Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, on Tuesday discussed a plan to address the contentious sea-level-rise issue this year and beyond. The House, she said, could take up the sea-level-rise bill this week and vote not to accept the measure as it recently passed the Senate.
If the House votes not to concur with the Senate version, it would put the issue in front of a conference committee of House and Senate members. There, McElraft said, the plan is to place a moratorium on using accelerated rates of sea-level rise in writing coastal development policies while the state studies the issue.
McElraft said a study, which would be conducted at least in part by the Coastal Resources Commission, should look at all of the available science on the issue, “not just one model like the Science Panel looked at.”
McElraft added that a study could take as long as five years to complete, meaning the moratorium would be in place for some time.
“We need to look at this more scientifically and not with a political agenda,” McElraft said.
As it passed the Senate, the bill would prohibit state agencies from using projections of accelerated sea-level rise – mainly from global warming and the melting of polar ice caps – in drafting coastal development rules. Instead they would have to use only historical sea-level-rise data. The historic rates of rise are much lower than many scientists believe the seas will rise in the future.
The bill was a direct response to a 2010 report of the Coastal Resources Commission’s Science Panel on Coastal Hazards. The report recommended that a sea-level rise of 39 inches, or 1 meter, be adopted as the amount of anticipated rise by the year 2100 for policy development and planning purposes. The report noted that there is consensus among scientists that the rate of rise will increase this century and beyond.
But that report has been criticized by some along the coast who say planning for such a dramatic rise in sea levels could have a significant economic impact on eastern North Carolina because homes and roads and other infrastructure would have to be built farther from the ocean or higher off the ground. They also say enacting policies based on 1 meter of rise could lead to higher insurance rates and restrictions on land use along the coast.
Sen. David Rouzer, R-Johnston, who ushered the measure through the Senate, said Tuesday afternoon that he may not support McElraft’s idea.
“At first blush, probably not,” Rouzer said. “I think this bill’s a good bill, so we’ll see,” he said.
Any changes made by the conference committee would have to be approved by the full House and Senate.
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