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U.S. real estate lobbyists turn blind eye to rising sea level threats to waterfront properties

Leavenworth, Stuart
http://www.thestar.com/business/real_estate/2017/09/15/us-real-estate-lobbyists-turn-blind-eye-to-rising-sea-level-threats-to-waterfron

Publisher:  Toronto Star
Date Written:  15/09/2017
Year Published:  2017  
Resource Type:  Article

All along the coast of the southeast United States, the real estate industry confronts a hurricane. Not the kind that swirls in the Atlantic, but a storm of scientific information about sea-level rise that threatens the most lucrative, commission-boosting properties.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

"This is very concerning," said Willo Kelly, who represents both the Outer Banks Home Builders Association and the Outer Banks Association of Realtors and led a six-year battle against state sea-level-rise mapping in North Carolina. "There's a fear that some think tank is going to come in here and tell us what to do."

The flooding and destruction caused by hurricanes Irma and Harvey has again highlighted the risks of owning shoreline property. But coastal real estate development remains lucrative, and in recent months and years, the industry has successfully blocked coastal planning policies based on ever-higher oceans.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded an Obama-era executive order that required the federal government to account for climate change and sea-level rise when building infrastructure, such as highways, levees and floodwalls. Trump's move came after lobbying from the National Association of Home Builders, which called the Obama directive "an overreaching environmental rule that needlessly hurt housing affordability."

In North Carolina, Kelly teamed up with homebuilders and realtors to pass state legislation in 2012 that prevented coastal planners from basing policies on a benchmark of a 39-inch sea-level rise by 2100.
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