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The permanent T-groin rock structure costs an estimated $17.5 million. The proposed rocks are being paid for with county and state taxpayers’ dollars and the sand nourishment is being funded through county, state, and federal taxpayers’ dollars. Thus, if you live in Pinellas County, you will pay for this project 5 times over.

Let us not forget the yellow bags, otherwise known as experimental temporary T-shaped structures.  The experiment began in 2004, following sand nourishments in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, in addition to the "fixes" in 2008 and 2010 proposed to the temporary structures.

The eminent claim from the nearby beach condo owners is that the decision to install rock structure T-groins should be made by the city property owning taxpayers since they contributed to the project. In fact, Kevin Hing, appointed member of the Beach Stewardship committee for St. Pete Beach and leader of the Save our Sands movement, has also made the same claim. (Ironically, Hing is not even a property owner in Pinellas County.) On the other hand, as mentioned previously, everyone who is a tax paying American citizen is paying for the project. And, if you have ever stayed in a Pinellas County hotel, thus paid a bed tax, you too are paying for the project. So why did the city and county brush off the petitions Suncoast Chapter Surfrider Foundation collected asking for the project to be stopped?

More facts: Out of the 243 units that comprise the condos located directly near 7000 Beach Plaza (where the T-groin structures are located), only 34.6% are St. Pete Beach residents and less than 50% of them are residents of the state. So why did the over 1,600 petition signatures from 2003-2009 not get the project stopped? In fact, elected officials did not even bat an eye in recognizing the people's voices, even though the petition signatures were from tourists and locals.

Now, according to St. Pete Times reporter David Decamp, the county dissolved the Environmental Management Division even though they had major nourishment projects pending, including a $35 million project on the books in addition to $17.5 million for the Upham project -- just to name a few.

A memo dated August 4, 2009, from the Board of County Commissioners contains a letter from Dr. Nicole Elko, a now former Pinellas County Coastal Coordinator (let go because of conflict of interest) requesting the earmarking of future revenues. (Dr. Elko’s letter is dated June 19, 2009 and was stamped by the environmental management division on June 22, 2009. Subject: Florida’s Beach Management Program). The Long Key Beach Nourishment Project of 2012/2013 had projected revenues of $13,750,000 for sand nourishment and $3,700,000 for the T-groin structures. After responding through electronic communication, Andy Squires, the Assistant Director of the Pinellas County Department of what was the Environmental Management Division, verified on April 2, 2010, that those dollar amounts were in fact the appropriate costs for the T-groin upkeep. So why is the nourishment now costing 5-7 times as much as any other historical nourishment or projected future placement with or without groins as previously provided in Upham presentations (refer to slide 8)?

Additionally, in the CPE St. Pete Beach presentation (slide 29), the cost estimate is $1-1.5 million per structure, whereby math equates to $5-7.5 million total for the structures. Even more concerning is the county expressing the estimates could vary by several million dollars. What exactly are the parameters of several million dollars to vary by? And where would the variations of millions of dollars come from?

Now shall we add in the oil crisis on the Gulf. When oil hits sand, the clean-up crews and technology do not allow all the sand to be cleaned -- it is not possible.  Trace deposits are left behind for decades. Currently, the county continues to make payment on testing remnants from the 1993 tanker spill every time Blind Pass is dredged to use its sand. When Upham is nourished, the cost is added to the price tag. Are you beginning to see where the Suncoast Surfrider group, and the Foundation as a whole, is coming from?

In short, federal, state, and county taxpayer dollars are being thrown into a beach to protect condos built beyond the mean high waterline (and not by a sustainable means).

By the way, the scientific term for placing sand on the beach when it has eroded is not "nourish" (or re-nourish), but "fill". Remind you of something else?