Risk And Responsibility

We don't want to ride the crest of a wave that never breaks, but it occurred to us the other day that taxpayers who don't like seeing the money they give the Federal Government washed out to sea have something they can do about it.

As The New York Times reminded its readers on Monday, the Army Corps of Engineers has completed rebuilding two miles of beach along Westhampton's barrier island where storms have destroyed some 230 houses in the last few years. The $32 million sand replenishment project was part of a $78 million settlement homeowners obtained in a suit against Federal and state agencies. The suit sought to blame the destruction of their houses on the Army Engineers rather than Mother Nature because its 30-year-old plan to build a field of jetties along the beaches of what is now the Village of West Hampton Dunes never was completed. Fifteen new houses are under construction there now, and 140 are possible.

Most of us know that an angry sea might well rise up again. The next time, however, those who build on the sands should not be able to point fingers at anyone but themselves. If property owners are willing to take the risk of building new houses on pilings sunk into new sands, they also must take full responsibility, financial and otherwise, for the consequences. Legislation to make that hold ought to be drafted at once.

What is happening at West Hampton Dunes, on the western edge of Southampton Town, should be a warning for those who live to the east. The Army Engineers brought out their old jetty plan again in November, noting their willingness to proceed if the public and the politicians were to agree.

West Hampton Dunes is in the midst of a costly cycle that could become vicious. We say it must never happen again.