Executive Watch: Veto Watch
Eyes are on Gov. Roy Cooper this week, as he considers how to respond to two bills that contain terrible policy for public health, clean water, and environmental justice.
As of CIB press time, Gov. Cooper had not yet announced his decision to sign or veto several pieces of adopted legislation, including these two environmentally damaging bills:
SB 711, “NC Farm Act of 2018,” would severely restrict injured neighbors’ rights to sue corporate factory farms to pay for and stop the polluting practices that dirty their water, air, and land. It would take away North Carolinians’ historically recognized property rights in order to protect a mammoth international hog company from liability for its irresponsible actions. NCLCV has joined in a massive statewide call for Gov. Cooper to veto this bill.
HB 374, this year’s so-called “Regulatory Reform Act,” would weaken stormwater cleanup requirements for as many as 150 subdivisions impacting coastal water quality; open the door to make “temporary” oceanfront erosion control structures permanent, turning beach sandbag walls that were intended to buy time for the relocation of threatened structures into massive permanent seawalls replacing what was once public beach; and knock out of contention some of Gov. Cooper’s clean-energy-supporting nominees to the NC Utilities Commission.
Cooper’s decisions on these bills are expected at any time today.
