We’re still calling on Gov. Pat McCrory to veto the Polluter Protection Act. This week in CIB.

Executive Watch: Waiting for McCrory on Polluter Protection Act

As of CIB press time, there’s still no word on whether Gov. Pat McCrory will sign or veto HB 765, the 2015 “rules reform” bill now widely known as the Polluter Protection Act. McCrory still has much of a month remaining within which to make his decision.

Over the past week, editorial writers around our state have recognized that 15 citizen conservation organizations including NCLCV are calling with good reason on McCrory to veto HB 765. The groups’ letter with its details of the worst provisions of the bill can be read here.

There is still time to urge Gov. McCrory to veto HB 765, known as the Polluter Protection Act, by calling his office at 919-814-2050. Please leave a message either with staff or on voicemail.

As we described last week, here are three of the worst provisions in this so-called “rules reform” bill:

• The bill’s explicit “polluter protection” provision (known euphemistically as the “environmental self-audit”) actually excuses permit-holders which violate environmental limits from civil penalties for their offenses, if they self-report the violations. This encourages carelessness by air and water pollution dischargers, since it becomes simple to get off the hook with the equivalent of a ‘whoops, sorry about that.’ And it lets the polluters keep evidence of the audit discovering the pollution secret from civil suits and the public.
• The bill cuts back state protections for isolated wetlands, and eliminates state protections for intermittent streams (streams which flow in an established channel but only for part of the year). Both types of waters are critical to wildlife and to protecting clean water in other streams and rivers across the state throughout the year.
• The bill will require the state’s air quality protection agency to shut down many of the air quality permitting stations now in operation, creating willful blind spots in our monitoring network and making effective regulation of air pollution much more difficult.

North Carolina can’t afford the Polluter Protection Act.

North of the Border: Virginia Governor Supports Clean Power Plan

It’s not often that we tarheels suffer from Virginia envy, but we have an occasion to do so this week. That’s thanks to an eminently rational response from Virginia’s governor supporting the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), compared to the irrational and counter-productive opposition from our state’s governor and his administration.

In an op-ed run in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last Monday, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe cogently explained the basis for his support of the final CPP. It’s clearly data-driven and encourages flexible state plan development, he says, including implementation of clean energy strategies that will pay off in jobs and positive economic impact as well. That fits in well with his economic strategy of recruiting and expanding the high-growth clean energy sector in his state.

“Virginia will leverage the Clean Power Plan to grow the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries in a way that creates jobs and reduces carbon emissions from the power sector,” said McAuliffe. “The Clean Power Plan now presents Virginia with a real opportunity to make clean energy a pillar of our future economic growth and a meaningful part of our energy portfolio.”

Our governor could have made exactly the same points about North Carolina’s economic opportunities, but he didn’t, choosing instead to throw aside the head start we have, throw in instead with the hard-core anti-EPA crowd, and cede the competitive renewable energy field to our neighbors to the north.

Environomics: Fading Nuclear

Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good made headlines last week with a talk in which she cast doubt on Duke’s commitment to building new nuclear power plants. Speaking to the annual economic luncheon of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, Good touted increased reliance on natural gas-powered generation, the ongoing retirement of coal-fired units, and even had positive comments about growing renewable energy and battery storage.

When it came to nuclear power, though, she said that existing nuclear plants would remain a major part of Duke’s generation mix, “But whether or not new nuclear is a part of the picture remains to be seen.”

Duke has long been one of the nation’s foremost generators of nuclear power and staunchest defenders of its expansion. However, it has abandoned prior plans to expand nuclear power units in eastern North Carolina and Florida, and its tentative plan to build a new nuclear plant in western South Carolina is on hold.

When Duke Energy doubts the future of nuclear growth, it’s time for the die-hard defenders of expanding nuclear power to call in the dogs and put out the fire – the hunt’s over. NC DEQ Secretary Donald van der Vaart should take note.

Conservationists: NCLCV Welcomes Aisander Duda

NCLCV welcomes new Development Director Aisander Duda. He comes to us from a similar post at the NC Center for Public Policy Research, and has been a writer, researcher, policy analyst, and public interest fundraiser for eight years. Aisander is the man to tell you why your dollars are needed to protect North Carolina’s public health, natural beauty, and the environment, and how they will be spent. For more background on him and NCLCV’s other staff, click here.

That’s our report for this week.