[Quote]:

On June 12, 2012, the North Carolina Senate approved HB 819 by a 34-11 vote, requiring North Carolina’s Coastal Resources Commission to base predictions of future sea level rise along the state’s coast on a steady, linear rate of increase – thereby prohibiting state agencies from using projections of accelerated sea-level rise due to global warming in drafting coastal development rules. This follows Texas’ deletion of references to climate change and sea level rise in a 2011 report on Galveston Bay and pressure in the Virginia General Assembly to replace references to sea level rise with “recurrent flooding” in a recently-commissioned study.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has responded with a contest to identify other problems the state faces that the Senate might outlaw next.