(Buxton, N.C.) An Outer Banks community group has filed a federal lawsuit challenging new regulations that govern beach driving at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance sued Thursday, asking a judge to block new regulations on where people can drive and which require them to buy permits for off-road vehicles. The regulations were adopted last month as part of a National Park Service agreement to protect endangered turtles and rare shorebirds in the area. The lawsuit says there's no evidence that off-road vehicles have caused significant harm to those animal populations. A coalition of environmentalist groups say the lawsuit is off-base, and comes too soon after the new rules were adopted to tell what effect they'll have on Cape Hatteras.
