The Earth's temperature and the shores of its oceans tend to change in concert. As temperatures drop, the oceans follow—their contents contract slightly and more water gets locked up in glaciers and ice sheets. The converse occurs as the Earth heats up. So after several thousand years of relative stability, the recent rise in temperatures has been associated with rising sea levels, a trend that most scientists expect will accelerate over the course of this century.

The North Carolina Senate’s Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee, however, isn't a fan of these projections. Regulations based on sea level projections would mean more area that is currently oceanfront would not be available for development, given that it's likely to end up under water by century's end. The Committee was therefore considering a bill that would mandate that any projections of sea level rise at any level of government in the state would be done by a single state agency, and that agency could only do a linear extrapolation using last century's data.

This attracted significant national attention, leading the Committee to pass a modified version that tones down the initial language. Now, the Coastal Resources Commission can consider accelerated rates of sea level rise, provided "such rates are from statistically significant, peer-reviewed data and are consistent with historic trends." That language appears to provide enough space for the CRC to use the best available scientific information, provided "historic trends" isn't limited to written history.

Although the initial bill was an unfortunate attempt to inject political considerations into a decision about what is largely a scientific question, North Carolina at least seems to be recognizing that sea level rise is a reality. In neighboring Virginia, an ad-hoc collection of activists has apparently been attempting to block any planning whatsoever.