Dear Friends,

There was quite a surprise in the Senate this week, when the new PCS for HB 94—Amend Environmental Laws—took the bill from 4 pages to 43. Added to the legislation are many items of concern, as you can see below.

• Current law requires all agencies to prepare fiscal notes for rules that would have a substantial economic impact, but this bill would exempt the Mining and Energy Commission, Environmental Management Commission, and the Commission on Public Health from that requirement when the rules pertain to oil and gas development. Apparently, taking the time to learn how rules would affect the state’s fiscal situation would be too much of a burden to put on the out-of-state fracking companies.
• By removing the current 500-foot compliance boundary, and instead allowing polluters to contaminate groundwater out to the property line, this bill removes any obligation for polluters to address contaminants until after they have already affected their neighbor’s private property. Furthermore, by limiting DENR’s ability to require remediation until after the compliance boundary has been crossed, polluters whose property happens to be situated around rivers and lakes will be able to contaminate the aquifers used to supply drinking water to cities like Charlotte.
• The MEC is currently working on chemical disclosure rules for fracking, but a section of this bill would undermine those efforts and impose new legislative regulations. The proposed section says that unless a situation that threatens public health or the environment arises, companies may withhold the composition of their chemicals, so-called “trade secrets,” from DENR, and both the MEC and DENR would be forbidden from providing any information they do have to local, state, or federal agencies.
• The bill also exempts certain bodies of water from protective riparian buffer rules, endangers the natural and economic assets of Western North Carolina by repealing the Mountain Resources Planning Act, decreases the amount of time third-parties have to become aware of permitting decisions and file a challenge, and drastically reorganizes the Division of Water Resources and the Division of Water Quality.

There are enough problems in HB 94 that we could devote every HotList for the rest of the session to describing them, but we hope the smattering of issues described above is sufficient. This bill is destructive to citizens’ private property, to their health, and to the environment. We urge you to oppose HB 94.

Other legislation we are keeping an eye on are listed below. Please feel free to contact us with any questions atmichael@nclcv.org and logan@nclcv.org, or you can contact Dan at dan@nclcv.org.

Best,
Michael and Logan | michael@nclcv.org, logan@nclcv.org

OPPOSE

HB74 PERIODIC REVIEW AND EXPIRATION OF RULES

HB94 AMEND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS | SB112

HB201 REINSTATE 2009 ENERGY CONSERVATION CODES

HB1011 GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION AND EFFICIENCY ACT

SB76 DOMESTIC ENERGY JOBS ACT

SB112 AMEND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS | HB94

SB151 COASTAL POLICY REFORM ACT OF 2013

SB163 PROTECT LANDOWNERS’ WATER RIGHTS

SB328 SOLID WASTE REFORM ACT OF 2013

SB515 JORDAN LAKE WATER QUALITY ACT

SB612 REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2013

SB635 TRANSMISSION LINE OWNERSHIP

SB638 NC FARM ACT OF 2013

SB677 CORPORATE INCOME TAX REDUCTION & REFORM

SB710 FAIR SHARE CONTRIBUTION FOR ELECT. VEHICLES

SUPPORT

HB401 EFFICIENT AND AFFORDABLE ENERGY RATES

HB440 NORTH CAROLINA BENEFIT CORPORATION ACT

HB573 STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FEE USES

SB652 SMART GRID TAX CREDIT

SB706 EXTEND RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX CREDIT CARRYOVER

The HotList is a weekly email the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV) sends out during session where we talk about relevant legislation and share information on key environmental issues as they come before the General Assembly. While primarily intended for elected representatives, the HotList is also made public to any and all who are concerned about the environment.