Why just watch the primary voting when you can help make a difference? Plus other news, this week in CIB:

Campaign Watch: Voter Protection Opportunity for Conservationists

Ultimately, the efforts of conservationists to protect public health and our natural environment in North Carolina depend on getting those in elected lawmaking positions to take the needed steps to make that happen. And NCLCV understands that this doesn’t happen unless the people we elect are willing to listen to our concerns.

This year, there’s an additional challenge to getting candidates to listen: New voting laws in our state may leave many voters confused or surprised about where and when they can register and vote. That’s why citizen groups like Democracy NC are working to help clear up that confusion, and see that voters have the information they need to participate in the electoral process. Democracy NC is co-hosting trainings across the state for volunteers who can help serve as poll monitors at selected key precincts for the May 6 primary.

Trained volunteers will wait outside the polling places, wearing yellow “Vote Protector” t-shirts, to answer basic questions and hold signs with the voter help hotline number (888-OUR-VOTE). Volunteers will also fill out incident reports for voters who experience a problem or have a complaint, and conduct an exit survey to help evaluate how the new laws are affecting voters’ right to participate.

According to Democracy NC, “This is the first election with many new rules. You don’t need to be an expert to be a Vote Protector Volunteer. But you do need to attend a training!” Volunteers will learn procedures for recording complaints and conducting the exit survey, receive their t-shirts and other materials, and be teamed up with another volunteer for their polling place assignment.

A training session lasts just two and a half hours. Training sessions will be held in ten cities across the state, beginning in Chapel Hill April 19 and concluding in Greensboro May 3. Sign up for one of the required training sessions here.

Conservationists are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to help make a difference in democracy in North Carolina this year.

Judicial Watch: EMC Joins Duke in Fighting Cleanup Order

(NOTE: After the following news item was published, DENR communications spokesperson Drew Eliot said in response that it was the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) which voted to join Duke Energy in appealing the Superior Court cleanup order, and that DENR (presumably meaning departmental leadership) took no position. NCLCV has made an appropriate technical correction in the online headline and text. However, as pointed out in the Raleigh News & Observer news account from 4/7/14, in this context, “The EMC adopts and oversees rules for the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and is represented by the attorney general’s office.” NCLCV concurs that in this instance, the formal decision to appeal was made by EMC vote. Had DENR leadership elected to oppose that move and urged the EMC not to appeal, we would concur that Secretary Skvarla had clearly weighed in on the side of doing the right thing at this stage. Given a formal “hands off” stance on the decision, however, we are left to wonder what represents the actual stance of DENR leadership on this matter.)

The N.C. Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last week elected to join Duke Energy in appealing the order of a state Superior Court judge that Duke must “immediately” move to clean up ongoing groundwater contamination from its coal ash pits around the state. Given the record thus far of DENR under Secretary Skvarla and Governor McCrory, conservationists are strongly disappointed but hardly surprised.

Representing citizen groups fighting for the cleanup, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) attorney D.J. Gerken observed, “Just a week after the state publicly abandoned its sweetheart deal with Duke and promised to ‘enforce’ the law, it has appealed a judicial ruling that confirmed the state’s legal authority to enforce a real solution for coal ash contamination.” Gerken commented, “We’ve seen two motions for protective orders, two motions for a stay, a delay of filing requirements, objections to discovery – they’re using every tool in their lawyer’s toolbox to delay cleaning up their mess.” More here.

Legislative Watch: ERC Recommends a Mixed Bag of Changes

The legislature’s Environmental Review Commission (ERC) last week recommended a slate of modest legal adjustments for consideration in the 2014 “short session” – some positive from an environmental viewpoint, some not. (It’s a sign of what a rough ride the environment has had the last two sessions that this rates as good news.)

Among the good points of proposed legislation:

• Permitted wastewater facilities would be required to report spills of a thousand or more gallons of untreated wastewater into surface waters to both DENR and the public within 24 hours. (That’s down from the 48 hours allowed now.) This would apply to both municipal sewage treatment systems and industrial facilities. (The word is that this bill will also serve as a “placeholder” for possible broader legislation addressing coal ash issues.)
• The moratorium on new environmental ordinances by local governments would be lifted. That’s a plus, but the proposal would also place regulation of fertilizers exclusively within the authority of the state Department of Agriculture, and would require both DENR and Agriculture to report to the ERC on local government ordinances that go into “any area subject to regulation by” those agencies.

Among the bad points:

• Increases the cutoff limit for “isolated” wetlands that can be filled or drained with impunity to those up to 1/3 acre in size west of I-95 and one acre in size east of I-95. A bone is thrown to the interest of protecting mountain area habitats by directing DENR to study whether “mountain bogs” should be protected using a different standard.
• Cuts “gravel” out of the definition of built-upon area for stormwater rules – and bars the Environmental Management Commission from defining “gravel”. (We’ll know it when we scrunch through it, we suppose.)

The full suite of proposals from the ERC can be reviewed here.

At this stage, these proposals are recommendations only. Procedurally, their recommendation by the ERC guarantees that they are eligible for consideration this year. It does not guarantee whether they will pass, or if so in what form. (Thanks to N.C. Conservation Network and N.C. League of Municipalities for reports from which this news item is excerpted.)

Around the State: Haw Named a Most Endangered River

American Rivers, the national conservation organization focused on cleaning up and protecting America’s threatened streams and rivers, last week announced that North Carolina’s Haw River has been named #9 on its list of “America’s Most Endangered Rivers”. The Haw collects the waters from some of our state’s most urbanized counties as it winds through the central Piedmont to Lake Jordan. According to American Rivers’ NC Conservation Director, Peter Raabe, the Haw’s designation is due to the continuing “fight over the Haw watershed clean-up plan (aka the Jordan Lake Rules) and the failing water infrastructure causing sewer spills into the river. We are calling on the [N.C. General Assembly] to reinstate the rules and stop the delays in the clean-up.”

American Rivers is partnering with the Haw River Assembly, WakeUp Wake County, NC Conservation Network, and the NC Chapter of the Sierra Club to support cleanup of the Haw River. For more details on the Haw and this issue, see here.

Conservationists: Have You Registered for Green Tie?

NCLCV’s Director of Engagement Debra Davis Rezeli wants you… to come to the Green Tie Dinner! Debra says CIBshould remind you that NCLCV’s annual Green Tie Awards will be held Tuesday, May 27, in Raleigh. So who is CIB to disappoint her? Sponsorships and tickets are available now. For a current list of sponsors and more details, see 2014 Green Tie Awards Dinner.

That’s our report for this week.