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On N.C.’s Outer Banks, scary climate-change predictions prompt a change of forecast
Washington Post ^ | 6/24/14 | Lori Montgomery

Posted on 06/27/2014 2:29:22 PM PDT by Impala64ssa

NAGS HEAD, N.C. — The dangers of climate change were revealed to Willo Kelly in a government conference room in the summer of 2011. By the end of the century, state officials said, the ocean would be 39 inches higher and her home on the Outer Banks would be swamped.

The state had detailed maps to illustrate this claim and was developing a Web site where people could check by street address to see if their property was doomed. There was no talk of salvation, no plan to hold back the tide. The 39-inch forecast was “a death sentence,” Kelly said, “for ever trying to sell your house.”

So Kelly, a lobbyist for Realtors and home builders on the Outer Banks, resolved to prove the forecast wrong. And thus began one of the nation’s most notorious battles over climate change.

Coastal residents joined forces with climate skeptics to attack the science of global warming and persuade North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature to deep-six the 39-inch projection, which had been advanced under the outgoing Democratic governor. Now, the state is working on a new forecast that will look only 30 years out and therefore show the seas rising by no more than eight inches.

Environmentalists are appalled, and North Carolina has been lampooned as a hotbed of greedy developers trying to “outlaw” the rising tide. Some climate-change experts are sympathetic, however, calling the rebellion an understandable reaction to sea-level forecasts that are rapidly becoming both widely available and alarmingly precise.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: climatechange; outerbanks
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Call me cynical, I wonder if somebody (Soros? Algore?) is trying to manipulate the real estate market on the Outer Banks?
1 posted on 06/27/2014 2:29:22 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
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To: Impala64ssa

I visit the outer banks and Beaufort, NC every few years, and none of the houses are underwater yet....all is well.


2 posted on 06/27/2014 2:31:38 PM PDT by Kackikat
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To: Impala64ssa
alarmingly precise

What planet are they living on? I haven't seen one alarmist prediction that was even close.

Oh, yeah. Planet Washington.

3 posted on 06/27/2014 2:32:02 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: Impala64ssa
>> Coastal residents joined forces with climate skeptics to attack the science of global warming and persuade North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature That's a lot of loaded language to pack into one sentence.
4 posted on 06/27/2014 2:34:47 PM PDT by Ray76 (True change requires true change - A Second Party ...or else it's more of the same...)
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To: Impala64ssa

“The dangers of climate change were revealed to Willo Kelly in a government conference room in the summer of 2011. By the end of the century, state officials said, the ocean would be 39 inches higher and her home on the Outer Banks would be swamped. “

I would think current storm surges would make this a poor location for a house, but few of us will be around at the end of the century, so don’t worry about it.


5 posted on 06/27/2014 2:34:50 PM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: Impala64ssa

Barrier island investment: a crapshoot.

We’ve stayed on the Outer Banks several times. Last time we talked to a man with an oceanfront house. Fifty years ago it was four blocks back from the beach, great investment.

And we’ve stayed in property a block back where the cottage was swept away by a hurricane. Land still there, HUGE house built two years later. ??? investment.

And we’ve seen houses dangling on broken pilings, with the sand bank caving in and the waves rolling under. Bad investment.

Every year we’ve gone, we’ve had a near miss with a hurricane, just before, just after, or path offshore.


6 posted on 06/27/2014 2:35:56 PM PDT by heartwood
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To: heartwood

Are you going this year? My son and new wife are in Jacksonville. :)


7 posted on 06/27/2014 2:38:15 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: Kackikat
I visit the outer banks and Beaufort, NC every few years, and none of the houses are underwater yet....all is well.

Sitting in my Beaufort NC home right now, and I'll tell you, not only are we NOT under water - I wish the tide would come up a bit where we are. I think there's less water, not more, than there was 11 years ago when we bought this property.

8 posted on 06/27/2014 2:38:40 PM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: Kackikat
I visit the outer banks and Beaufort, NC every few years, and none of the houses are underwater yet....

Don't they go underwater every decade or so from storm surge? I don't buy global warming, but don't like paying for others' seaside insurance from repetitive normal events, either.

