Infrastructure protectionConflicting views hamper N.C. preparation for sea level rise

Residents of North Carolina’s coastal towns are finding themselves increasingly caught in the cross-fire between local and state government regarding how to define future sea level rise resulting from global warming and the necessary measures needed to prepare for it. Due to a four-year moratorium on any action on the state level, area developers and homeowners have received no official input, and the lack of consensus has negative consequences for the health and prosperity of the region.

TheRaleigh News & Observer reports that a flurry of disagreements has followed a prediction by a panel of scientists that there would be a 39-inch rise in in sea level along the North Carolina coast by the end of the century — a change which would radically reshape the coast. A climate-skeptics group called NC-20 successfully lobbied the state Coastal Resources Commission to reject the scientific panel’s findings, and certain industry campaign funders were soon appointed to the panel. Following this, House Bill 819 was drafted in August 2012, which granted the commission four years to determine the state’s own predictions about sea level rise prediction.

The law was championed by state Republicans who did not agree with the high-end sea level rise estimate. Rep. Pat McElraft (R-North Carolina) told the News & Observer, “You can believe whatever you want about global warming, but when you go to make planning policies here for our residents and protecting their property values and insurance rates…it’s a very serious thing to us on the coast.”

On a more local level, those same residents are looking to protect their property in other ways. “Many communities have done things to adapt to sea-level rise already,” says Spencer Rogers, an area construction and erosion specialist. He further told the News & Observer that “One of the more important adaptation actions is to plan for storm surges.”

Cliff Ogburn, the town manager of the popular coastal tourist destination Nags Head, also voiced frustration about the disagreement and a general desire to move forward saying, “Right now we’re kind of in limbo…We need to establish a realistic number. Tell us what the number is. We’re willing to incorporate whatever measures we need to, to react.”

The original panel determined that rise would be about eight inches in the next thirty years — five inches based on historical measurements and an extra three as the predicted acceleration due to global warming.