Enviornmental Issues

There hasn’t been much activity on the many environmental bills proposed this session and I fear that we are running out of time to take on any of these initiatives. The House Environment Committee did approve extending the deadline for a report and recommendations from the Global Climate Change Commission by 18 months. The committee also approved the addition of two new state parks, but no funding. A bill I had worked on with Reps. Joe Hackney (D-Orange), Becky Carney (D-Mecklenburg), and Martha Alexander (D-Mecklenburg), to require cleaner cars in North Carolina (based on legislation passed by 11 other states) is strongly opposed by car dealers and manufacturers and may not get a hearing this session. The landfill proposals appear to be in trouble as well, opposed by both the waste haulers and the counties who are attracted to the revenue of operating mega-dumps. Support for the proposed Land for Tomorrow bond issue appears to be faltering as some legislators and the Governor appear to be concerned about the state taking on more debt. On the off-shore oil drilling issue, it appears that Congress may leave the decision up to the states to decide whether or not to permit such activity. The General Assembly must be ever vigilant on this issue; some coastal communities have been enticed by the prospect of using the royalty revenues from off-shore oil drilling to pay for beach re-nourishment.