North Carolina tries to vote away reality

This post is a little dated now, but still worth highlighting in my opinion.

In a surprising turn of recent events, the North Carolina legislature voted July 3rd that history is not really history, but we can still use it to make legislation about the future, as long as we don’t really take the future into account, thereby foreclosing any chance of seeing the future, thanks to living in the past which is not really the past. If this sounds like a bunch of confusing nonsense, you’re probably not alone.

Lawmakers in North Carolina, which has a long Atlantic Ocean coastline and vast areas of low-lying land, voted to ignore recent studies predicting a possible rapid rise in sea level due to climate change and postpone planning for the consequences. The proposal (HB 819), which was backed by–big surprise–both developers and the Republican-controlled General Assembly–passed a law “requiring that projected rates of sea level rise be calculated on historical trends and not include accelerated rates of increase,” according to reporting by Reuters.

So basically NC lawmakers are saying that when taking into consideration possible future flood or storm impacts, the only acceptable data is that from the past, rather than current or future models based on the latest available scientific evidence.

 “A panel of scientists that advises North Carolina’s Coastal Resources Commission, a state policy panel, said coastal communities should plan for about 39 inches (99 cm) of sea level rise by 2100 based on seven scientific studies.

That drew a backlash from a coastal economic development group called NC-20 that called it fake science. The group said making development take into account 39 inches of sea level rise could undermine the coastal economy, raise insurance costs and turn thousands of square miles of coastal property into flood plains that could not be developed.”

I find this all incredibly humorous–in that sort of the world is full of idiots sort of ironic way–since the “mission statement” of the conservative front group leading the charge, the NC-20, reads as follows:

“To support, defend, and further the common environmental and sustainable economic development interests within the 20 coastal counties through coordinated communication, information sharing, data collection and monitoring, scientific research, and proactive interaction with legislation and executive decisions makers at all levels of government.“

Which is basically a fancy way of saying we are the elite of NC and nothing happens without our say, and we are happy to intervene wherever and whenever to protect our right to make a profit, but we are happy to wrap this project in a think layer of greenwashing just to make you feel better about it all.

In fact, if you really want to get on the kool-aid bandwagon, you can join them for their next Eastern Issues Symposium on July 27th where the featured topic will be over-regulation and the fight against eco-doom:

The Inner and Outer Banks Counties are regulated to a higher degree than any area of the State, our insurance premiums are far too excessive, and only by staying united can we control of our future. Our recent success in preventing a mandatory planning guideline of 39” of sea level rise has drawn nationwide attention. Come and learn how a handful of counties refused to submit to the doomsday prophets and saved their land, their economies, and their future.

And just in case anyone has questions as to where their “scientific” commitments lie, they are kind enough to provide a clear statement on their site under the “Sea Level Rise” page, which includes the following dandy:

“Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) has become a buzzword in recent years for an entirely different scenario in which manmade CO2 is the cause of global warming and SLR. Interestingly, there has been absolutely no short term correlation between CO2 and the earth’s temperature since about 1930 when CO2 production by man became more aggressive.“

Really? There has been “absolutely no short-term correlation between CO2 and temperature since about 1930”? I think the IPCC, among hundreds of other studies in the last several decades,  clearly dispute such a silly claim, but hey, when the NC-20 says “science,” we all know what they really mean…after all, when you cite Michael Crichton as a source of science on climate change, well, that pretty much says it all.

“This bill is basically like saying to your doctor, ‘Don’t do any tests on me, and if you do any tests and find something wrong, don’t tell me for four years,'” state Representative Deborah Ross, a Democrat, said. “By putting our heads in the sand literally, we are not helping property owners. We are hurting them. We are not giving them information they might need to protect their property. Ignorance is not bliss. It’s dangerous.”

Until next time…”remember when we used to put safety before profit.”

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