http://now.msn.com/north-carolina-passes-law-banning-new-science-from-guiding-coastal-policies

Apparently wanting to steer clear of fancy highbrow academic stuff like research or informed assessments, North Carolina has banned using recent science to guide policy making. House Bill 819, which passed today after the governor let the deadline to stop it slip, restricts all sea-level predictions used for policy-making to be based on "historical data," effectively sending science back to 1900. The law will prevent policy-makers from using a recent study by the state's Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) which predicted the sea level will rise by 39 inches in the next century. Developers were upset about the prediction that might cause reluctance to invest in the area

8/3/2012 11:37:11 AM

Science damn it.

8/3/2012 11:37:52 AM

1) there is a thread about it in TSB
2) you think historical records aren't as important as future predictions?

[Edited on August 3, 2012 at 11:42 AM. Reason : k]

8/3/2012 11:42:01 AM

Quote :

"2) you think historical records aren't as important as future predictions?"

oh my god are you serious?

8/3/2012 11:44:44 AM

Quote :

"which passed today after the governor let the deadline to stop it slip"

why?

8/3/2012 11:46:40 AM

Quote :

"after the governor let the deadline to stop it slip"

why

8/3/2012 11:47:18 AM

You have to go back to historical records... to find out when this story was new.

8/3/2012 11:48:20 AM

all the way to 7 hours ago?

8/3/2012 11:50:36 AM

What, is 7 hours ago considered present or future now?

8/3/2012 11:51:42 AM

(when bills are ratified by both houses and are presented to the governor, she can
-sign it and it become immediately effective
-veto it, in which case it goes back to the houses, where it needs some sort of majority to override the veto
-or she can do nothing. after 30 days, it become effective. that's what happened here.)

8/3/2012 11:51:43 AM

Wow, NC is politicians are fucking retarded. FUCKING RETARDED.

[Edited on August 3, 2012 at 11:54 AM. Reason : s]

8/3/2012 11:53:32 AM

Holy shit TKE TEG

8/3/2012 12:01:22 PM

building houses close to the ocean has always been risky

as long as insurance companies don't fully insure risky construction and drive up the costs, this law is pretty meaningless imo

8/3/2012 12:02:19 PM

imo, it's pretty meaningful that, as a society, north carolina has decided to (no pun intended) put their head in the sand about sea level rise for the sake of a few years of business.

that's not only scary, but supremely embarrassing.

8/3/2012 11:52:14 PM

i dont understand how its going to help business

its a law thats going to restrict predictions...wtf does that even mean practically

8/4/2012 12:02:30 AM

8/4/2012 12:05:54 AM

here's my question

how does this affect the general public

8/4/2012 12:11:47 AM

the genital pubic?

8/4/2012 3:46:35 AM

North Carolina should just go ahead and ban scientists, mathematicians, physicists, engineers, etc. and replace them with politicians as politicians have a better grasp on reality.

8/4/2012 5:07:52 AM

I was wondering if simonn would make an appearance.

8/4/2012 5:27:48 AM

Quote :

"i dont understand how its going to help business its a law thats going to restrict predictions...wtf does that even mean practically"

it's like you didn't even read the single paragraph article.

Quote :

"Developers were upset about the prediction that might cause reluctance to invest in the area."

8/4/2012 5:46:50 AM

Meh, this isn't quite as idiotic as the media is making it out (not to say the idea of politicians basically ignoring scientists isn't dumb). But if you read just a little further about the whole thing you see:

Quote :

"It blocks the state from adopting any rate of sea level change for regulatory purposes until 2016, while authorizing more studies. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Sea-level-bill-becomes-law-in-NC-gov-refused-veto-3756882.php#ixzz22aZIJxuq"

I'm OK with them waiting 4 years and getting more research. By then maybe we won't be in a huge economic hole...or a hurricane will have come through and washed away half the beach houses anyway

8/4/2012 10:50:46 AM

^Don't post that! the liberals need something to take out of context and blow up into an outrage.

8/4/2012 10:58:02 AM

The legislation still doesn't justify anything. It is quite frankly "retarded".

8/4/2012 11:25:42 AM

Quote :

"In Virginia, legislators removed language about "sea-level rise" from a study bill. They replaced it with the phrase many lawmakers were more comfortable with — "recurrent flooding.""

LMAO. Supposedly this shit is going all over the country in states with valued beach property.

8/4/2012 12:06:08 PM

8/4/2012 2:06:46 PM

My girlfriend is in coastal policy planning and she said everyone at her work is angry as fuck. They're angry because this was an entirely political move, doesn't really address any concerns or issues that exist in the actual field/industry. It's also (supposedly) tied to land developers, as it always is in coastal planning, who don't want to rezone for expected tidal erosion (this is nothing new).

8/4/2012 3:01:44 PM

8/4/2012 3:31:00 PM