Restricted Public Access in Hatteras

The following is VCAN's (Virginia Costal Access Now) respose to the Va. Pilot article on access in Hatteras.

VCAN on access to Hatteras 02/14/12
What the outsiders have accomplished.

The Pilot’s view expressed in “Hatteras Still Open For Business”; 02/06/12, is rather typical of the media attention that has been paid to this public shoreline access issue.

The opinion suggesting that beach driving and other public access has been unfettered and unrestricted up to this point seems disingenuous at best. But to conclude that the new rules have been established and are the result of a “good-faith effort” is blind, uninformed, or meant to misinform.

The baselines for the new rules were agreed upon in court a few years ago, and the public had no say in the matter. The National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) rulemaking process that has ensued, has been flawed every step of the way, and has merely been used to support the previous bad court decisions made. This is evident in the suit filed by the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance (CHAPA), a coalition of Dare and Hyde Counties, public access organizations, and outdoor recreation groups. CHAPA’s legal action captures and seeks redress to the fact that the National Park Service (NPS) didn’t even follow its own rules in developing this plan.

This sort of backroom rulemaking is not a unique phenomenon to Cape Hatteras. Other parks and public lands have seen public access curtailed when non-governmental organizations sue the federal government over a technicality. Years of studies and rulemaking then take place at the taxpayer’s expense. In essence we are all paying to be shut out of our own public lands.

The NEPA process requires that all impacts to the environment be assessed formulating rules and regulations. This also includes the human environment. Unfortunately, the NPS has not done its due diligence in studying and assessing the cultural and socio-economic impacts of the new rules. In addition, the science used to determine impacts of public access to wildlife resources is questionable at best. The public comment portions of the NEPA process have raised these issues. Each time this has occurred, the Park Service has simply shrugged these comments off and tweaked the rules to be more restrictive than the last round. This is far from a “good-faith effort”.

The Park Service should be required to develop the rules and regulations the proper way. Incomplete studies and analyses are not good enough. We should expect thorough, fair, and complete policy making from those that manage our public lands. This includes the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area as established in 1952.

The final rule that goes into effect February 15, 2012 unnecessarily impedes off road vehicles and restricts public access even for those on foot. This heavy handed government action driven by the outside Hatteras forces does not follow Congress’s original intent when they established the park with an emphasis on public access for American families to the seashore some sixty years ago.

The outsiders have inappropriately accomplished many things including drastically altering the Hatteras people’s local culture. A National Park where public access should be first and foremost now resembles a National Wildlife Refuge and not the nation’s first National Seashore that was created because of the continued loss of public access to America’s beaches. Congratulations and see you in court.

Mark Feltner, President