What jumps out at me when reading articles on the debate over the definition of ‘rising sea levels’ in North Carolina and Virginia is how people are so worried about being mocked on ‘The Colbert Report.’ I personally could care less what Stephen Colbert thinks. (BTW–is the Virginian Pilot article a straight news story or an opinion piece? At times I couldn’t tell.)
I have to agree with Sen. David Rouzer —sponsor of the bill that passed yesterday –when he says that predicting climate change eight decades out — and crafting legislation based on that predicted change—- is folly. Think about previous legislation that crafted eight decades out —Social Security comes to mind —- and we see how that’s working out.
Just so happens the evil John Locke Foundation has weighed in on climate change. Joel Schwartz’s report addressed rising sea levels:
Climate activists in North Carolina have been claiming that greenhouse warming will flood the Outer Banks and wipe out the state’s coastal areas. But tide gauge data for North Carolina show little sea level rise during the past few decades.
Wilmington has a long-running series covering the years 1936-2005. Average sea level has risen only about 5 or 6 inches during this 70-year period. Furthermore, for the last 5 years, average sea level has actually dropped a few inches below peak levels achieved during the 1990s is now about the same as peal levels during the 1940s and 1970s.
I always make the argument that our environment has never been cleaner due to –yes I’m actually saying this —- the many regulations that have been put in place over the last 40 years. That climate activists continue to put forth doomsday scenarios is bascially an admission that those regulations haven’t worked. So what’s the point of having them?
