MT Raleigh Report – HB47 is A Critical $500M Lifeline for Western NC Recovery

If you’re surprised to learn that the North Carolina General Assembly has been in session since January, you’re not alone. Despite the urgent needs of Western NC following Hurricane Helene, the legislature has yet to approve a relief package so far this year.

That may soon change. This week, the state House is expected to approve HB47, a $500 million relief bill. While that’s a step in the right direction, the bill still faces uncertainty in the Senate, and it remains unclear when and at what amount the General Assembly will use its billions in unspent reserves for disaster aid.

What’s in HB47?

HB47 would allocate state funds for housing, environmental restoration, debris removal, small business grants, and other critical recovery efforts. MountainTrue supports this bill, particularly the funding for debris removal and restoration projects. You can find a plain-English summary of the latest version of the bill here.

What’s Next?

If the bill passes the House as expected, it will still need approval from the Senate, which has shown less urgency on disaster relief. Senate leaders tend to be more cautious about spending and want to wait for federal agencies like FEMA to complete their recovery work before committing state funds. This could delay progress or result in a reduced package.

MountainTrue has already reached out to Senate leaders to advocate for quick approval of HB47 as written. Our staff will be in Raleigh this week to meet with lawmakers across both parties to stress the importance of timely disaster assistance and share our priorities for the 2025 legislative session.

You can read our full 2025 legislative agenda here.

Looking Ahead

HB47 is just the beginning. House leaders have indicated that it will be the first of several disaster relief bills for Western NC. However, differences between the House and Senate are likely to continue, particularly regarding the amount and structure of disaster funding. The Senate’s preference may be to address this through the broader 2025-2027 state budget process, which typically takes months to finalize.

Governor Josh Stein expressed support for the House’s disaster recovery bill as a good start while calling for even larger investments in recovery. He also urged the federal government to provide an additional $19 billion in disaster aid.

Why Your Support Matters

The General Assembly’s action – or inaction – on Helene recovery underscores the importance of having a strong voice for Western NC in Raleigh. That’s why MountainTrue is proud to be the only WNC environmental organization with a year-round lobbyist in the state capital. Your support makes that possible, and we are deeply grateful.

Thank you for standing with us as we continue advocating for a strong, swift recovery for our region.

MT Raleigh Report: Politics, Disaster Relief, and the Fight for Western North Carolina’s Future

What a year – in Raleigh and, of course, in Western North Carolina.

Among the many lessons those of us here in the mountains learned, again, this year is that what happens – or does not – in Raleigh has a real impact on our communities, our mountains, and our future.

Certainly, that has to be one of the takeaways about the North Carolina General Assembly’s response to the disaster that hit the mountains a couple of months ago. Since September, the legislature has approved three bills that included disaster-related funding for a total of $1.13 billion in state funds. Click here for an overview of the legislature’s efforts on the disaster to date.

The most recent of these bills is SB382, which included $225 million transferred to a state fund for disaster relief but NOT approved for any specific program or project. Leaving that transfer aside, SB382 included a mere $32 million approved for disaster relief. The remaining balance must be earmarked and approved by the legislature before it reaches WNC.

Beyond the first dozen or so pages loosely focused around disaster relief are over 100 pages of “Various Law Changes,” the real meat of SB382 designed largely to shift power away from the executive branch. This power grab disguised as disaster relief caused three WNC Republican Representatives – Mike Clampitt, Karl Gillespie, and Mark Pless – to join Democrats in voting against the bill, although it passed both the House and Senate in otherwise party-line votes. It also prompted Governor Cooper to veto the bill, but his veto was later overridden by Republican supermajorities in both chambers and became law. Despite their initial opposition to the bill, Clampitt, Gillespie, and Pless all voted to override the veto and allow the bill to become law.

So why is disaster relief getting held up? It’s certainly not because money’s tight. State Budget officials recently told a legislative committee has a whopping $9.1 billion in inappropriate reserves, including almost $4.8 billion that was in the state’s “rainy day fund” itself when Helene hit, plus $1 billion in a stabilization and inflation reserve and another $732.5 million in a emergency response/disaster reserve. Legislators could also use another $1.1 billion from savings and still remain in compliance with state law.

Gov. Cooper’s request for a $3.9 billion state set-aside for hurricane relief presumed the use of about $3.5 billion from these sources.

So, if money is not the problem, what is the hold up on state disaster relief? For their part, budget writers for the Republican majorities in the House and Senate argue that it’s smart policy to hold back state relief funding and allow federal disaster relief to make its way to the region. They worry that if state funds are used on efforts that are eligible for federal relief, the feds may not reimburse the state for its recovery efforts. GOP budget writers say it’s better to let the federal money be the first in – and the state funding the last to address needs FEMA and other federal programs do not get to. They also point out that Congress is likely to provide more money for WNC recovery before the end of 2024.

