As state Rep. Pat McElraft prepares this week to unveil compromise language on a bill to slow down the science of sea-level forecasting in North Carolina, a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey finds that the rate of sea-level rise is increasing several times faster on the northern Atlantic Coast -- from Boston to Cape Hatteras -- than around the world as a whole, Bruce Siceloff reports. ...
Though global sea level has been projected to rise roughly two-to-three feet or more by the end of the 21st century, it will not climb at the same rate at every location. Differences in land movements, strength of ocean currents, water temperatures, and salinity can cause regional and local highs and lows in sea level. ...
McElraft, a Carteret County Republican, sponsored a bill passed by the House last year to modify state setback requirements for some coastal properties. The Senate rewrote her bill, using it as a vehicle for an effort to nullify scientific predictions that the rate of sea-level rise on the North Carolina coast will accelerate later in this century, and that the state can expect an increase of 39 inches by 2100.
The House unanimously rejected the Senate version at the request of McElraft, and she chaired a House - Senate conference committee that produced compromise legislation last week.
McElraft told the Associated Press that the new bill, to be introduced this week, dropped controversial Senate language that would have required any forecasts to be based solely on historic trends. She said the revised measure would bar state agencies from using the 39-inch prediction made by a panel of scientists for the Coastal Resources Commission (see CRC information page on sea-level rise) and direct the commission to conduct more studies during the next three or four years.
More study would be a good thing if it leads to different estimates of sea-level rise at different locations (and with a range of estimates to deal with the scientific uncertainty).
Here are the previous posts on this topic:
- The N&O explains contrasting numbers in NC sea-level rise follies
- An economist on NC sea-level rise follies
- And don't call me Shirley
Matt Kahn has a comment on the issue. Is this Matt's first link to our blog?
