Xerxes orders the sea to be lashed

When a storm destroyed Xerxes the Great’s bridge across the Hellespont in 480 BCE, he ordered that the sea be flogged with chains. Now, the North Carolina legislature is playing Xerxes. Some North Carolina legislators do not like the estimates of the rise in sea-level caused by global climate change, so they are considering making a rise in sea-level illegal, or at least, any predication of such a raise.  A law is working its way through the North Carolina legislature that would require government planning boards to only use predictions of sea level rise based on linear projections from 1900.  The increased rise in sea-level due to climate change would not only be ignored, but would be illegal for land use planning.

Coastal N.C. counties fighting sea-level rise prediction

The problem arose when the NC Coastal Resources Commission, a state-appointed board of scientists, predicted that sea-levels would rise by over a meter, inundating low lying areas, by 2100.  This greatly upset local developers who would be barred from building on land that was expected to go under water.  Tom Thompson, chairman of a coastal development group says, “If you’re wrong and you start planning today at 39 inches, you could lose millions of dollars in development and 2,000 square miles would be condemned as a flood zone,” Thompson said. “Is it really a risk to wait five years and see?”

East Carolina University geologist Stan Riggs, however, says that the projections of over a meter rise in sea-level are squarely within the mainstream of research.  “We’re throwing this science out completely, and what’s proposed is just crazy for a state that used to be a leader in marine science,” he said of the proposed legislation. “You can’t legislate the ocean, and you can’t legislate storms.”

Currently the state of Maine is preparing for a rise of up to 2 meters by 2100, Delaware 1.5 meters, Louisiana 1 meter and California 1.4 meters. Southeastern Florida projects up to a 2-foot rise by 2060.

Under the proposed North Carolina legislation, the state would plan for only 8 inches of rise by 2100, based on the historical trend from 1900.

If the legislature should pass, the real losers are likely to be the taxpayers. If the low lying land is developed and subsequently floods due to sea level rise, Federal flood insurance could be used to compensate the owners.

In related news, NOAA recently announced that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the Arctic reached 400 parts per million (ppm) this spring, a new record for the greenhouse gas.  No one has proposed legislature to tell NOAA to stop taking measurements, yet.

A note for the North Carolina legislature –  Xerxes flogging the sea didn’t work.  Shortly thereafter, on the way to the Battle of Artemisium, a third the Persian 1200 ship fleet was destroyed in a gale off the coast of Magnesia proving that the sea is not impressed by mere flogging.  Somehow we doubt that the sea will be impressed by the North Carolina legislation either.

For an amusing take on this legislation, see Scott Huler’s rant in Scientific American – NC Considers Making Sea Level Rise Illegal.

Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.