9 posted on 06/27/2014 2:48:30 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Impala64ssa

bfl


10 posted on 06/27/2014 2:49:42 PM PDT by don-o (He will not share His glory and He will NOT be mocked! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever!)
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To: Impala64ssa

She should have bought land cheap and make a fortune.


11 posted on 06/27/2014 2:50:32 PM PDT by eddie willers
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To: heartwood

There is sand erosion and it’s not climate change, it’s the problem a lot of beach fronts have... and replacing the sand costs money. The tides do encroach further in and erode the area so that houses can end up in the water, or gone if a hurricane hits. Hurricanes and storms are severe and destructive now.

Most states with long beaches are constantly replacing miles of sands gone from the beaches. Yes, water will rise and beaches erode, but that too is 40-50 cyclical weather, according to many of the meteorologists. I guess time will tell, but it isn’t consistent on all beach areas, with some of various places I visit.

The point is those houses should never have been built that close to the ocean ever, but many were grandfathered in before the local building codes began, so houses get replaced due to a love of beachfront property. I doubt they can afford insurance now. I have seen places where beaches are now shorter.


12 posted on 06/27/2014 2:51:03 PM PDT by Kackikat
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To: Kackikat; All

Some people may not be worried, but my boyfriend’s brother-in-law sold their home in south Florida (6 feet above mean high tide) and bought near Orlando (35 feet above mean high tide). I’m debating whether to sell my cottage in Chincoteague, VA, or spend $12,000 to raise it 3 or 4 feet. Even though it is behind Assateague Island I have seen water flood the back yard during major storms, and the house floor is only 2 1/2 feet higher.


13 posted on 06/27/2014 2:56:25 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: heartwood

http://coastalcare.org/educate/shoreline-engineering/

And yes Barrier Island Investment should not be a good investment as those beaches are going to change but it’s not climate change as the above link explains how the changes occur.


14 posted on 06/27/2014 2:57:18 PM PDT by Kackikat
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To: Impala64ssa

Here’s a map on sale at ebay...has it changed much from 1590?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-State-Maps-OUTER-BANKS-NORTH-CAROLINA-NC-AND-VIRGINIA-VA-1590-/271210472638?pt=Art_Posters&var=&hash=item3f256764be

and one taken from Apollo 9...(1969)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Outer-Banks-North-Carolina-NC-1969-Apollo-9-Photo-Outer-Banks-Vintage-Postcard-/360862004527?pt=Postcards_US&hash=item54050d352f


15 posted on 06/27/2014 3:13:35 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: Impala64ssa
by the end of the century... which is bullshh!t anyway, but does this stooopid cow really think it's going to still be alive at the end of the century and won't be able to sell it's house???
16 posted on 06/27/2014 3:32:40 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: DonaldC
"I would think current storm surges would make this a poor location for a house, but few of us will be around at the end of the century, so don’t worry about it."

I agree. Building homes with only a 39-inch margin of error for storm surges seems foolish even at current sea levels.
17 posted on 06/27/2014 3:51:53 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: gleeaikin
"I’m debating whether to sell my cottage in Chincoteague, VA, or spend $12,000 to raise it 3 or 4 feet. Even though it is behind Assateague Island I have seen water flood the back yard during major storms, and the house floor is only 2 1/2 feet higher."

I'd get out now. Save the $12,000 and get a place in a more stable area. Even after spending the $12,000, you'd be worrying, "But was it enough?"
18 posted on 06/27/2014 3:55:12 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Impala64ssa

we have a place at the NC beach and yes, we have lost some beach, but it is because Nor’easters, and just the prevailing winds from the north, eat away the sand and wash it southward. Environmentalist will not allow jetties and other structures to minimize the erosion, so it keeps going south. Somewhere down there is a lot of sand. (actually some goes out from shore and forms off-shore sand reefs)


19 posted on 06/27/2014 3:57:09 PM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: Impala64ssa

“Some climate-change experts are sympathetic, however, calling the rebellion an understandable reaction to sea-level forecasts that are rapidly becoming both widely available and alarmingly precise.”

Yeah, precise.


20 posted on 06/27/2014 4:01:22 PM PDT by headstamp 2
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