Miami Beach Battles Sand Hassle

A new kind of sandstorm is brewing in South Florida. As its world-famous beaches face crippling erosion, Miami Beach is hitting up its neighbors for the scarce stuff. But with most of Florida's communities strapped, Miami Beach, like coastal communities in California and Hawaii, is turning to foreign countries, which are happy to swap sand for cash.

The only hitch: Federal law says Miami Beach must exhaust domestic sources first. So officials are on a sand hunt as they try to convince the feds to let them import what they need. And the sand woes are just the beginning, predicts one state senator: "Just like we used to have water wars, realistically we could have sand wars.” (More Miami stories.)