Watching the Tide Roll Away: Looking Forward After Fifty Years of the Coastal Area Management Act

ecologically rich." 3 The pressures on North Carolina's coastal resources are only intensifying as "development, . . .population, and . . .recreational aspirations" continue to "expand" 4 and clash with the impacts of accelerating global climate change, sea level rise, and coastline erosion. 5 The CAMA statute contains expansive language that rhapsodizes about the intrinsic values of the natural resources of the state's coastal area, and the many benefits they provide to the public, in justifying the creation of a comprehensive plan for protecting, preserving, managing, and developing the coastal area of North Carolina. 6 The General Assembly charged the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission ("CRC") and the Division of Coastal Management ("DCM") to develop a system for land use planning and development permits through which, in concert with coastal communities, it can minimize development that is incompatible with CAMA's goals.For fifty years, the state, through the CRC and the dedicated staff of the DCM of the Department of Environmental Quality ("DEQ") and its predecessors, have administered CAMA's coastal area management plan by adopting, implementing, and enforcing a comprehensive set of administrative rules, guidelines, and policies. 7 Those actions describe and designate coastal areas of environmental concern, establish appropriate limits for their use and development, and issue and enforce permits for development within them, among other things. 8 Working in opposition, the North Carolina Rules Review Commission ("RRC") has in recent years used its authority to review and block rules duly adopted by the administrative agencies and thereby compromise the integrity of the CAMA program. 9 The gaps that the RRC has left in the CAMA rules threaten the CRC and DCM's ability to fulfill CAMA's statutory goals at a critical time; now 3. Id. 4. Id.