The federal government is proposing to set aside vast patches of seashore from Texas to North Carolina to protect the endangered piping plover. Builders would have to seek environmental clearance to erect homes and seawalls, lay roads or replenish eroded beaches. If development is approved at all, it will likely be costlier and slower. Beach communities along the 1,672 miles of coast fear the proposed winter habitat will mean the extinction of the tourist trade. It's nice to have beach for the birds, but there's got to be something for the public.
People have to make a living.
Sierra Club spokesman Jim Chapman called the complaints shortsighted. If those aren't protected, they'll be lost. The government says beach towns have nothing to fear. Still, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges mapping critical habitat for the birds using outdated and incomplete biological data, and without thoroughly studying the financial impact on communities. There was a time constraint.