Offshore Drilling: Why is Florida so special?

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The Dirty Myrtle: More than meets the eye

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Genevieve Guerry is a student in the Masters in Coastal and Ocean Policy program. She graduated from the University of South Carolina at Columbia in 2015 with a B.S in Marine Science with an emphasis in Biology. As the daughter of South Carolina natives, she spent several summers in the low country inspiring an interest in water quality and conservation.  A hot summer’s day in July and once again the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach is packed from the parking lots to the water line. As one of America’s top beaches , Myrtle Beach attracts everyone and everything.  The area has a nickname, "Dirty Myrtle"  which refers to anything between a type of drink to a mud run .  But over the last decade, the nickname's meaning has slipped away from local leaders control over marketing towards the numerous swimming advisories that warn visitors of the poor water quality along the beach.  South Carolina is the 3rd worst state for beach water quality in the country. Over the la
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Where have all the wetlands gone?... To Mitigation Banks!

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Brooks Surgan is a candidate for a Masters in Coastal and Ocean Policy, and is set to graduate from the program this spring. He performed his undergrad at the Stony Brook University, earning a Bachelor’s of Science in Marine Science in 2012. Prior to his graduate career, he was an environmental consultant in New York for three years. He is now working for the North Carolina State Division of Coastal Management and continuing his passion for coastal environmental regulation. The passage of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act in 1972 redefined the historical role the Army Corps of Engineers from civil and military development to environmental protection and restoration. This created a reliance on compensatory mitigation through mitigation banks to protect the environment, while still allowing for development and growth. Mitigation banks are the preferred method by the Army Corps of Engineers to offset wetland impacts from development because they are a convenient way for d
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Public Beach Access in New Jersey

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Christopher Yoda is a student in the Coastal and Ocean Policy Master’s program and is graduating this spring. He graduated from Gettysburg College in 2014 with a BA in Organizational Management Studies and a Minor in Business. Chris became interested in public access and related coastal management issues during his summer internship with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Picture: Surfrider Jersey Shore Chapter There is a long history of some towns and private beach clubs in New Jersey attempting to restrict access to the beach to residents or members only. The most recent iteration of this can be seen in Deal, New Jersey , where the town has attempted to limit parking near the beach to residents only. Within the State’s Coastal Management Plan, under Enforceable Coastal Policies the government is required to provide “visual and physical access” to the waterfront. In some cases, the state falls short of its goal of physical and visual access because some
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