RALEIGH, N.C.  – The state House tentatively approved a plan to fix an underfunded coastal insurance program after first refusing to double the insurance industry’s maximum liability from a catastrophic hurricane to $2 billion.

The House voted 89-27 on Tuesday to back Beach Plan reforms that include putting all insured North Carolina property owners on the hook if a disaster pushes claims beyond the industry’s $1 billion cap on assessments. A final House vote could come as early as Wednesday.

Supporters said the changes are needed to keep insurance companies from pulling out of North Carolina, which would lead to higher prices and fewer choices statewide. Insurers now have unlimited liability to make good on damage claims covered by the Beach Plan.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina lawmakers are unveiling a proposal for who would pay claims for coastal damage after a bad hurricane season.

The House Insurance Committee on Thursday is considering an attempted compromise on the Beach Plan that’s still unlikely to please property owners or insurance companies.

The legislation is trying to fix the state-created insurance agency for property in 18 coastal counties.

The Beach Plan was created in 1969 as the insurer of last resort. But it has ballooned as insurance companies raised rates in storm-prone coastal areas after Hurricane Andrew in 1993.

The Beach Plan now insures 170,000 properties valued at nearly $74 billion. But it has the resources to cover just a fraction of that.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – A North Carolina lawmaker has completely reworked legislation sought by coastal homeowners saddled with huge increases in their insurance premiums, deductibles and surcharges.

Democratic Sen. Julia Boseman of New Hanover County said Tuesday she was giving way as legislative leaders work behind closed doors to craft a deal between coastal interests and the insurance industry.

A state Senate committee considered a Boseman bill that would have frozen the increased insurance costs. Residents along the North Carolina coast are facing homeowners premium increases of up to 30 percent.

Instead, the bill was rewritten so that the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission could stop forcing private clubs to have a waiting period for new members.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina lawmakers say coastal regulators should allow waterfront communities to install a kind of hardened structures designed to keep shoreline sand from floating into the water.

The state Senate voted Thursday to give the Coastal Resources Commission authority to grant construction of what’s called a terminal groin.

Such a structure runs perpendicular to the shore, close to a tidal inlet. The terminal groin entraps sand, keeping the shoreline intact and preventing sand from clogging the inlet.

The commission has banned such structures since 1985. Bill sponsor Sen. Julia Boseman of Wilmington said local governments want the option to protect their beaches.

Environmental groups argue the groins are a bad idea that will encourage risky waterfront building.

The bill was approved 37-10 and sent to the House.

Winston-Salem Journal Editorial

The Interior Department has issued a detailed proposal for oil and gas drilling off both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts – including the fragile, already-threatened North Carolina coast. President Obama should scrap the whole plan and concentrate on making the country more energy independent, a theme he stressed again Monday. State leaders should let him know just how bad drilling would be for North Carolina.

There’s been talk for years about drilling off the North Carolina coast. Most of the state’s top leaders have resisted such proposals, fearing that drilling could hurt the tourism this state increasingly depends upon.

But when gas prices shot up to record highs last year, some of our elected leaders, like their counterparts nationwide, relaxed their resistance.

The Interior Department issued its proposal in the last days of the Bush administration, which had pushed for more drilling off America’s coasts. The draft plan would allow drilling from New England to Florida and off the California coast, The Associated Press reported last week. These areas were recently declared off limits by Congress.

The N.C. legislature announced last week the formation of a committee to study the effects of drilling off our coast. We can’t imagine a scenario in which the economic benefits of such a plan could outweigh the damage to the environment and scenery – and, consequently, tourism. Overdevelopment has already done enough damage.

Drilling rigs would require nearby refineries and storage facilities, and create lots of traffic between the rigs and refineries. The rigs would threaten the environment, especially if one was knocked over in a hurricane.

With our Outer Banks jutting right out into the path of so many storms, that danger would be very real.
Finally, it’s estimated that more drilling off American shores wouldn’t produce enough oil to fuel our cars for any significant length of time. The time, effort and money for more drilling would be much better spent developing mass-transportation systems, alternative-energy programs and new fuels for cars. That strategy could finally break our addiction to oil, whether foreign or domestic.

By all indications, the Obama administration will be more prudent about the use of precious natural resources than the Bush administration. Ken Salazar, the new Interior secretary, indicated to The Associated Press last week that he likely will be receptive to scaling back his department’s proposal for more oil drilling.
Our elected leaders should let Salazar and the president know that oil drilling off North Carolina is a bad idea.