Don’t forget… the Green Tie Awards Dinner is this week, on Tuesday, May 27, in Raleigh. Tickets are still available here: nclcv.org/green-tie2014
Legislative Watch: On the Fast Frack
Week two of the legislature’s short session saw the Senate back to pushing fast-track fracking, as well as more pro-polluter changes under the guise of “regulatory reform”.
First up, SB 786, “Energy Modernization Act”, charged through the full Senate despite well-deserved condemnation of its provision to criminalize the disclosure of toxic chemicals included in fracking fluids (the content of which could be protected as so-called “trade secrets”). The bill also preempts any local regulation of fracking, calls for the state to start issuing permits for fracking on July 1, 2015 (even though rules are not yet ready), reduces the protective boundaries around fracking operations within which drillers are held responsible for well contamination, and legalizes “compulsory pooling” under which landowners can be required to sell their rights to drill under their land – even if they object.
One news analyst looked last week at the workings behind the push to fast-track fracking. Her analysis is worth reading, and can be found here.
Then there was the latest manifestation of mostly pro-pollution legal changes masquerading as “regulatory reform”: SB 734, “Regulatory Reform Act of 2014”. In its 61 pages of densely packed technical changes, the bill included backwards moves like these:
- Effectively de-regulates destruction of most ‘isolated’ wetlands by raising the threshold for exemption from permitting to a full acre of wetland. The current threshold is one-third acre east of I-95 and one-tenth acre west of I-95. Even when a wetland impact is large enough to require a permit, the amount of mitigation required when a wetland is destroyed is also cut in half. (So-called ‘isolated’ wetlands are often the most critical wildlife habitat and nurture rare and threatened species, in addition to their water quality protection values.)
- Orders the removal of all state air quality monitoring stations that are not required by federal law. (Critics say this would threaten public health by eliminating about half of North Carolina’s air pollution monitoring stations, leaving gaping holes in public information on pollution levels.)
- Provides blanket immunity from civil and administrative penalties and fines for environmental violations, if those are discovered through an environmental audit and voluntarily disclosed. [Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) North Carolina office director Derb Carter calls that “more customer service from the legislature to polluters. Penalties are a deterrent to polluters. Waiving civil penalties for self-reported violations creates an incentive to pollute then self-report later.” More details here.]
- Weakens Jordan Lake riparian buffer protections by exempting from local rules any stream piping allowed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Not only did the sponsors of SB 734 push a poisoned package through its first Senate test intact, they blocked efforts by opponents to put to a vote amendments which would take out some of its most egregious provisions. One of these was the bill’s elimination of half of North Carolina’s air quality monitors. More details here.
In addition to the big two anti-environmental bills above, proposals to weaken protection of public health and natural resources popped out in two other noteworthy forms: restrictions on aerial photos of farms, and a proposed clear-cut of all local ordinances concerning tree conservation.
One bizarre new proposal would block the state from publicly releasing aerial photos and GPS coordinates for agricultural operations. That’s SB 762, “Farm GPS Coordinates/Photos/Public Records”. The claimed basis of the proposal is to avoid “fraudulently reported environmental complaints”. Pardon us, but shouldn’t the ready availability of accurate photos and location data help deter false complaints? We suspect that the real motivation is, in the words of Yadkin Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks, to “make it impossible for [state regulators] or local governments [to] identify how many of these CAFOs [concentrated animal feeding operations, a.k.a. factory farms] exist or estimate the potential waste load allocation to our waterways and drinking water supplies.” See more analysis here.
Not all the mischief is originating in the Senate. Over on the House side, HB 1191, “Authority to Adopt Local Ordinances”, would block cities and counties from regulating fertilizers, and would chop down all local ordinances requiring tree conservation in any way. No rules on tree conservation in new developments, no requiring street trees or forested buffers, no protection of heritage trees. Where have some legislators gotten the notion that North Carolinians suddenly hate trees? We think HB 1191 deserves the truth-in-advertising title of “Clear Cut NC”.
Overall, a special theme seems to be emerging for this session. No photos of pollution problems from factory farms? Confiscating reporters’ recorders? Criminalizing the disclosure of toxic chemicals in our groundwater? It looks like this could be the year of legislative “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”
Campaign Watch: LCV Action Fund Endorses Hagan
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund has endorsed Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) for re-election.
“Senator Kay Hagan is committed to protecting public health and the environment for future generations, including supporting commonsense solutions to tackle climate disruption,” said LCV Action Fund President Gene Karpinski. “She also works hard to make America a leader in clean energy, because she knows that it will create jobs and grow the renewable energy economy while reducing our dependence on dirty fossil fuels.”
NCLCV Director of Governmental Relations Dan Crawford added, “Hagan understands that North Carolina’s open spaces and natural resources are an intricate part of our heritage, which is why she continuously fights for bipartisan polices that protect our land while growing our economy.”
Hagan has earned an 84% lifetime score on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard. Among other key votes, she has voted to defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to protect public health by reducing mercury and other toxic air pollutants in power plant emissions.
Washington Watch: EPA Mandates Dan River Cleanup
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week announced a formal agreement in which Duke Energy agreed to clean up the Dan River coal ash spill, put the waste in a lined landfill, and reimburse the federal government for its supervision of the process.
Environmental group response noted that the deal requires Duke to dispose of the recovered ash waste in a fashion advocated by environmentalists. Waterkeeper Alliance attorney Peter Harrison further noted that while the settlement likely shields Duke from public interest lawsuits on cleanup terms, it should not protect the company from damages claims by impacted downstream residents and landowners.
More details can be found here.
Education & Resources: Coal Ash Lobby Day
Distressed by the anti-environmental tone in Raleigh and want to help educate legislators on the need for positive action instead? Then you’ll be interested in the “Clean Up Coal Ash Lobby Day” being organized now. It will be held Wednesday, June 4, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Raleigh. For more information or to register, click here.
That’s our report for this week.
