NCLCV has released another important statewide endorsement, plus other news, this week in CIB:

Campaign Watch: Conservation PAC Backs Blue for Treasurer; LCV “GreenStorms” for Ross

Statewide campaigns continue to heat up in North Carolina.

Conservation PAC Backs Blue for Treasurer:  NCLCV’s Conservation PAC has announced that it is endorsing Dan Blue III for State Treasurer. Treasurer is one of several important but less-well understood statewide executive posts in North Carolina that are directly and independently elected by the voters. The state Treasurer and the Treasurer’s administrative department are responsible for managing and investing the state government’s pension and other investment accounts. That makes the Treasurer’s fiscal competence and responsibility critical. The Treasurer also serves on the Local Government Commission, which approves or denies bond issues by cities, towns, and counties (and thus the projects which those bonds finance); and on the Council of State, which approves or rejects state land transactions (including park land purchases).

Blue III, the Democratic nominee for Treasurer, supports state action to address global warming, clean renewable energy development, and the safe handling of coal ash and other toxic industrial waste. He pledges to “ensure that the construction of new infrastructure is sustainable and has the smallest possible environmental impact.” He explicitly backs stronger state pollution controls and tougher cleanup requirements for coal ash pits.

LCV “GreenStorms” for Ross: Last week, the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) included North Carolina’s Deborah Ross as one of five candidates targeted for special assistance by its LCV Action Fund intensive fundraising effort (“GreenStorm” online fundraising appeals). Ross, the Democratic nominee for the North Carolina U.S. Senate seat up for election this year, had already been endorsed by LCV Action Fund.  As of Friday, the LCV Action Fund effort had already raised over $125,000 for Ross’ campaign. More information can be found here. The 2016 U.S. Senate race in North Carolina is ranked as one of the most competitive in the nation.

Washington Watch: Trump Confirms He’d Shred Environmental Protections

Presidential candidate Donald Trump released his latest “economic plan” last week. The plan made it clear that Trump would take aggressive steps as president to shred environmental protection laws, promote dirty energy development, and reverse Obama Administration efforts to make progress in controlling climate change.

Trump outlined his plans in a speech on September 15 to the New York Economic Club. His specific promises included these:

• Eliminate the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
• Eliminate the EPA’s Clean Water Rule.
• “[L]ift restrictions on all forms of American energy production.” By his previous statements, this specifically includes restrictions on offshore oil and gas drilling.
• Impose a moratorium on most new federal regulations, especially those for environmental protection, and eliminate many other such existing rules.

Reacting to the Trump speech, League of Conservation Voters (LCV) National Campaigns Director Clay Schroers said, “Today Donald Trump doubled-down on his plans to put polluter profits ahead of public health. By outlining an economic plan with a centerpiece of killing vitally important programs for protecting clean air and clean water, a Trump presidency would put our families’ health at risk. Once again he has displayed that he lacks the judgment needed to be president by completely ignoring the costs to people who have to worry about making sure their families can breathe easily and drink clean water.”

Judicial Watch: Conservationists Seek to Protect Wild Red Wolves

In a major disappointment to endangered wildlife restoration advocates in North Carolina, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) last week announced plans to drastically curtail the critically endangered red wolf recovery program in coastal NC. The USFWS plan would collect most of the free-roaming wolves now in the field, leaving only a few in one county. Critics called the decision, if implemented, an effective death knell for the struggling effort to restore a wild population of red wolves in a part of their original natural range.

In a separate legal case whose outcome could impact the USFWS plan, attorneys for conservation groups argued against the federal wildlife agency’s rules for removing red wolves.

In these cases, the fate of a high-profile species—and likely the future of endangered wildlife recovery programs in the U.S. more generally—is being fought out in North Carolina now.

Administrative Watch: Voting Rights Victory

Citizen conservation advocates have played an important role in securing essential early voting opportunities across North Carolina. The NC State Board of Elections (SBOE) heard challenges to 33 counties’ early voting plans earlier this month, and in most cases protected substantial access to early voting opportunities. Conservationists played a role in these victories by participating in the organized and successful effort to submit large numbers of public comments to the SBOE in support of expanded early voting.

In an email sent to his group’s statewide contacts, Democracy North Carolina’s Bob Hall said to supporters, “Your calls and emails, your attendance at county board meetings, and your advocacy at the local and state levels culminated in improvements to a majority of county Early Voting plans. We didn’t win everything, but your activism made a big difference!”

NCLCV thanks its own volunteers and supporters who responded to our call to take part in this effort. Congratulations for making a difference, and remember there’s much more we can and need to do between now and November 8 to defend our environment and public health.

That’s our report for this week.