Late in the state budget process, a new attack on coastal resources may be slipped into the bill, plus more news, this week in CIB.

Legislative Watch: Sneak Attack on the Beaches

As if there were not already too many anti-environmental special provisions that need to come out of the budget bill now under consideration in Raleigh, yet another one may be slipped in. More North Carolina beaches and barrier islands will be threatened by accelerated erosion if the General Assembly agrees to a proposed new policy change lifting the cap on so-called “terminal groins.”

This newest anti-environmental proposal was not included in either version of the budget bill adopted by the House or Senate. Instead, it comes from the Senate side of the budget conference as a new special provision – not something normally added at this stage of a budget’s consideration, especially one already as delayed and loaded down with extraneous policy provisions as this one.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a “terminal groin” is a rock or concrete wall extending from an ocean beach out some distance into the water. It’s intended to trap sand in front of some threatened structure(s) by capturing sand which is carried along the beachfront in the tides and currents. They sometimes do so at that location, but normally at the cost of actually speeding up erosion on the down-current side of the structure. As such, these “terminal groins” are among the beach-destroying hard structures mostly prohibited by North Carolina coastal laws.

Four years ago in a previous round of legal wrangling over this issue, a compromise legal provision was adopted to allow up to four such “terminal groins” to be built on an allegedly experimental basis. Since that time, one has been permitted, and three others are still being fought over by proponents and opponents. Now, despite the continuing controversy and opposition, a few proponents of this recurring bad idea are trying to bypass the normal legislative policy review process and slide an absolute elimination of the cap into the budget bill at the last minute.

Coastal news last week featured vigorous local opposition to permits for one of these already pending terminal groin proposals.

Legislators like Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) pointed out that “lifting the cap on terminal groins would undermine the compromised passed four years ago to allow four pilot projects to gauge their effectiveness and environmental impacts before opening the entire coast to the structures.” Some House budget leaders like Rep. Chuck McGrady (R-Henderson) are also reported to be opposed on similar grounds.

Citizen conservation advocates are calling on legislative leaders to decline to add yet another anti-environmental special provision to the budget, bypassing good legislative practice, and foolishly threatening our coastal resources.

Washington Watch: Obama Visits Arctic to Call for Climate Action

President Obama last week became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Arctic. He did so in dramatic service of his call for action to address the threat of global climate change.

Visiting melting glaciers and villages sinking as the permafrost underneath also melts, Obama pointed out that temperatures in the Arctic are already rising twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet. Climate reality denied by some politicians and viewed by many Americans as an abstract threat is creating hardship now in parts of Alaska.

The Obama trip spanned from the traditional – remarks at a conference in Anchorage calling for faster policy action an international basis to the unique – appearance on a “reality TV” show taping featuring wilderness exploration. Meanwhile, debate continued on the many details of related policy, including his own controversial decision to permit some drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

In the end, however, the trip was intended to utilize a technique in presidential advocacy which goes back at least to the Reagan administration, and probably beyond. The talking heads can make whatever points they wish, so long as you choose the visuals. Conservationists can hope that the visuals of receding glaciers and sinking shores will help to move public awareness in the right direction on the reality of destructive climate change.

Campaign Watch: Calling out Burr on Clean Power Plan

Back home in North Carolina, we will see ads beginning to air this week, calling for U.S. Senator Richard Burr to support the Clean Power Plan. Last week, the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) announced the start of a $640,000 ad campaign featuring the mother of an asthmatic child talking about his struggles, and pointing out that air pollution from burning coal is putting children like hers at risk.

Air pollution would be cut back by implementation of the Clean Power Plan. The ad asks viewers to tell Burr to drop his opposition to that plan.

In the LCV news release linked above, NCLCV director of governmental relations Dan Crawford notes that Burr’s and others’ “opposition to the common-sense, reasonable solutions on carbon emissions in the clean power plan puts North Carolina families at risk and limits North Carolina’s ability to be a clean energy leader.”

The ads are just one step in an ongoing advocacy strategy which will include events in Winston-Salem, sponsored by the NCLCV project Climate Action NC, this Thursday (September 10). A “Clean Energy Future” rally will begin at 4 p.m. in Bailey Park, 445 N. Patterson Ave., Winston-Salem. Afterwards, participants will deliver letters for Burr to his Winston-Salem office. More information is available from Climate Action NC’s Tim Moreland at tmorelandlcv@gmail.com.

That’s our report for this week.