RALEIGH (AP) — A bill to regulate how North Carolina accounts for climate change along the coast could be dead for this session.
House members voted Tuesday against the Senate’s plan which would reject a state-appointed science panel’s warning of rising sea levels.
The bill will go before a conference committee Thursday morning. Republican Rep. Frank Iler of Brunswick says members will consider a moratorium to prevent the state from using scientists’ calculations of accelerating climate change while further studies are conducted. The committees’ suggestion could be up for a vote in the General Assembly as early as Thursday afternoon.
Opponents of the bill say the state should listen to the scientists, while supporters doubt the studies and say overregulation could harm coastal economies.