Denying science in North Carolina

Politicians in North Carolina are trying to legislate not merely in ignorance of science, but in defiance of it. According to a Los Angeles Times article:

The result is House Bill 819, a measure that would require sea level forecasts to be based on past patterns and would all but outlaw projections based on climate change data.

The bill is the result of a state commission's prediction of a disturbing 39-inch rise in sea level by 2100. "[C]oastal business and development leaders" were concerned that this prediction would cost them and current homeowners millions, so they pressured legislators to do something about it.

But perhaps I'm being too harsh. Perhaps the developers have genuine concerns about the quality of the research conducted by the commission.

[Tom] Thompson, director of the Beaufort County Economic Development Commission, called the 39-inch prediction "dishonest statistically" and no better than a coin flip. In an interview, he dismissed climate change as "a phobia" pushed by environmentalists.

John Droz Jr., NC-20's science advisor, said commission scientists were "bent on promoting their personal political agenda." NC-20's projections "are entirely about the science" and have nothing to do with developers, or economics, Droz wrote in a letter to the News & Observer newspaper.

Let's see: Thompson, who does not appear to have scientific training, dismisses climate change outright, while Droz, who presumably has some kind of scientific training if he's a "science advisor", impugns the motivations of scientists with whom he disagrees (or perhaps is paid to disagree). One completely dismisses a scientific finding with plenty of evidence behind it, the other disingenuously attacks the character of the messengers. There's a pair you can rely on.

Perhaps they don't trust the commission's scientists because they know how untrustworthy they themselves are.

Or maybe they just have a lot of money on the line.

The politicians, of course, are all about the money, and I'm sure the business community has thrown plenty of it to push Bill 819.

If I lived in North Carolina, I'd be plenty sore that some of my elected representatives were behaving like jackasses, ignoring the best scientific recommendations available in favor of avowedly biased, financially motivated, antiscientific claptrap.

The great pity is, none of those elected representatives will be alive to see how wrong they were about climate change, and how devastating the consequences are for future generations. It's also a great pity that those of you who keep electing these venal, ass-ignorant politicos won't be alive to see how badly your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren fare in the damaged world you leave them in your own ignorance and willful blindness.