N.C. Lawmakers OK Global Warming StudyState becomes first in the Southeast to tackle climate change

In a big political victory for environmental advocates, the North Carolina General Assembly yesterday approved landmark legislation to study the impact of global climate change on the state.

"While the federal government is just now recognizing the impacts of global warming, the state of North Carolina is already taking action to address the threat," said Michael Shore, air policy analyst with the state office of Environmental Defense.

Though both chambers had approved the measure earlier this year, it got bogged down due to minor differences between the two versions. But on the afternoon of Aug. 30, with adjournment looming, lawmakers pulled the N.C. Global Warming Act from a larger study bill and brought it before each chamber for a vote.

It passed the Senate by 42-4 and the House by 86-25. No Wake County Senators voted against the bill, but several local House members did, including Russell Capps (R-41), Nelson Dollar (R-36), Rick Eddins (R-40) and Paul Stam (R-37).

The measure establishes a 32-member commission of state officials, business leaders and other stakeholders that will examine issues relating to global warming, including projected impacts to the state and economic opportunities associated with reducing global warming pollution. The commission will report its finding and recommendations in November 2006.

Lawmakers approved the bill as news from the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast grew grimmer. Hundreds of people are believed dead, and many thousands have been left homeless. Though the Category 4 storm cannot be blamed directly on global warming, it fits a pattern of intensifying weather that can be attributed in part to a warmer atmosphere.

"Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida, it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico," journalist and global warming expert Ross Gelbspan noted in an Aug. 30 Boston Globe op ed titled "Katrina's Real Name."