Well, as we continue to see the tragic impact of the devastating flooding in Texas, it got many people here thinking about our own state's preparedness for future natural disasters.

New Jersey environmental regulators are still in the process of adopting sweeping new development rules for floodprone coastal areas known as real rules.

That's the DP's resilient environments and landscapes proposal.

It's focused on boosting flood resilience for vulnerable and valuable low-lying areas as climate change fuels the problem.

But the proposal has its critics.

Opponents worry the rules could harm future development and the rhetoric is heating up as the Murphy administration weighs a final version of the regulations.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports.

This is a life and death moment for Governor Murphy to fulfill his promise to ensure our children and grandchildren are safe.

Advocates gathered in Trenton to launch a PR campaign aimed at convincing Governor Murphy to adopt a controversial flood management plan proposed by New Jerseyy's D. The so-called real rules would update flood risk zones and toughen building standards across the state.

activists pointed to the deadly flood tragedy in Texas.

It's a terrible thing to um think about the loss of life, particularly those children that were lost.

Um these rules are giving us a chance to plan before the disaster happens.

The D based these new rules on a Ruter study that predicted Jersey Shore sea levels will rise by more than 5 feet by the end of the century.

But climate science says New Jersey's also experiencing flash floods from periods of increasingly intense rainfall.

Climate change is here and it's going to continue to plague us and to affect us in ways that we can never imagine.

Lambertville's mayor says his town council passed a resolution in favor of the real rules.

He described rescuing apartment residents during Ida's floods.

All 44 families that night were rescued by boat uh by the the fire department which had to break into the uh the the rescue squad to get a boat.

We had all kinds of problems that night in terms of logistics.

But some other towns over 130 at last count according to the New Jersey Conference of Mayors with many down the shore have opposed the real rules.

Their concern is over changes to current flood and storm water regulations that could cause economic hardships for builders and businesses.

And the Builders Association's Deb Tantler fears it could impede current projects.

We think the rules as proposed are not acceptable and not viable and really have detrimental impact um and have a lot of unintended consequences.

It really doesn't allow for incremental adjustments.

Tantliff's actually pushing some of her own projects through the permitting process to beat the looming August 4th deadline to adopt real rules because if these regulations got put forward and adopted as proposed, the projects would be unviable and we would not be able to move forward.

Part of the problem, advocates say, is that this is an extreme climate issue being debated at a moment of extreme politics.

The New Jersey Conference of Mayors sent Governor Murphy and legislative leaders a letter opposing the rule changes and CCD the top two candidates for governor last month.

It escalated a campaign to derail the rule's adoption by challenging the climate science accuracy and demanding more input.

The DP hasn't dismissed inquiry, says New Jersey league of municipalities executive director Michael Sarah.

They have been attentive.

They've been engaged.

I think that, you know, you know, I I think they certainly recognize that they're going to have to make some changes and, you know, we'll see where they go from here.

Tantliff says the D's expected to outline at least some potential changes to the real rules next week, but supporters who helped shape the new regulations vehemently oppose any meddling.

For those who would lie about these regulations and would issue disinformation about them, they are wrong.

They are purposeful in their push back to these regulations.

We are asking Governor Murphy to adopt these NJPAC real regulations immediately.

The D deferred any remarks to the governor's office, which previously stated it's quote planning the adoption of supportive regulatory changes, but it had no new comment on making any changes to the rules in Trenton.

I'm Brenda Flanigan, NJ Spotlight News.