The effects of rising sea levels due to climate change could cost North Carolina billions of dollars in property damage and land loss over the coming decade, economists found in a study released Wednesday.
By 2080, 14 of the 17 beaches from Brunswick to Carteret counties on the southern coast of the state could erode away, costing the local economy $3.9 billion in lost recreation revenues. For just four of the state's 20 coastal counties -- Dare, Carteret, New Hanover and Bertie -- the damage caused by higher sea levels could reach $6.9 billion.
"Coastal North Carolina has been identified as one of the United States' most vulnerable regions to climate change," said report co-author Ben Poulter, who works with the Department of Global Change and Natural Systems at the Potsdam Institute in Germany.
The report, compiled for the National Commission on Energy Policy, also found that each hurricane could cause at least $157 million in damage for the state by 2080 (AP/Charlotte Observer, June 20).
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s (R) position on combating climate change and developing alternative fuels could hinder the state's coal and oil shale industries, state lawmakers said Wednesday.
Last month, Huntsman was joined by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in Utah as he signed the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative, which calls for an overall reduction of regional GHG emissions through trading of emissions credits beginning in 2012.
But state Rep. Michael Noel (R) told fellow lawmakers that the initiative uses bad science. "That's not data-based. That's not factual-based. And there's enough unknowns out there on this whole issue of man-caused global warming," Noel said to members of the state Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee.
State Rep. Roger Barrus (R) said Huntsman's signing of the initiative conflicts with the governor's Blue Ribbon Council on Climate Change, which is supposed to report to Huntsman and make policy recommendations. "We're concerned that the governor's getting out ahead of what the BRCCC may be recommending by signing onto an initiative about climate change" or a portfolio concerning renewable energy, he said.
He added that the pledge could interfere with the state's pursuit of oil shale development.
Members of the committee criticized the Western Governors Association in its call for the Energy Policy Act of 2007 to require a 120-day public comment period for oil shale development on federal lands. Huntsman was elected vice chairman of the association last week (Joe Bauman, Salt Lake Deseret Morning News, June 21). -- EB
Advertisement
