Some want the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change not only to continue but to be made a permanent part of state government. Others wouldn’t shed a tear if it disbanded.

“This issue isn’t going away,” said Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, who co-chairs the commission that was set up five years ago. “We need to be thinking about climate in a more holistic way.”

Commission member Bob Slocum, who is executive vice president of the N.C. Forestry Association, a trade group representing manufacturers of wood and paper products, timber harvesters and forest landowners, feels differently.

“I’m sort of ambivalent about it,” Slocum said. “As far as the way it is currently set up, I’m happy for it to disband.”

Slocum said he feels that the outcome of the commission’s work was predetermined.

“It really wasn’t a group that was going to try to take an objective look at the science and sort of go from there,” Slocum said. “The majority of people on it were made up of what I call the true believers – people who thought that everything that’s happened was caused by humans and the burning of fossil fuels.”

He said that the debate isn’t over as to the cause of climate change.

“This idea that the debate is over and the science is settled is simply wrong,” Slocum said.

Harrison said that it would be a shame to allow “all that expertise” the state has garnered studying the issue go to waste.

She said actions taken since the commission was created in 2005 have improved the state’s public health and the health of the environment. She mentioned the renewable energy portfolio standard that requires a minimum percentage of electricity to come from renewable sources and the new energy requirements for public buildings.

“The energy efficiency retrofits are really a terrific employment opportunity,” Harrison said.

Harrison said the commission will hold its final meeting the first week of May to approve its recommendations for the 2010 session of the General Assembly. Making the commission permanent is expected to be one of the recommendations.

Adapting to sea level rises and the change that the agriculture industry will face are items that a permanent commission could monitor, Harrison said. And if a federal climate change bill should pass, the commission could look into implementing that legislation, she said.

Slocum said that determining how the state could adapt to changes in the climate would be worthwhile.

“Nobody disputes that the climate has changed and will change,” Slocum said. “It does every day. Nature and climate are dynamic systems.”

He said appropriate questions that need to be asked include: Where do we build our roads on the coast? How does our development proceed?

“Those are far more realistic questions than how do we stop the climate from changing,” Slocum said, noting that nearly all the renewable energy alternatives have an increase in costs.

“There are no cost-free or risk-free options,” Slocum said. “There are tradeoffs no matter which way you go.”