Sea Level Rise bill - maybe some sanity

A few days ago a post discussed HB 819, the bill that would force regulations on sea level rise to be based on historical trends and not on scientific predictions of future accelerating rise. That was the bill that was featured in a Steven Colbert segment and widely mocked.


Maybe the anti-science provision won't pass.



The bill, as it was originally written and passed by the house, did not contain the provision requiring that all regulations be based on historical data, ignoring scientific predictions of accelerating sea level rise.


At that time of the previous post, the bill had passed the house, had then been amended in the Senate to include the anti-science provision and sent back to the House to concur with the Senate provision. In the House it  was sent to the environment committee. On Tuesday, shortly after the previous post had been written, the House pulled the bill from the committee. Rep. Pat McElraft, who sponsored the original bill, asked the house to not concur; they followed her suggestion unanimously.


This means that the bill will go to a conference committee, made of members of the House and Senate, which will try to reach a compromise. We can only now hope that the conference will strip the Senate anti-science provision or that the bill will be killed.


Perhaps after the Colbert segment and the public criticism, the legislature will want to avoid further embarrassment.


[Breaking News] from the Virginian-Pilot 12 noon 6/21/12

[Conference Committee House] "Chair Republican Rep. Pat McElraft of Carteret County says the rewritten bill has two major changes. The bill would require more sea level studies over a period of up to five years.

"The state in the meantime would not be allowed to use the state-sponsored scientific suggestions that North Carolina prepare for three-foot sea level rise by 2100.

"McElraft says the revised version of the bill will be presented next week."