North Carolinians want stronger action to clean up coal ash pollution threats, plus other news, this week in CIB:

Legislative Watch: Public Wants Stronger Action on Coal Ash

North Carolinians overwhelmingly want much stronger action from state legislators to clean up Duke Energy’s coal ash pollution, and to stop the threat of still more spills before they happen. And the failure of legislative leadership to take those steps is dragging down the public’s view of the General Assembly in general and House Speaker Thom Tillis in particular.

According to Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling (PPP), their new survey “finds that more than 75% of North Carolinians–across party lines–don’t think the legislature has made Duke Energy do enough when it comes to cleaning up this winter’s coal ash spill. And the issue is one of the things contributing to Thom Tillis’ lagging popularity.”

Respondents agree that Duke should have to clean up all its at-risk coal ash sites, moving the ash away from threatened waters and into safe storage facilities. Of those surveyed, 89% of Democrats, 76% of Republicans, and 72% of independents agree with this. In addition, 71% of all respondents (including 81% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans) said they were “very concerned” by the failure of Tillis-supported legislation to require that Duke take financial responsibility for coal ash cleanup costs.

When you combine this continued threat to public waters with the threat that consumers will have to pay for the power company’s mismanagement of coal ash, you get a very unhappy public. A full 63% percent of those polled said that Tillis’ handling of this issue made them feel less positive about his leadership. Overall, only 32% of respondents have a positive view of Speaker Tillis, while 57% report an unfavorable view. Review the full results of the PPP poll.

Meanwhile, over at the Legislative Building, as budget negotiations continue to sputter along, the wholly inadequate current version of SB 729 (Coal Ash Management Act) is likewise in conference committee.

Negotiations are not being conducted in public. However, the individual legislators named to negotiate are noteworthy. On the Senate side, they’re Senators Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson), the original bill’s sponsor and influential chair of the Senate Rules and Ways & Means committees; Trudy Wade (R-Guilford); and Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), the Senate President Pro Tem himself. From the House, they’re Representatives Mike Hager (R-Burke), the Majority Whip; Ruth Samuelson (R-Mecklenburg), a vice-chair of the House Environment Committee; Chuck McGrady (R-Henderson), another House Environment vice-chair and the resident majority conservationist; and Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), who has a strong pro-conservation record.

There’s no mystery in the Senate conferees; in that chamber this year, whatever Berger and Apodaca declare on this topic will be followed. On the House side, the named conferees on average lean toward the greener elements of the chamber. Does this mean that they are empowered to seek actual improvements? Or is it all smoke and mirrors?

We don’t know yet what the conferees will do – but we know what they should do. If you haven’t called yet to demand real cleanup of the pollution threats from coal ash, there’s still time to do so.

Campaign Watch: Tillis, Big Oil Group Launch False Attacks on Hagan

While NCLCV has been calling attention to House Speaker Thom Tillis’ unsatisfactory record on coal ash pollution, Senate candidate Thom Tillis and his supporters among the oil industry have been raising another environmental issue: climate change. Unfortunately, their claims have drifted far away from objective reality.

It’s certainly true that Tillis and the Senator who he is challenging, Kay Hagan, have contrasting positions on the climate change question. Hagan recognizes the reality of human-influenced climate change and is an active supporter of clean energy development which will help to address that critical problem. Tillis is among the ranks of climate-deniers who won’t even acknowledge the reality of human-influenced climate change and the necessity of acting to address it.

However, Tillis and the Big Oil “dark money” group American Energy Alliance aren’t explicitly attacking Hagan’s actual support for clean energy. They’re attacking her for a position she has never taken–support for a carbon tax. (Many environmental advocates do support that approach, but it is hardly the only action alternative available.)

It appears that in the current political environment, any leader who simply acknowledges the reality of climate change is subject to attack by Big Oil and its allies on the basis of false claims with no grounding in objective reality. See the fact-check critique of the false Tillis campaign claim and American Energy Alliance attack ad here.

Around the States: Buzzing About Neonics

Neonicotinoids–a class of nicotine-related insecticides widely used on crops and in other pest control products–are a leading suspect in the decline of honeybees from “colony collapse disorder” (CCD). Now, a new study released last week by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found the chemicals spread widely in nine Midwestern rivers, including the Mississippi and Missouri. Just last month, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health found these “neonics” in fruits, vegetables, and honey purchased in grocery stores. Widespread regulatory agency interest is heating up. (The pesticide manufacturing industry denies that neonics are a threat to human health or the environment.)

Those items combined were enough to make the buzz about neonics the leading front-page headline in this past weekend’s edition of the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press. [CIB’s editor noticed this while in the Twin Cities for a national conference.]

We also note that local and national pesticide safety advocates have been warning us about neonics for some time. Perhaps it’s time to listen.

The Pioneer Press article can be read in full <a “=”” http:=”” earthjustice.org=”” features=”” the-case-of-the-vanishing-honey-bee?gclid=”COevoNqg5r8CFRIcaQodKisAmg” href=”http://www.twincities.com/News/ci_26219757/Insecticides-in-our-food-and-water-new-studies-find”>here. One environmental group’s feature article on the bee angle can be found here.

Education & Resources: New Climate Analysis Projects Coastal Risks

New analyses of ongoing sea level rise conclude that it will threaten the coasts of North and South Carolina with billions of dollars in property and infrastructure losses over the next 40 years. The reports were prepared by Climate Central, a nonprofit organization of scientists and journalists that surveys and conducts climate change studies.

According to the reports, North Carolina has $9 billion in construction, including 61,000 homes, at risk less than four feet above the present high tide line (most of it in the Wilmington area). South Carolina has $24 billion, including 54,000 homes, in the same danger zone.

[CIB Editor’s Note: Why does much smaller and less populous South Carolina have so much more development at risk? We expect multiple factors are at work, but we suggest that those factors include our southern neighbor’s historically weaker state laws governing coastal construction–which should be a lesson to those of our state’s elected leadership who are determined to gut our coastal environmental laws.]

Here’s a link to the North Carolina report in full.

Conservationists: John Runkle, Coastal Advocate

Long-time NCLCV leader John Runkle was featured this month in an article published online by the Coastal Review. Both friends of John and those who don’t yet know him will enjoy reading this profile of a dedicated conservationist.Read the Coastal Review Online article here

That’s our report for this week.