The problem with waiting, of course, is that many in WNC need help, now, for things we know that the federal government won’t pay for. Many small business owners, for example, can’t afford to take on more debt via the disaster loan programs offered by FEMA. Without direct grants, many business owners say their businesses won’t survive the disaster.

Debris removal is also an urgent need. While the federal agencies and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services have both state and federal funds to help local governments clear rivers of storm debris, these funds are often restricted to trees and other natural debris – not the cars, trucks, and tons of garbage that were swept into every river basin in the region – and are further restricted to those debris jams that pose a risk to flooding or structural damage. The funding is also distributed locally, making regional clean-up efforts more difficult to get up and running. And timing is important: our rivers and streams need to be safe and ready to use come spring when the outdoor recreational season brings thousands of visitors and their dollars to the region.

With those waters – and our outdoor economy – in mind, MountainTrue has asked legislators to fund a regional debris clean-up effort that is also supported by the outdoor recreation industry’s umbrella group, the Outdoor Recreation Coalition. Our goal is to employ those in the outdoor industry, who have been displaced by the disaster, to clear out tons of debris in time for the start of the recreation season this spring. Despite the legislature’s reluctance to use state funds for this kind of effort, MountainTrue has started a small pilot program in Madison County with private funds that will make some popular whitewater safe for paddlers early in 2025.

We plan to use this pilot to continue to lobby legislators for debris removal funding – and employment for those put out of work by the disaster. Early word in Raleigh is that legislators will take up a state-funded package of disaster recovery efforts early in their 2025 session, which begins in late January.

Looking further back into the legislature’s work this year doesn’t provide much more to celebrate. With GOP supermajorities in both the House and Senate AND a budget surplus topping $1 billion, legislative leaders were unable to muster the votes to send a revised budget for FY2024-2025 to Gov Cooper this summer. In the absence of a revised budget, they left the surplus uninvested and dozens of important conservation projects, including many in WNC, unfunded.

Unfortunately, the 2025 legislative session doesn’t provide much hope that lawmakers will address the many issues facing North Carolina. With the GOP supermajority now gone in the House, the 2025 session promises to be a drawn-out stalemate between the GOP leadership in the General Assembly and Governor-elect Josh Stein, a Democrat.

For its part, MountainTrue will continue to be in the middle of debates about disaster recovery and rebuilding, clean water and air, and sustainable development and rebuilding. Thank you for the investments you make in MountainTrue and its work in Raleigh – we couldn’t do it without you.

Protect the Nolichucky River: Tell NC DEQ: Require Responsible Railroad Build Back by CSX

This action has expired

Photo courtesy of Jubal Roe.

We need you to tell North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to require railroad company CSX to apply for a permit to rebuild in the Nolichucky River Gorge. Please email Regional Supervisor Andrew Moore to request that DEQ make CSX apply for a permit.

Take Action + Tell NC DEQ: Require Responsible Railroad Build Back by CSX

Through their rebuilding work, CSX has left extensive damage in their wake on the Tennessee side of the Gorge. Fortunately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has prohibited CSX from mining rock from the Nolichucky or its tributaries until new approvals are in place. North Carolina’s DEQ can ensure that the NC stretch of the Nolichucky does not experience the same damage as the Tennessee side by requiring CSX to apply for an additional permit prior to rebuilding. This permit must prohibit removal of rock below the Ordinary High Water Mark.

The Army Corps’ mandate follows an immediate cease and desist and notice of violation issued by Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to CSX. TDEC found that CSX mined rock well below the Ordinary High Water Mark, causing significant damage to the riverbed. The damages caused by CSX will now be the responsibility of Tennessee taxpayers. North Carolina’s DEQ can prevent the same fate by requiring CSX to apply for a permit that allows the railroad to rebuild, but prevents the removal of rock below the Ordinary High Water Mark. The permit should also require that CSX remove all leftover materials and temporary access roads following completion of their work.

Please take action to protect North Carolina’s side of the Nolichucky River Gorge and ensure that CSX, not NC taxpayers, are financially responsible for rebuilding the railroad. As always, thank you for your attention and action!

Action Alert: Help Us Remove Debris From Our Rivers After Hurricane Helene

This action has expired

Our rivers are in a state of emergency. The aftermath of Hurricane Helene has left our waterways choked with millions of tons of debris and pollution. While our communities have shown resilience in the face of this disaster, the task of restoring our rivers is a pressing and ongoing one. Below are photos from a recent scouting trip down the Swannanoa River that underscore just how much work is still left to be done.

