Session is slowly coming to an end as budget negotiations are happening this week and final bills are being pushed through. With that in mind, I urge you to remember that there are still important environmental bills that have yet to be finalized. We have already seen fracking pass at record speed this summer, so don’t let a bad coal ash or a lax environmental amends bill join the ranks.

Environmental priority items that still remain on the agenda are:

• Coal Ash: This subject dominated the environmental realm this summer as both the Senate and House worked on creating a bill dealing with coal ash in the best way possible. We had high hopes that the proposed House bill would have been even stronger than the Senate bill, but it appears that the House version is actually closer to what the Governor originally planned. The current coal ash bill is a weakened version of an unsatisfactory Senate bill. As SB729 moves forward, hold Duke Energy accountable and protect the citizens of North Carolina.
• Environmental Amends/Regulatory Reform: Regulatory reform started in the Senate as a bill that contained everything from cursing on the highway to deregulating isolated wetlands. SB734 is a hodgepodge of environmental rollbacks. The House decided to make two separate reform bills, one of which solely focuses on environmental changes. However, even with the separation, SB38 still contains many of the environmental rollbacks that were in the original bill that give us cause for concern. Regulatory reform has been put on hold for the budget and coal ash negotiations but when it reappears be sure to strengthen the environmental legislation, not weaken the laws that we already have in place.

NCLCV produces a Scorecard that rates legislators by how they vote on environmental legislation. NCLCV opposes all legislation that would weaken our environmental protections that have made North Carolina a great place to live and raise a family. The bills mentioned above, along with several amendments that were brought to the floor, will likely appear in our Scorecard at the end of session.

OPPOSE

SB729 COAL ASH MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2014

SB38 AMEND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS 2014

SB734 REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2014

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.