{"id":1505,"date":"2012-06-22T15:32:19","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T20:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2012-07-05T09:50:56","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T14:50:56","slug":"north-carolina-senates-stance-on-sea-level-resembles-femas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2012\/06\/22\/north-carolina-senates-stance-on-sea-level-resembles-femas\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina Senate’s Stance on Sea Level Resembles FEMA’s"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

By Katee Kline, Law Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

On June 12, 2012, North Carolina\u2019s Senate passed, by a vote of 34 to 11, a bill forbidding the use of sea level rise predictions which incorporate the expected impacts of climate change in the creation of any state or municipal policy.\u00a0 Though the state\u2019s House of Representatives voted on and unanimously rejected House Bill 819, the bill\u2019s supporting senators are considering enacting a moratorium to accomplish its intended result, and a revised version of the bill is pending.\u00a0 The most controversial part of HB 819 states that no agency but the Department of Coastal Management may determine rates of sea level rise, and these rates must be based on \u201chistorical data\u201d\u2014from an undetermined number of years following 1900\u2014and \u201cshall not include scenarios of accelerated rates of sea level rise.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, a majority of the North Carolina Senate is choosing to reject the findings of authoritative scientific bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United States Global Change Research Program that sea level rise is occurring at greater than historic rates.\u00a0 Furthermore, the bill would prohibit inland counties from adopting any policies addressing sea level rise, despite their being far from immune from its effects.\u00a0 Changes in the water table result in more dramatic floods in riverine areas, and sea level rise leads to salt intrusion even in inland areas, among other problems.\u00a0 This legislation would encourage unsustainable and risky building practices, particularly in coastal areas.<\/p>\n

This bill resembles the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s (FEMA\u2019s) stance on sea level rise in regards to its National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the sole umbrella provider of flood insurance throughout the United States.\u00a0 The NFIP currently does not include projected sea level rise in its floodplain maps, even though rates of sea level rise are already developed and could readily be incorporated, rendering maps far more accurate and forward-looking.\u00a0 Existing floodplain maps, based on current sea levels, are quickly outdated and infrequently updated.\u00a0 This policy, like the North Carolina bill, encourages unsustainable development patterns by overlooking important data.\u00a0 Property owners are given unrealistic projections of the future of their coastal dwellings, and insurance rates for vulnerable areas are substantially lower than the risk they are meant to reflect.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the NFIP\u2019s short-sighted mapping strategies might soon be phased out.\u00a0 FEMA is currently considering updating the NFIP, with a goal of creating more accurate floodplain maps and rate structures. \u00a0This would bring the NFIP into step with most federal statutes regulating coastal development, which specifically address the current and future effects of climate change on our landscapes.\u00a0 In conjunction with this potential step forward by FEMA, the North Carolina House\u2019s rejection of HB 819 is certainly encouraging, but it remains to be seen whether the state will ultimately take a contrasting step backward in terms of its climate change policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Katee Kline, Law Intern On June 12, 2012, North Carolina\u2019s Senate passed, by a vote of 34 to 11, a bill forbidding the use of sea level rise predictions which incorporate the expected impacts of climate change in the creation of any state or municipal policy.\u00a0 Though the state\u2019s House of Representatives voted on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":829,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5679],"tags":[5684],"class_list":{"0":"post-1505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-municipal-activity","7":"tag-sea-level-rise","8":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"\nNorth Carolina Senate's Stance on Sea Level Resembles FEMA's - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2012\/06\/22\/north-carolina-senates-stance-on-sea-level-resembles-femas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Carolina Senate's Stance on Sea Level Resembles FEMA's - 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