Yet, we’re left anxiously waiting for the “Big Cleanup,” which will require millions of dollars in state investment. This will help us get boots on the ground and hire hundreds of out-of-work people in our region to clean up and restore our rivers.

Please take action today by emailing your NC Senate and House leaders to let them know that the recovery of our rivers and local outdoor economy needs their help. It is a pressing issue that requires immediate attention and inclusion in Helene relief legislation expected to be taken up this week at the NC General Assembly.

Take Action

What’s at Stake:

Outdoor Recreation Drives Our Economy: Outdoor recreation contributes $4.9 billion in visitor spending annually to our region, supports 48,000 full-time jobs, and generates $197.5 million in county taxes.
Our Rivers Are Central to Recreation: 36% of visitors come to fish, 24% to swim, and 14% to paddle or tube. Without healthy rivers, these economic and cultural benefits are at risk. (MADE x MTNS Outdoor Recreation Participation Study)
A Unified Call for Action: The health of our rivers is not a partisan issue. It’s a matter of public safety, environmental stewardship, and economic vitality.

We need your voice to convince our lawmakers to swiftly pass a robust Hurricane Relief package that includes the funding we need to remove debris from our rivers and protect our outdoor economy.

Take Action Today:

Email Your Legislators Now:
Tell your NC Senate and House leaders why restoring our rivers matters to you and your community.
Make It Personal:
Share your story about how our rivers impact your life, whether it’s through fishing, paddling, swimming, or simply enjoying their natural beauty. Make sure your voice is heard.
Spread the Word:
Share this alert with friends and family. The more people who take action, the louder our call for restoration will be.

Together, we can make a difference. Let’s restore our rivers, protect our outdoor economy, and ensure that future generations can enjoy the beauty and bounty of Western North Carolina’s waterways.

Sincerely,

Hartwell Carson
French Broad Riverkeeper
& Interim Clean Waters Director

Photos taken from a November 15 scouting trip down the Swannanoa

Speak Up for Old Growth Forests

This action has expired

We need you to tell the US Forest Service to implement strong protections for old-growth forests. Please submit a comment urging the Forest Service to strengthen NOGA by clarifying its language and better considering eastern forests.

The Forest Service is currently seeking public comment on their proposed National Old-Growth Amendment (NOGA). The amendment, which responds to a Biden-Harris Administration executive order mandating stronger protections for old-growth forests, would require all national forest plans across the country to incorporate additional consideration of old-growth forest management needs.

This amendment is an important step towards protecting a shrinking resource, but it needs to be improved. In its current form, NOGA lacks clarity and includes loopholes that could inadvertently worsen current management practices for old-growth forests. Far from meeting its intent of protecting and restoring old-growth forests, NOGA’s current language could allow for inappropriate old-growth harvest.

Submit a Comment

Comments are due September 20th.

Old-growth forests store large amounts of carbon, clean the air we breathe, provide critical wildlife habitat, maintain and increase biodiversity, filter water, and reduce wildfire risks. The old-growth forests of the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests are home to several endangered and threatened species, including four species of endangered bats and the imperiled Blue Ridge lineage of green salamanders. Unfortunately, across the nation, old-growth forests are in decline, facing stressors from pests, extreme weather, and commercial logging. NOGA offers an opportunity to better protect and restore old-growth forests, but only if it’s finalized and implemented properly.

Our Concerns:

As written, NOGA fails to allow passive management as a method of preserving or enhancing old-growth characteristics. Although the Forest Service recognizes that a “hands-off” approach can better serve old-growth forests, especially in areas that are not fire-prone, NOGA currently prescribes only active management options.
Solution: NOGA should be amended to include passive management as an option for managing old-growth forests.
Proactive stewardship of old-growth forests has the potential to degrade the old-growth ecosystem. The ambiguity of the draft text could lead to an interpretation that degradation of old-growth forests is ok if that degradation contributes to a project meeting other goals.
Solution: NOGA should include a non-degradation clause for cases where proactive stewardship methods are employed.
The exceptions allowed under NOGA are unclear. This lack of clarity could lead to a situation where development within old-growth forests is permitted, so long as there is sufficient old-growth outside of the developed area to make up for some loss within the developed area.
Solution: The Forest Service should remove the exception that allows for development at an “ecologically appropriate scale” and employ clear, already defined language to improve NOGA’s clarity.
While old-growth forests decline, threats to old-growth increase. Simply preserving existing old-growth will not be enough to stop the decline, so recruiting mature forests into an old-growth stage is crucial to protecting these ecosystems. As written, NOGA does not offer a clear path by which the Forest Service can identify suitable mature forests and manage them to become old-growth.
Solution: NOGA should be amended to include a clear plan for recruitment of mature forests into old-growth conditions.
Lastly, NOGA prescribes a one-size-fits-all approach to forest management. As written, NOGA characterizes threats to old-growth forests uniformly across the country. While fire poses a risk to western forests, eastern old-growth forests are more vulnerable to improper management and commercial logging. The same management actions that benefit fire-prone western forests will not be suitable for moist eastern forests.
Solution: NOGA should better characterize threats and more specifically prescribe management actions based on forest type and location.

