Oh (North) Carolina!

[Jacob]

In a story first discussed by the NC Coastal Federation and given more play May 29 by the News & Observer of Raleigh and its sister paper the Charlotte Observer, a group of legislators from 20 coastal NC counties whose economies will be most affected by rising seas have legislated the words "Nuh-unh!" into the NC Constitution.

Okay, cheap shot alert. Actually all they did was say science is crazy. There is virtually universal agreement among scientists that the sea will probably rise a good meter or more before the end of the century, wreaking havoc in low-lying coastal counties. So the members of the developers'  lobbying group NC-20 say the sea will rise only 8 inches, because ... because ... well, SHUT UP, that's because why.

That is, the meter or so of sea level rise predicted for the NC Coastal Resources Commission by a state-appointed board of scientists is extremely inconvenient for counties along the coast. So the NC-20 types have decided that we can escape sea level rise – in North Carolina, anyhow – by making it against the law. Or making MEASURING it against the law, anyhow.

Here's a link to the circulated Replacement House Bill 819. The key language is in section 2, paragraph e, talking about rates of sea level rise: "These rates shall only be determined using historical data, and these data shall be limited to the time period following the year 1900. Rates of seas-level rise may be extrapolated linearly. ..." It goes on, but there's the core: North Carolina legislators have decided that the way to make exponential increases in sea level rise – caused by those inconvenient feedback loops we keep hearing about from scientists – go away is to make it against the law to extrapolate exponential; we can only extrapolate along a line predicted by previous sea level rises.

Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow's weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don't use radar and barometers; use the Farmer's Almanac and what grandpa remembers.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2012/05/30/nc-makes-sea-level-rise-illegal/

[Malthus]

There are good precidents for this sort of legislation:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/805/did-a-state-legislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3

[DGuller]

Grrr, NC-20.  I'm very familiar with that lobby group.      Seems right up their alley.

[The Brain]

There are good precidents for this sort of legislation:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/805/did-a-state-legislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3

Most states avoid this since the cost of modifying all circles in the state can be prohibitive.

[DGuller]

There are good precidents for this sort of legislation:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/805/did-a-state-legislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3

Most states avoid this since the cost of modifying all circles in the state can be prohibitive.

[Neil]

Well, that's certainly lawyer thinking at work.

[MadImmortalMan]

Won't the sea making their counties cease to exist sort of solve the problem in this case?   

[Neil]

Then again, North Carolina has a dreadnought, and that makes them a mighty sea power.  Maybe they want the flooding to allow them to attack Kentucky from the sea.

[Hansmeister]

In a story first discussed by the NC Coastal Federation and given more play May 29 by the News & Observer of Raleigh and its sister paper the Charlotte Observer, a group of legislators from 20 coastal NC counties whose economies will be most affected by rising seas have legislated the words "Nuh-unh!" into the NC Constitution.

Okay, cheap shot alert. Actually all they did was say science is crazy. There is virtually universal agreement among scientists that the sea will probably rise a good meter or more before the end of the century, wreaking havoc in low-lying coastal counties. So the members of the developers'  lobbying group NC-20 say the sea will rise only 8 inches, because ... because ... well, SHUT UP, that's because why.

That is, the meter or so of sea level rise predicted for the NC Coastal Resources Commission by a state-appointed board of scientists is extremely inconvenient for counties along the coast. So the NC-20 types have decided that we can escape sea level rise – in North Carolina, anyhow – by making it against the law. Or making MEASURING it against the law, anyhow.

Here's a link to the circulated Replacement House Bill 819. The key language is in section 2, paragraph e, talking about rates of sea level rise: "These rates shall only be determined using historical data, and these data shall be limited to the time period following the year 1900. Rates of seas-level rise may be extrapolated linearly. ..." It goes on, but there's the core: North Carolina legislators have decided that the way to make exponential increases in sea level rise – caused by those inconvenient feedback loops we keep hearing about from scientists – go away is to make it against the law to extrapolate exponential; we can only extrapolate along a line predicted by previous sea level rises.

Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow's weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don't use radar and barometers; use the Farmer's Almanac and what grandpa remembers.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2012/05/30/nc-makes-sea-level-rise-illegal/

Doesn't this simply say that you can't use the fake global warming computer models to predict future sea levels?  Sounds eminently reasonable to me, we should never base predictions of models that have proven time and again to be fraudulent.

[Camerus]

If Romney and the GoPtards took up the anti-global warming crusade tomorrow, Hans' propaganda would switch sides faster than Pravda's after June 22, 1941.

[Darth Wagtaros]

In a story first discussed by the NC Coastal Federation and given more play May 29 by the News & Observer of Raleigh and its sister paper the Charlotte Observer, a group of legislators from 20 coastal NC counties whose economies will be most affected by rising seas have legislated the words "Nuh-unh!" into the NC Constitution.

Okay, cheap shot alert. Actually all they did was say science is crazy. There is virtually universal agreement among scientists that the sea will probably rise a good meter or more before the end of the century, wreaking havoc in low-lying coastal counties. So the members of the developers'  lobbying group NC-20 say the sea will rise only 8 inches, because ... because ... well, SHUT UP, that's because why.

That is, the meter or so of sea level rise predicted for the NC Coastal Resources Commission by a state-appointed board of scientists is extremely inconvenient for counties along the coast. So the NC-20 types have decided that we can escape sea level rise – in North Carolina, anyhow – by making it against the law. Or making MEASURING it against the law, anyhow.

Here's a link to the circulated Replacement House Bill 819. The key language is in section 2, paragraph e, talking about rates of sea level rise: "These rates shall only be determined using historical data, and these data shall be limited to the time period following the year 1900. Rates of seas-level rise may be extrapolated linearly. ..." It goes on, but there's the core: North Carolina legislators have decided that the way to make exponential increases in sea level rise – caused by those inconvenient feedback loops we keep hearing about from scientists – go away is to make it against the law to extrapolate exponential; we can only extrapolate along a line predicted by previous sea level rises.

Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow's weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don't use radar and barometers; use the Farmer's Almanac and what grandpa remembers.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2012/05/30/nc-makes-sea-level-rise-illegal/

Doesn't this simply say that you can't use the fake global warming computer models to predict future sea levels?  Sounds eminently reasonable to me, we should never base predictions of models that have proven time and again to be fraudulent.

I don't know, it looks like it could be used either to disregard iffy global warming models or to legislate away rising sea levels altogether.

[Valmy]

Doesn't this simply say that you can't use the fake global warming computer models to predict future sea levels?  Sounds eminently reasonable to me, we should never base predictions of models that have proven time and again to be fraudulent.

The government should force scientists to come to certain conclusions?  Ah small government at work.

[Jacob]

Doesn't this simply say that you can't use the fake global warming computer models to predict future sea levels?  Sounds eminently reasonable to me, we should never base predictions of models that have proven time and again to be fraudulent.

That's a good point, Lysenkomeister

[jimmy olsen]

Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow's weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don't use radar and barometers; use the Farmer's Almanac and what grandpa remembers.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2012/05/30/nc-makes-sea-level-rise-illegal/

That's a Tropical Storm, not a Hurricane.

[Darth Wagtaros]

http://voices.yahoo.com/mount-pelee-volcano-destroyed-city-of-16260.html

There is a rich history for this kind of legislation.