NC 20 and sea level rise | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    On Feb. 19, 2012 the lead article in the WDN tells us that according to the intrepid chairman of NC-20 (a coalition of 20 eastern North Carolina counties) "We killed sea level rise inflation". It's not clear just what that means, but...

    Apparently what NC-20 was able to do was get the NC Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) to back off (a little) on their estimate of the magnitude of the sea level rise "problem". The problem being addressed is, according to the CRC, occasioned by global warming and the resultant melting of glaciers and polar ice. We need to continue to watch them closely!! Both of 'em (NC-20 and CRC)

    It seems as though we will never learn. The global warming hysteria was, long ago, shown to be a charade created by some so called "climate scientists" in England. These folks invented global warming models and then adjusted their input variables to achieve the results they desired. I have seen it reported that they never ran "actual" data through those models to prove the efficacy of the results. One would think that if "actual; data was run through the model, it would "predict" that what really happened was going to happen. Sounds like a practical way of validating a model. But then - why take the risk?? What if it didn't give the results you wanted?? What if, indeed!!

    Now we have a so called "science panel" (15 "scientists" appointed by our Governess). We have already seen the results of our own NC scientific environmentalists. They demand a shut down of highway construction projects (bridges predominately) so that anadromous fish (that would be fish that live in the sea and breed in fresh water) made their way up the river to perform their annual mating rituals. It is interesting to note that when the old Rte 17 Tar/Pamlico River bridge was built, the same "don't disturb the fish" argument ensued. The difference was that the people won that time, but somehow the fish seem to have survived; so maybe everybody won.

    We are led to believe that the decisions to stop work on bridges so as to not disturb the fish is based on "science" (generally defined as the extensive experience of the DENR staff). The "gut feelings" of DENR "environmental scientists" with 20 years of experience (the 20 years is my number) is not really enough to satisfy a lot of folks' desires for some real "scientific" studies. Based on the caliber of the products produced by the DENR and their clearly biased decision making, it is not clear if they really have 20 years experience (or whatever) or they have one year's experience twenty times. There are a lot of skeptics who believe that the latter is closer to the truth than the former.

    In any case, the point is that we cannot consider that the NC Coastal Resources Commission has really given any ground. We are treated to all manner of doom and gloom stories about CO2 in our atmosphere and how global warming is going to cause the polar ice caps to melt and put what is our existing coast line under water some number of feet. Our old pal Al the Goracle gets rich running his mouth about the shrinking polar ice caps and how the "science" that supports that notion is settled. It seems as though none of the so called "scientists" bothered to think about the possibility that the earth's warming and cooling is cyclical in nature. No one ever mentioned the four ice ages that came and went and or even conjectured what might have caused them to "go". (Could it have possibly been several periods of cyclical warming??) But it didn't matter, everything was going great - at least until the so called scientists mishandling of data to skew the results to agree with their apparently predetermined outcome was exposed. By then it was too late. The notion of "Global Warming" had already been institutionalized. And still today, it seems to remain so. Why else would we be pursuing so called "green energy" with such vigor and more taxpayer money than most of us can count?? The European Union has "bought into" the global warming myth and is even about to institute a "carbon tax" on all the airlines who would fly into their airspace (their version of "Cap & Trade"). The new carbon tax is allegedly in support of the environment, not for the money. Or course not. (The solution to this outrage would be for all the non-European (i.e. foreign flag carrying) aircraft to discontinue flying into EU airspace. I would suggest that it wouldn't be long before the EU would rethink their outrageous money grab.) If the airlines won't do it, the folks should.

    In the meantime the scientists comprising NC Coastal Resources Commission are still able to hold on to the Global warming argument by simply ignoring the findings of NASA (and a lot of other reputable scientists). After all, NASA scientists are not known for altering their input data (like the global warming folks have been accused of) to ensure that their models produce predetermined desired results. They seek scientific truth. Click here to see what the NASA folks have discovered. They don't seem to be quite as convinced the globe is in nearly as much trouble as Al the Goracle and his allies would have us believe..

    Unfortunately, it seems that the (man made) Global Warming folks are not going to be any easier to get rid of than the Ethanol myth. Ethanol was going to be the savior of the environmental world - simply by getting rid of carbon based energy in our atmosphere. But then many of the same folks who pushed the ethanol mandates so long and hard figured out that it takes more energy to produce ethanol than it has the potential of saving - and it actually contributes to increased CO2 in the atmosphere. (Never mind what it does to the price of our breakfast food.) To their credit they admitted it. But, alas, they figured it out too late. By then, ethanol production and the subsidies required to keep it economical had been institutionalized. Once something like this is institutionalized, getting it turned around is well nigh impossible. It almost can't be done!!

    And now we are treated to a fawning description of how NC-20 Chairman Thompson has (it would seem almost single handedly) turned back the draft sea level rise policy that was floated last year (no pun intended). NC-20 took on the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission and their "science panel" and got them to back off a bit on their original proposal to severely restrict virtually anything and everything anyone in this Tier 1 County wanted to do on their property. Big win for NC-20. (Not!!) Not withstanding the fact that the Global Warming proponents have been shown for the charlatans that they are, their progeny apparently continue to believe that we can control nature. (Not!)

    If we truly want to improve things around here, we need to get the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission to focus on water quality and how it can be improved. In the past they have tried to impose some rather severe restrictions on what we here in the East are allowed to do on and with our property. What really needs to happen is they need to see just how much pollution finds its way to the east from way upstream and what must be done to improve that situation - such as severely restricting what folks in the headwaters of our streams and rivers are allowed to do with their property. Severely restricting the amount of fertilizers they use on the lawns in Raleigh and Cary etc and dictating what they must do to keep it from running off would be a good start. Try that for a while and see how quickly we decide the CRC isn't worth having. Hmmm...

    Trust me. Sea level rise is not dead until global warming is dead and the eco-terrorists give up trying to convince us otherwise. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. In the meantime, Stay Alert!!

    D'ya think??