Letter: Beach nourishment plan will definitely hurt sea turtles

Your headline read, “Hilton Head renourishment could require sea turtle protection.” How about “should” require sea turtle protection?

If it was not OK to renourish during the sea turtle nesting season when Hilton Head Island had approximately 150 nests, why is it now OK to renourish during the season when Hilton Head has more than double that number? Answer: It’s not.

Don’t count on turtles avoiding the lights and noise at the construction site. Loggerheads in Florida don’t.

Don’t count on volunteers working at night being able to discern loggerhead tracks among bulldozer tracks. The look very much alike.

Don’t count on bulldozer operators being able to see a sand-covered loggerhead crossing a sand-colored beach. That is not what they are thinking about.

This project “will” affect sea turtles, not just “may.”

If Ed Drane were still alive, I doubt this would be happening.

It doesn’t matter what the Town Council votes for, it still must receive permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It appears these two federal agencies have sold out the loggerhead turtle, our state reptile, for piping plovers and red knots. Nothing good will come of this for the loggerhead.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Beach nourishment plan will definitely hurt sea turtles."