Columbia, SC - A report requested by South Carolina's environmental agency says the state needs to take a tougher stand to keep new beachfront development from moving closer to the ocean.

The report prepared by scientists, businessmen and government officials and obtained by The State of Columbia calls for lawmakers to tighten an 1988 law which passed at a time when some oceanfront structures were being hit by waves.

But the state also attacked the erosion problem by renourishing beaches with sand from offshore. Once the beaches were made wider, the Department of Health and Environmental Control allowed construction closer to the water.

The report says the imaginary line where building is banned should never be moved closer to the ocean.

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