The North Carolina Rules Review Commission (RRC) voted unanimously at it April 8 meeting to disallow the temporary rules the Coastal Review Commission (CRC) put into place in February—a move that puts the status of Jockey’s Ridge environmental protections in limbo.

Included in the rules the RRC ordered dropped was the Area of Environmental Concern (AEC) language for Jockey’s Ridge State Park, a designation that protects the park from development in areas immediately adjacent to its boundaries and includes a prohibition on removing sand from the area.