Citizen voices are needed now to save our state from the Polluter Protection Act. This week in CIB.

Legislative Watch: Pressure Builds to Block Polluter Protections

While our state’s legislators were taking a self-declared vacation last week, citizen conservation advocates (and major newspaper editors) were working to alert the general public to the threat of the Polluter Protection Act (HB 765).

This is the legislation highlighted in last week’s CIB, which rolls back key protections for clean water and air, chills the rights of citizens to fight against polluting projects near their homes or property, and lets illegal polluters off the hook of responsibility if they just “confess” to their misdeeds. While HB 765 is by no means the only anti-environmental bill now under consideration by the NC General Assembly, it is arguably the most damaging.

This insightful commentary on the “breathtaking” wrong direction of the Polluter Protection Act includes a list describing the bill’s most damaging provisions.

NCLCV is among the leading citizen advocacy groups urging our members and supporters to contact their House representatives in opposition to this 50-page monstrosity created by the Senate to replace a modest unrelated House original bill. In order to protect the clean air and water and health of North Carolinians, the House must vote not to go along with the Senate’s substitute.

Citizen voices in opposition to this Polluter Protection Act are needed now. Here’s one fast and effective link to letting your voice be heard.

Campaign Watch: Voting Rights Trial Begins

Beyond the legislature, national eyes this week will be on North Carolina because of the trial starting here today (Monday, July 13) on a major voting rights case. The Federal District Court for the central district of North Carolina, meeting this week in Winston-Salem, opens its consideration of NAACP vs. McCrory, the challenge to the 2013 overhaul of North Carolina’s voting and election laws.

That 2013 legislation included voter photo identification requirements, cutbacks in early voting opportunities, elimination of same-day registration and voting, and other provisions which make it harder to cast a vote under many circumstances. Plaintiffs contend that the changes disadvantage minority and other voters in ways that constitute illegal discrimination under the federal Voting Rights Act. Originally filed more than a year ago, the case has already gone to the U.S. Supreme Court and back on pre-trial arguments, and is now set to begin the process of hearing witnesses and other evidence at trial.

The rights of many North Carolinians to vote are at stake in this trial, and its outcome will resonate on the treatment of other similar laws around the nation. While the degree of voter rights suppression in the challenged law is hotly debated, one thing cannot be fairly denied: The changes in the law make it harder for many citizens to vote. They reduce the number of voting days, require earlier registration, and add costs and requirements for voting that have never before been applied in this state.

If the object of democracy is to encourage all citizens to participate in self-government, then the law now being challenged is bad policy because it makes such participation more difficult. For citizen groups like NCLCV, whose mission is to encourage and help voters to use their votes to protect our shared environment, the law’s “voter suppression” effects run counter to our basic purpose. A report by the citizen group Democracy NC on the adverse effects of the law’s provisions during the 2014 elections can be found here.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that conservationists are holding events in Winston-Salem this week to help draw attention to the connection between civic participation and voting and a clean environment. Today at 2:30pm, supporters of clean air and action to address the threat of climate change will drop letters in support of EPA’s Clean Power Plan at the office of Sen. Richard Burr in Winston-Salem (2001 W. First Street, 27104). Later, at 3:45pm, supporters of clean energy will gather to call attention to the state Energy Freedom Act, meeting at Winston Square Park (310 N. Marshall Street, 27101). Members and supporters of NCLCV are invited to participate.

For citizens interested in taking part in today’s events sponsored by the NAACP in connection with the voting rights case, or in additional background on the case from the plaintiffs’ perspective, more information can be found atwww.july13marchforvotingrights.org.

Judicial Watch: Court Throws Out Tardy NC Challenge to Clean Air Rules

Good news for the environment came from another case related to North Carolina decided in federal court last week. The federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last week threw out a challenge filed on behalf of the McCrory Administration to important clean air standards adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The standards challenged tighten the regulation of particulate pollution (soot) in the air.

Remarkably, the McCrory Administration chose to act as the only state to belatedly challenge these clean air rules. The federal Appeals Court ruled that the challenge had been filed too late to consider.

Environmental advocates from several citizen groups praised the court’s decision. “We are so glad that reason and science prevails to protect public health,” said Clean Air Carolina’s Terry Lansdell. “North Carolina’s attack on fine particle protections would have wiped out substantial progress and pollution reductions that have occurred in the past several decades. The people of North Carolina can breathe easier knowing that this setback was averted.”

Executive Watch: Citizens Call for NC Clean Power Plan

NCLCV this week is also calling on state leaders to get started on preparing a North Carolina implementation strategy for the federal Clean Power Plan, to be announced as a final rule by the EPA soon. The Clean Power Plan represents what is expected to be the Obama Administration’s keystone regulatory contribution to fighting climate change. It will require each state to reduce carbon emissions by a designated amount, but give states the opportunity to shape their own strategies for meeting those targets. (States that decline to adopt their own plans will have plans adopted for them by the EPA.)

NCLCV’s Justine Oller describes the benefits of an effective state strategy: “We have a chance to make renewable energy and energy efficiency the cornerstones of North Carolina’s plan. Investing in both will save consumers money over the long term and have a positive impact on our air, land, and water. It means more sustainable jobs in renewable energy, growing our economy and helping our communities prosper.”

Here is one quick way to take part in calling on state leaders to take action for an effective state Clean Power Plan strategy.

For those interested in the details of what state plans can look like, the Nicholas Institute has posted a paper comparing alternatives here.

That’s our report for this week.