Under the Senate budget proposal, the Department of Environmental Quality, would lose 45 full-time positions. That would greatly limit DEQ’s ability to serve as NC’s environmental watch dog responsible for enforcing state and federal protections for our air, water, and public health. The budget further calls for a 50% decrease in staff, 14 positions total, from the seven regional DEQ offices, and the entire environmental education department (two positions).
The good news is that the House refused to go along with the Senate, and is much better on state funding for DEQ.
