North Carolina legislators have approved a four-year ban on using a state-sponsored science panel's predictions on the rate of sea level rise in dealing with coastal development issues.
The bill now goes to Gov. Beverly Perdue.
The House approved the measure on a 68-46 vote Tuesday. The Senate passed the much-debated bill to control how North Carolina prepares for climate change on the coast 40-1 Monday.
The new version blocks the state from adopting any rate of sea level change for regulatory purposes until 2016.
The science panel warned sea levels could rise by more than three feet by 2100 and threaten more than 2,000 square miles of coastal land.
A coastal development group disagrees and says the seas will only rise eight inches.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
