Environmental bills good, bad, and ugly poured into the House last week, plus other news, this week in CIB.

Legislative Watch: New Bills Flood Into House

NC House members last week faced their own internal deadline for filing non-financial bills (the Senate’s deadline was earlier.) As a result, a flood of some 300 bills washed into that chamber, including dozens of potentially environment-related items. Without attempting the Augean stables task of looking at all of the new bills and actions from last week, we will note a significant sampling – some good, some bad.

The Good: One action which caught our favorable attention was the House Environment Committee’s approval of HB 571, “Implementation of Carbon Dioxide Regulations.” The bill itself was content-neutral on what those regulations should be, but it would mandate that the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) conduct a stakeholder-involved process to draft a North Carolina plan in response to the federal Clean Power Plan. That requirement would be canceled if the Clean Power Plan is withdrawn or invalidated by judicial action. The significance of the bill is a simple recognition of reality: if the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) follows through with this centerpiece of federal greenhouse gas controls and prevails against challenging lawsuits, then North Carolina will get a plan to do its part, one way or another. If the state doesn’t adopt one, EPA will impose one. It’s a measure of how contentious this issue area has become that such a common-sense measure as HB 571 is almost surprising. (In Congress, the prevailing reaction to controversial rules is a repeated threat to hold its collective breath until it turns blue.) HB 571’s sponsors include both Rep. Chuck McGrady (R-Henderson), and Rep. Mike Hager (R-Rutherford). To DENR’s discredit, its spokesperson at the committee meeting panned the proposal – despite the fact that DENR itself appears to have nothing underway to meet the June 2016 federal deadline for plan preparation. (Now that’s the Congressional spirit!)

The Bad: Sadly, so many bad environmental proposals dropped in that it’s tough to single out just one. On the recurring nightmare front, we point to HB 681, the so-called “NC Energy Ratepayers Protection Act,” this year’s version of the effort to repeal the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (REPS), which was defeated a couple of times over the previous two-year session. Far from protecting ratepayers, HB 681 would actually hurt them – and our state’s economy – by slashing our growing solar energy industry. Other bad bills of note included HB 795, “SEPA Reform” ,which would severely curtail the cases in which a state action required preparation of an environmental impact study; and HB 760, the latest “Regulatory Reform Act of 2015”, which would (among other provisions) effectively eliminate local riparian buffer requirements that exceed state minimums.

The Ugly: The billboard industry is back again with its updated wish list of ways to ensure that the motoring public sees its signs instead of all those unsightly trees. HB 304, “Revisions to Outdoor Advertising Laws”, rolls together a number of negative steps on billboards, including increasing vegetation removal requirements to cut down more trees along the public right of way that might limit views of the billboard; overriding any local ordinances that would block a billboard permit along a state highway; raise the cost to local governments of buying out and taking down unsightly billboards; and making it easier for companies to convert regular billboards to the brighter and more distracting digital billboards. For those interested in more detail on this ‘billboards uber alles’ legislation, NCLCV has posted a Sierra Club fact sheet here.

Coast Watch: McCrory Wants Drilling Close to Shore

Governor Pat McCrory showed no sign last week of having heard the loud North Carolina voices against oil and gas drilling off the Carolina coast. Instead, he came out swinging on behalf of less regulation – specifically, criticizing the proposed federal leasing policy that drilling not be allowed within 50 miles of the NC coast.

McCrory told a US House committee reviewing offshore drilling plans that the 50-mile buffer was unnecessary and would lock up accessible oil and gas. He claimed that there was “widespread support” in North Carolina for the offshore drilling.

Others testified that any such support was overwhelmed by public opposition. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) said that McCrory was “speaking for the oil industry” and not for the people of his state.

Incidentally, today (April 20) is the fifth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Some seem to have already forgotten every lesson it taught.

Campaign Watch: Duke’s Big Dollars Arrive Early

There’s more evidence that Duke Energy is taking steps early to look out for the election of the North Carolina governor who is looking out for them. In a research report released last week, Democracy NC documented four contributions from Duke to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) during 2014 totaling more than $3 million. This made Duke the top corporate contributor last year to the RGA – the same group that spent $5 million to boost McCrory’s election in 2012 and is expected to be a major financial player during his re-election effort next year.

Democracy NC noted that these contributions from Duke to the RGA came while McCrory, state legislators, and others were debating how to deal with Duke’s massive coal ash spill into the Dan River. It was a commonplace observation during that period, even from some Republican legislators, that McCrory was firmly sticking to the Duke Energy line in the debates. To review the full Democracy NC release on Duke’s donations, click here.

Judicial Watch: Groups Sue Over Factory Farm Air Pollution

Rural residents living adjacent to factory-style chicken farms know the problem: they have to deal with the daily stench, but neither state nor federal rules provide any protection from the pollution they have no choice but to breathe.

Last week, a coalition of environmental groups sued the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in an attempt to change that. The lawsuit challenges EPA’s exemption, in place since 2008, of those factory farm operations from having to get permits, test for pollutants, or advise the public regarding what kinds or how much pollution is in their air.

If this new litigation is successful, it could begin to address a long-running environmental and public health sore in North Carolina’s rural environment.

A spokesperson for the Waterkeeper Alliance, one of the groups bringing the lawsuit, said “People have a right to know that this industry is releasing hazardous substances into the air near their homes, schools, businesses, and communities. EPA does not have the authority to deny people access to information that is essential to protecting their health and the health of their communities and water resources.” You can learn more here.

That’s our report for this week.