Mark Stone to hold hearing on local beach erosion.

It appears that State Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, is joining the fight against local beach erosion. 

At 10am, March 18 at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Stone will hold a special oversight hearing "to discuss beach erosion and declining sand supplies along the Central Coast and throughout California," according to a statement from his office. 

Southern Monterey Bay has the highest coastal erosion in the state, and unlike other parts the nation's coast, the primary driver behind the erosion is not sea level rise and wave action. 

According to scientists, local beach erosion is primarily caused by the Cemex sand mine on the beach in Marina, which has been in continual operation since the 1960s.

Last week, the Weekly wrote that Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary officials are taking a hard look at the mine and its impacts, and could possibly make regulations that would shut the mine down. 

This comes as the California Coastal Commission has a high-priority, active enforcement investigation related to the mine. 

As for what action could potentially come out of Stone's hearing remains unclear: In an email, Stone spokeswoman Arianna Smith writes that the window to introduce legislation in 2016 has already passed, so it is unlikely Stone will introduce legislation on the matter this year. 

She also provides more detail about the nature of the hearing. 

"Oversight hearings are typically designed to delve deeply into a particular issue and proposed solutions," she writes. "Sometimes studies are proposed, sometimes administrative actions are the next course of action, or sometimes proposed legislation comes out of them eventually."

Meanwhile, erosion continues unabated near the Cemex mine in Marina, where scientist Ed Thornton—who's studied local erosion for 30-plus years—says the erosion rate is 7.6 feet annually. 

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UPDATE 3/8/16: An earlier version of this article indicated that industry experts would lend their perspectives at the hearing, but Smith writes that is no longer the case, as said experts are unable to attend. However, Smith notes that Stone has been invited to tour the Cemex mine, and has accepted the invitation.