Its main tasks complete, the Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) is still making news. This week in CIB.

Administrative Watch: MEC Denies Air Rules Petition; Sleeping Watchdog Barks Late

Even with its main tasks completed and its scheduled dissolution date just a few months away, the Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) is still making news.

First, the MEC last week formally denied an environmental group’s petition to develop rules controlling air pollution from fracking operations. The MEC concluded that it lacked the legal authority to do so, under the authorizing legislation which created it and charged it with other tasks.

That denial was recommended by the MEC committee which studied the issue. The committee was chaired by Amy Pickle, director of state policy for Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, who is considered one of the environmentally-friendly members of MEC. Her committee clearly thought that the proposal had merit, but concluded that the authority to act on the issue is held by another state body, the Environmental Management Commission (EMC). The EMC thus far has not taken the issue up.

Other observers also believe that the EMC should do so. Emissions from gas drilling operations can include unknown levels of benzene, a volatile organic chemical and known carcinogen.

Ironically, the other news item of interest regarding the sunset of the MEC comes from yet another state board finally doing its own job – in this case, a bit late to do much good.

The State Ethics Commission last month sent to the MEC its initial ethics evaluations for the 14 MEC members. It concluded that a dozen of the members had potential conflicts of interest, such as energy stock investments and energy consulting contracts. MEC’s chair released that information to the public last week.

The MEC has been working on developing rules on fracking for two years and just concluded that task last month. It’s scheduled by statute to dissolve next July 31, when it will be replaced by a new Oil and Gas Commission that will handle permits and other reviews related to actual fracking operations. The Ethics Commission’s executive director said he wasn’t aware of that time frame and that his commission has thousands of people to review with limited staff.

So-called “potential” conflicts are not unusual for appointed members of state regulatory boards, who are usually experts in the field(s) covered by the board, serve as volunteers in their board positions, and often make a living by related kinds of work. The importance of timely ethics advisory opinions is to alert those board members (and the public) to possible situations in which the member should refrain from participating in a decision. Opinions provided after most of the board’s relevant work has been done are of little utility to anyone.

One could call this a case of the sleeping watchdog, waking up in the morning and barking after it discovers that all of the building’s furnishings have been removed during the previous night.

Legislative Watch: Senate Leadership Named

CIB previously reported on the NC House’s new leadership teams going into the 2015 legislative long session. This week, there’s news of the NC Senate majority Republican caucus setting its own leaders. That caucus last week selected current Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger of Rockingham County as its candidate for the same post next year (since the GOP holds 34 of 50 Senate seats, its nominee is assured of election). The Republican caucus also re-elected Sen. Harry Brown (Onslow) as majority leader and Sen. Jerry Tillman (Randolph) as majority whip. (Associated Press, 12/12/14.)

Around the State: New Day for Transit in Wake; Coal Ash Pollution Seeps into Yadkin

New Day for Transit in Wake: A new transit-friendly majority last week officially took office on the Wake County Board of Commissioners, paving the way (so to speak) for Wake to finally consider joining its fellow Durham and Orange counties in launching a regional light rail system. The refusal of the narrow Republican majority on the previous board to allow transit funding to come to a public referendum vote proved to be one of the potent issues in this year’s campaigns that saw Democratic candidates sweep all four open seats on the Wake board. New members wasted no time in indicating that they expect to move forward in developing plans for transit, sidewalks, bike lanes and other environment-friendly transportation options. Click here to read more.

Pollution Seeps Into Yadkin:: On a less positive note, the new discovery of pollution “seeps” from coal ash pits directly into waters of the Yadkin River and High Rock Lake created a well-justified news stir last week. The seeps were directly visible because the lake water surface was 14 feet below its normal levels. The Yadkin Riverkeeper and other environmental advocates called attention to the seepage, to contaminate levels in the water, and to the nearby coal ash pits of Duke Energy’s Buck power plant.

Climate Change Update: Not Business As Usual; Another Hottest Year on Record

Finally this week, we offer two notes on climate change. First – and the more encouraging one – is a “not business as usual” item. On the EPA’s proposed new carbon emissions control rules (the “Clean Power Plan”), more than 200 businesses have submitted comments in support. These business leaders recognize that a healthy economic future depends on development of clean, renewable energy sources – not a broiling planet suffering under an atmospheric overload of carbon dioxide from burned fossil fuels. They weren’t just the usual green suspects either, but also included multiple brand name and Fortune 500 companies.

Second, there is some other 2014 year-end news that should come as a surprise to no one (except perhaps Senator Jim Inhofe, the US Senate’s leading climate-science denier). According to the United Nation’s World Meteorological Organization, 2014 is now expected to be the new hottest year on record with a global average temperature 1.03 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1961-1990 average temperature.

We expect Inhofe (the likely incoming Senate Environment Committee chair) to first ignore the report, then label it another part of his mythical climate change hoax, perpetrated by the entire mainstream international scientific community, apparently on retainer from Hollywood. Inhofe, on the other hand, tends to envision conspiracies that even Hollywood deems too far-fetched to entertain its audiences.

That’s our report for this week.