Executive Watch: Cooper Vetoes Bill to Weaken Stormwater Management

Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed legislation that would weaken local governments’ ability to control stormwater pollution.

SB 16 (the latest “regulatory reform act”) passed during the previous one-day special session, providing a grab-bag of deregulatory goodies for various special interests. Included was a provision to weaken the ability of local governments to control polluted runoff from developments built before the advent of stronger stormwater runoff rules. In vetoing the legislation, Cooper said, “we should make it easier, not harder” to control water pollution.

Cooper’s veto message read in more detail, “We should make it easier, not harder, for state and local governments to protect water quality, whether through stormwater safeguards or by giving public health departments the ability to revisit wastewater permits if needed. Rolling back ways to protect water quality is dangerous.”

An annotated version of SB 16’s environmentally relevant contents can be reviewed here.

The General Assembly will have the opportunity to consider a veto override during the current “special session,” which began Friday.

Next: another de-regulation showdown looms at the General Assembly >>