It ain't stupid, it's corrupt.
Consider, as reported by Reddit:
"In 2012, North Carolina’s Coastal Commission released a scientific report projecting a sea level rise of 39 inches along the state’s shores over the course of the coming century. It was an alarming finding that would require major planning in order to protect the state’s many coastal residents. Instead, North Carolina legislators responded by passing a law that, as ABC News put it, “will ban the state from basing coastal policies on the latest scientific predictions of how much the sea level will rise.”
The motive of the maneuver was thinly veiled. Coastal real estate values would plummet if the properties for sale were eroding into the ocean, after all. The bill was drafted by the Republican Pat McElraft, a former real estate broker whose biggest donors were, surprise, in real estate. Key advocates for the bill included outspoken climate change deniers John Droz and Tom Thompson."