Enviornmental Issues

This session is not looking good for those interested in conservation and environmental protection. The Land for Tomorrow bond initiative to raise money to conserve an additional 740,000 acres in NC appears to be dead for this session. It seems there just wasn’t support with the Senate or the Governor to take on this important effort. Efforts to add additional protection appear to be floundering as well. My bill, HB 2185, to require that new cars meet the higher emissions standard established in eleven other states, and an important component of the State's effort to clean up our air, is running out of time. The landfill moratorium seems to be lacking momentum, not a surprise when you see that the "mega dump" operators have hired more than 25 lobbyists to work against the bill. Another bill, HB 2192, which I introduced, that would require better and earlier public notice for these mega dumps is also being strongly opposed by these landfill operators and their lobbyists. A bill, HB 1778, that would allow polluters to avoid any major liability for contaminating groundwater, with damages capped at $75,000 regardless of the cost of clean up, is moving right along. It is ironic that we are finally making major headway in protecting our private drinking water supplies, yet are letting polluters contaminate the groundwater resources and not adequately compensating the State for the lost resource. Another bill, H2169, Reduce Nutrient Offset Payments, pushed by the development community, cuts the newly adopted fee for developers who degrade buffer areas in the Neuse and Tar-Pam basins from $57 per pound of nitrogen pollution to an inadequate $11 per pound, and will be considered in the House on Monday.

More information on environmental legislation can be accessed through the NC Conservation Network's web site at www.ncconservationnetwork.org.

The House will on reconvene on Monday night at 6:00 with the prospect of finishing our work next week.