Pull on your wading boots: a wave of questionable environmental bills sloshed into the legislative pool last week. This week in CIB.

Legislative Watch: A Wave of Questionable Quality

It happens during every state legislative session. With time running out to introduce new bills, legislators fling all their bad, questionable, or half-baked ideas into the legislative pool. Last week was the state Senate’s turn. (Panic week for the House members is yet to come.)

Among the legislation dropping into the year’s potential debating waters were bills on cranking up user fees for state parks; pushing renewable energy out of utilities’ required generation mix; stripping more environmental authority from local governments; and the inevitable latest round of anti-environmental “regulatory reform.” On the upside, there was also a positive bipartisan proposal to extend the renewable energy tax credits.

Should state parks continue to be a haven for the general public to enjoy our state’s gems of unspoiled nature? Or should they be managed to milk the most bucks from the parks and their users? “DENR Attractions Dynamic Pricing Flexibility” (SB426) would require that state parks (as well as the state zoo and aquariums) seasonally adjust their admission and other fees “with the intent and effect to maximize revenues from use of these State resources to the extent practicable to offset appropriations from the General Assembly.”

On energy, should we continue our successful push to get clean energy generation from truly green sources like solar and wind? Or should we instead let power companies off the hook for purchasing clean energy, instead letting them completely displace it with “cheaper” energy efficiency? Current law requires a healthy mix of the two. SB 629, “Increase Energy Efficiency,” would allow a utility to meet all of its renewable energy portfolio standard (REPS) with energy efficiency measures, potentially pushing out of that market any further clean energy development.

Perhaps we should knock local governments out of the business of encouraging greener transportation alternatives, so that they can get on the business of just building more roads (and nothing else). SB 617, “Local Government Reg Reform,” would (among other problematic provisions) require a ‘supermajority’ (two-thirds) vote by the State Board of Transportation to approve any local government plan to reduce vehicle lanes to add bike lanes on a ‘state road’ within their jurisdiction. “Limit Number of Studies/MPOs and RPOs” (SB 396) would prohibit regional planning organizations from even studying transportation projects for which they didn’t have the funding already locked up. (Don’t study a project unless you’ve already committed to pay for it, folks. You’re looking at too many undesirable ideas like rail systems and those damned bike lanes. Just stick to more asphalt for more cars.)

On the ever-popular state “regulatory reform” front, we have SB 453, “Regulatory Reform Act of 2015.” This year’s anti-environmental provisions include abolishing the Sedimentation Control Commission; requiring the Coastal Resources Commission to relax its rules on those huge beachfront “sandbag” walls; repealing university energy audit requirements; creating a new loophole for polluters to get out of paying penalties by reporting their own violations; and other creative tools for fun, pollution, and profit.

We don’t want our readers to think that all is gloom and loss in Raleigh, however. We’re hopeful for the passage of SB 447, “Energy Investment Act,” newly introduced bipartisan legislation which would extend the sunset date on the renewable energy tax credit to 2021.

Coast Watch: Offshore Drilling Comments Due TODAY

TODAY (Monday, March 30) is the last day to submit comments to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on the draft new offshore leasing plan that would open much of the sensitive waters off North Carolina to drilling for oil and gas. Comments must be submitted online before 11:59 pm tonight.

North Carolina’s coast (and that of other Mid-Atlantic/South Atlantic states) is under real threat from this new draft plan. If the public doesn’t speak up forcefully now, we could see drill rigs off the Carolina coast in sensitive deep waters within just a few years – and ultimately, our own catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon.

Along with other citizen conservation organizations, NCLCV is encouraging comments in defense of North Carolina’s coastal resources. Fact sheets on offshore drilling and the risks to our state’s coast, along with tips on how to comment, and a direct link to submit comments to BOEM, are available here.

For those interested in reading another take on the issue, a writeup in the online journal Facing South last week provided a scientist’s perspective with technical points of concern.

Judicial Watch: Supremes Decision May Signal Change on Redistricting

There was potentially big news last week from the US Supreme Court on legislative redistricting that could affect the entire dynamic of campaigning in North Carolina. On a 5-4 split vote, the Court sent back for further review the Alabama state legislative redistricting plan. The Court majority said that by packing minority voters into fewer districts, it may have reduced those voters’ influence in a way prohibited by the Voting Rights Act.

Plaintiffs who are challenging the 2011 North Carolina redistricting plans say that the N.C. General Assembly did the same thing when it drew up the present extremely “gerrymandered” legislative districts here. We know, of course, that the North Carolina redistricting that year resulted in forcing out a number of environment-friendly legislators, often replacing them with others who seem to have put the environment on a special hit list. Court challenges on that score have been rejected by the N.C. Supreme Court, but are under appeal petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. That Court’s decision last week in the Alabama redistricting case breathes new life into the prospect that North Carolina could see a new redistricting plan sooner than 2021.

Here’s a news account of the decision here. And here’s a news release from the plaintiffs in the similar North Carolina case.

Observers also suggest that if the Supreme Court kicks back the NC redistricting plan for more work, that could give a boost to current legislative proposals to move to a less partisan redistricting process. Significant bipartisan support from legislators and across the political spectrum (including both NCLCV and groups that often line up against us on policy issues) are backing a proposal to hand over the responsibility for drafting new legislative district maps to a non-partisan appointed commission. If the Supremes send back NC’s redistricting plan, or non-partisan redistricting process legislation begins to move on its own, CIB will provide a more in-depth look at the players, politics, and potential involved.

Administrative Watch: Duke Will Fight State Fine

Duke Energy has settled its dispute with the feds by agreeing to pay a $100 million fine for the coal ash spill that polluted the Dan River, but Duke says it’s going to fight the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) over its levy of another $25 million fine against the company.

DENR issued the $25.1 million fine against Duke on March 10 for Duke’s contamination of groundwater by leaks from coal ash storage at the Sutton power plant in Wilmington. Last week, Duke declared that it will “vigorously contest” the fine.

Why the distinction? Two possibilities come to mind. First, the state fine could multiply as investigations continue into other similar leaks from coal ash pits around the state. Even for a corporation the size of Duke, if you add $25 million here and $25 million there, etc., you can start to get into real money. Second, the DENR fines are civil matters while the federal fine was in settlement of a criminal case by the US Department of Justice. While conservationists may be excused for thinking that some corporate polluters would look good in jail, we can also understand why executives on the hot seat would be rather more inclined toward settling up.

(Oh, we know the criminal complaint was against the corporation, and we have yet to see a stock in the stocks, as it were; but in an open case, one never knows where the evidence may lead…)

Education & Resources: Fracking Woes Documented

As we wait for possible drillers to decide whether to submit a bid to frack in North Carolina, it’s good to keep an eye on mounting evidence of the problems being created in other states. Environment North Carolina last week issued a report noting more than a thousand documented pollution violations related to fracking in the state of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2014. This growing record of contaminated soil, groundwater, and surface waters should serve as a serious cautionary tale for North Carolina.

The Environment North Carolina news release can be read here. The executive summary and full report can be accessedhere.

That’s our report for this week.