Environment: Costly Facelift for an Old Resort

Miami Beach attempts to turn back the tides

It is an incongruous sight. Two miles offshore from the hotel-lined beachfront, two giant dredges toil away round the clock, scooping up tons of sand from the ocean bottom. Heavy, 27-in. pipes carry the grayish slurry to the beach. There it is deposited in large, neat mounds, until the fresh sand is spread out by large earth-moving machines. Under way for two years, the controversial $64 million project by the Army Corps of Engineers is aimed at nothing less than saving one of the nation's vacation...

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