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Whose Land
(Monday, 23 June 2008) Written by greeniac19850
I read an interesting article "As Beaches Creep In, Ownership Disputes Erupt" on NPR's website that addresses the issue of property ownership as the shoreline encroaches toward land. According to Texas law, the beach is a public park, and so private people may not keep houses on it. As the vegetation line moves farther inland so does the beach and the public park. However, the owners of several of the homes argue that the state is taking their property and that it must pay for the property under eminent domain. The article concludes with the observation that the result of this case will set precedent for other states and cities. In a situation where the coast moves inland and New York skyscrapers are threatened who must absorb the property loss value?
In Brannan v. State of Texas the homeowners argue that the state takes their property by declaring that as the vegetation line moves inland, their land becomes a public park. The state rejoins that they aren't taking any property, but rather the sea is. To me there seems to be two separate takings of land. First, the sea encroaches on the beach, a public park, and takes the state's property. The state can't very well demand compensation from the sea, or take the sea to court. Then the state argues since they own the beach and the beach has moved, the homeowners must move their houses that are now on state property, without compensation for the property lost. The case has not yet been decided, so we will have to see how it turns out. But even if the courts decide that the homeowners can demand compensation, this does not solve the problem of what happens when the sea or ocean itself takes a piece of property without any transfer to state ownership. You cannot keep a skyscraper in the ocean. The NPR article discusses the question of whose fault it is that the sand eroded. If governmental actions helped erode the sand, then perhaps the government caused the problem and should pay to fix it. However, blame is hard to place. If global warming causes the sea level to rise, it could be industry's fault for spewing out greenhouse gases, or it could be consumers' faults for demanding products, or it could be governments' faults for regulating too lightly. But really, we cannot really figure out who is at fault, although I'm sure people will try if the situation arises. Ultimately the loss will have to be absorbed by everyone, if the situation arises.
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