CHARLESTON — Gov. Mark Sanford’s opposition to beach renourishment brought a challenge from a state official who suggested the governor’s opinion would change if his beachfront house on Sullivans Island were threatened by erosion.

“You are wrong, this is not a neighborhood view,” Sanford told Charles Harrison, deputy director of the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

The exchange came Thursday during a budget hearing.

Sanford told the directors of the state’s six natural resource agencies “the administration has a position against renourishment.”

Last year, Sanford vetoed $5 million to pour sand and rebuild the beaches at Hunting Island State Park. But the Legislature overrode the veto and the project should start soon. Sanford this year vetoed $5 million for renourishment at Edisto Island.

“Our position is that Mother Nature always wins,” the governor said, noting news reports that Hurricane Ophelia washed away five feet of sand from Hunting Island.

Harrison said Hunting Island is the state’s most popular state park and one of the few public beaches on the state’s south coast. He warned waves will soon wash onto the roadway if the beach isn’t renourished.

“I like to have a beach people can access,” Harrison said, adding if Sanford’s home on Sullivan’s Island were threatened, Sanford’s response would be different.

“Let’s see what happens at Sullivan’s Island and then see what happens” to fix the beach there, he said.

With Myrtle Beach next on the state’s priority list, Sanford said he is more inclined to support renourishment there. “If the area is developed, from the dollar standpoint you can make a very rational argument to protect the area,” he said.

But, he said, “when you have a state park, and it’s a natural environment, we believe in letting nature takes its course.”