior Subcommittee of the House
Appropriations Committee be made aware of the situation at Hatteras and
that many, many people care about the future of this national treasure.
Please write Ralph Regula, chairman of the Appropriations Committee,
and the other Committee Members listed below to express the importance
of relocating the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

We have tried to SEPARATE THE ISSUES of local business people who want
beach nourishment to protect their beachfront and the desire to protect
Highway 12 on the part of the Dare County Commissioners, board of realtors,
etc. These concerns have nothing to do with saving this lighthouse for
future generations and must be handled in other ways. Building a groin is
illegal concerning both state and federal environmental laws; it was not
even considered a viable solution a decade ago...why use it now when more
extreme conditions exist?

Please write: Chairman Ralph Regula
2309 Rayburn House Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20515

and the other members as follows at the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515:

Joseph M. McDade
Jim Kolbe
Joe Skeen
Charles H. Taylor
George Nethercutt
Dan Miller
Zach Wamp
Sidney R. Yates
John P. Murtha
Norm Dicks
David E. Skaggs
James P. Moran

Personal notes do make a difference, as has been proven by many letter
writing campaigns across this nation in plea for saving Cape Hatteras by
relocation.


The Charlotte Observer is the largest and most respected newspaper in
North Carolina. This article is right on target.

Article: From The Charlotte Observer, Tuesday, May 26, 1998

"Move the Light...Don't leave Cape Hatteras Lighthouse where it is"

Just a year ago, the congressman representing North Carolina's Outer Banks
was vowing in writing to do all he could to move the world-famous Cape
Hatteras Lighthouse back to its original relationship with the ocean --
several thousand feet from threatening waves.

But that was before U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. and Sen. Lauch Faircloth
held a public hearing to gauge opposition to the move. After a meeting in
Manteo showed the depth of local opposition to moving the structure, Rep.
Jones has changed his mind -- and endorsed the worst of all options.

Rep. Jones says he now supports a cockeyed plan to keep the 128-year-old
lighthouse right where it is on the edge of the ocean. To protect it, Rep.
Jones proposes to violate the central principle of the N.C. Coastal Area
Management Act and build a $4 million, 800-foot-long groin into the ocean
to help protect the lighthouse for perhaps 15 to 25 years.

Such a groin -- which would help collect sand immediately in front of the
lighthouse but also cause erosion down the beach -- would violate state
law, National Park Service policy and historic preservation law. Gov. Jim
Hunt and other state leaders like Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight
wisely favor a Park Service proposal to move the lighthouse about 2,900
feet to the west, at a cost of about $12 million, including $2 million for
current planning costs.
The new site is well away from the fury and constant pounding of the ocean,
and should protect the lighthouse for about a century.

Opponents of the move fear that the [208]-foot-tall structure could not
stand the move, though engineers say there is no insurmountable problem
involved. Many other lighthouses have been moved successfully, though none
so tall as Hatteras. A team of scientists endorsed the move, but local
residents generally oppose it.

We think moving it is not only possible, but also offers the most promise
of long-term preservation while restoring its original relationship to the
sea. After all, its builders didn't erect the lighthouse just a few dozen
feet from the sea. They put it far from the waves.

There are too many hidden costs and unanticipated dangers associated with
leaving it where it is and depending on a groin to protect it. A groin
would mean constant maintenance costs, create far greater damage to
adjacent beach property owned by the public, and offer only short-term
protection to a valued piece of N.C. history.

A move may involve some risk. We think that's far less risk than leaving
it where is is, inviting continued damage from the sea, or building a groin
guaranteed to damage our coastline and require costly annual maintenance
without ensuring long-term preservation. Move the lighthouse -- while
there's still time.
End of article.

Send your vote of confidence for the move. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
was designed and built by the government...the U.S. Lighthouse
Service...and remains a federal responsibility with the National Park
Service. It belongs to all of us, not just local residents who had the
privilege to grow up in the warmth of its beam. And by the way, the
nomination for Historic Landmark status for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
has been accepted and will be granted after the move.
FORWARD!!!