North Carolina’s legislators are claiming to promote common sense while confronting the threat of rising ocean levels along the state’s coast.
The Senate committee on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources unanimously passed House Bill 819 to the senate floor June 7. The controversial bill stipulates that predictions of sea-level rise must reflect historic trends.
For the past decade, several climate experts have predicted that the rate at which the ocean level rises will increase significantly in the next century.
Many in the science community view the bill as the legislature picking and choosing what scientific data they wish to use. The bill has received attention from many national news outlets, including Comedy Central’s Colbert Report.
Committee member Sen. Harry Brown (R-Jones, Onslow) commented during Thursday’s meeting on the difficulty of living and running a business on the coast due to the area’s strict environmental regulation. He described the bill as “common sense” legislation that is needed to prevent the economic burdens that accompany high predictions of sea-level rise.
“If we don’t slow down and at least take a look to put some common sense into this legislation…we’re going to have a coast that nobody can go to any longer or expand any longer before you know it,” Brown said.
Do you think this is a common sense approach to rising sea levels?
