Coastal infrastructureN.C. considering regulations to cope with sea-level rise

Later this week, researchers peer-reviewing the latest draft report that investigates sea-level rise along North Carolina’s coast, will submit their comments to the state Coastal Resources Commission’s (CRC) Science Panel. The initial 2010 report faced criticism from climate change skeptics and some property developers who claimed the report’s 100-year outlook on sea-level rise was unrealistic. They argued that planning for large changes in sea levels — which they believed to be unlikely — could reduce property values, increase insurance rates, damage economic development, and increase construction costs.

“That seemed to be the biggest credibility problem,” said CRC chairman Frank Gorham.

The new report looks at changes along the coast for a period of thirty years. According to the Daily News, looking out a few decades, in contrast to a century, will match the way other estimates are made, including the 30-year mortgage many people use when financing property.

The new report, if adopted by state lawmakers, will be updated every five years to allow officials to recognize any dramatic changes, which in most 100-year studies are projected to occur later in the century, Gorham added. President of Andrew Consulting Engineers and CRC member, Neal Andrew, said he supports the state’s approach for the second round of the study. “We’re doing our best to remain neutral on the topic until we get the final report and from there we’ll make some decisions on what the state should do with that information,” he said, adding that a thirty-year prediction is a time frame most people can relate to.

Todd Miller, executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, disagrees, warning that a three-decade outlook is insufficient considering that many major building projects along the state’s coast are built to last longer than that. Miller, however, anticipates that the sea-level increase mentioned in the report would be alarming enough for most people. “Six inches in thirty years is pretty significant,” Miller said.

Still, merely acknowledging that see levels are risings is not enough. “It comes down to how that information is used for future policy decisions,” Miller said. “Are we going to keep adding density to areas that we know are going to be subject to sea-level rise?”

Once the CRC receives the final report, Gorham plans to hold several hearings along the coast to allow local residents and officials to learn more about the findings. Gorham is still not sure whether state lawmakers should mandate incorporation of the report’s conclusions into the state’s coastal development policies or allow local communities to address that matter. “Let’s see what the final report says first,” Gorham said.

The science panel will submit the draft report to the CRC by the end of March 2015, followed by a public comment period before the final report is delivered to the state General Assembly by March 2016.