Submit a Comment

Groups ask EPA to withdraw state authority over water permits

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— The Southern Environmental Law Center today filed a petition on behalf of community groups with the Environmental Protection Agency asking it to take back North Carolina’s authority to regulate water pollution because the state legislature is crippling the state’s ability to protect its waterways, drinking water sources, and communities from harmful pollution. SELC filed the petition on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, Environmental Justice Community Action Network, MountainTrue, and the Haw River Assembly.

“The people of North Carolina deserve clean water, yet the state legislature is preventing the state from limiting toxic pollution of our waterways and drinking water,” said Mary Maclean Asbill, director of the North Carolina Offices at the Southern Environmental Law Center which represents the conservation organizations. “Legislative-induced failure is not an option when it comes to protecting North Carolina’s water and communities, so we are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to step in.”

As with most states, EPA delegated authority to North Carolina to regulate pollution from industry and wastewater treatment plants into rivers, lakes, and other waters through the “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System” program. This means the state took on EPA’s legal duty to issue water pollution permits that protect North Carolina waters and include participation from the public, and to enforce against any polluters that violate water quality laws.

The petition documents how the North Carolina General Assembly has systematically undermined the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Management Commission to the point that the state can no longer effectively protect its waters, including through the following actions.

Supermajority controlled commissions block DEQ efforts to protect North Carolinians from toxic chemical pollution, including from PFAS and 1,4-dioxane. Laws passed by the General Assembly have ensured that the state Rules Review Commission and Environmental Management Commission effectively are controlled by a supermajority in the General Assembly that is hostile to environmental protections. North Carolina waterways like the Cape Fear River Basin, including the Haw River, have among the highest levels of toxic pollutants like PFAS and 1,4-dioxane in the United States. But these increasingly partisan commissions are blocking development of important water quality standards for these toxic chemicals and harming the state’s ability to protect communities from them.

New laws enacted by the General Assembly give a free pass to polluters by mandating weak state permits for fish farms and certain wastewater treatment plants.These new laws force the state to allow many polluters, including fish farms and certain wastewater treatment plants, to release pollution into the state’s waters and drinking water sources. The laws mandate weak permits that only control a short list of pollutants hand-picked by legislators, cutting experts and scientists at DEQ and the public out of the permitting process. In doing so, the General Assembly prevents DEQ from using its expertise to evaluate and control other potential pollutants, including toxic PFAS, 1,4-dioxane, mercury, and arsenic.

The General Assembly’s decade-long failure to properly fund DEQ endangers North Carolinians by sabotaging the state’s ability to protect communities from harmful pollution. For years, the state budget enacted by the General Assembly has systematically underfunded DEQ as compared to other state agencies. Because the agency is severely understaffed as a result of the legislature’s actions, at least one fourth of the state’s polluters are releasing their pollution under expired permits. This means that North Carolinians are deprived of permits that incorporate available treatment technologies that protect the health of communities, wildlife and water quality, and that comply with the law.

The North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings is preventing the state from complying with the Clean Water Act.The state legislature modified state law to give the Office of Administrative Hearings final authority over water pollution permits, cutting the public out of the permitting process. Now, the chief administrative law judge is poised to strip DEQ’s authority to control toxic 1,4-dioxane pollution in these permits. The chief administrative law judge also recently ordered DEQ to pay nearly one million dollars in attorneys’ fees, penalizing the agency for doing its job and paralyzing it from issuing permits that polluters are likely to challenge.

Petitions typically lead to EPA investigations of issues raised. EPA may work with the state and petitioners to resolve the concerns, deny or grant the petition.

MountainTrue Calls on EPA to Protect NC Waters from Legislative Sabotage

The following is a letter sent to our members on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, announcing MountainTrue’s decision to petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw North Carolina’s authority to regulate water pollution.

Dear members and supporters,

I’m writing to share some important news with you regarding the future of North Carolina’s water quality, environment, and public health. MountainTrue has always been committed to safeguarding the public water resources of Western North Carolina. Our mission to protect the health of our waterways and the well-being of our communities has never been more critical. However, the obstacles we now face have made it clear that the state cannot meet its obligations under the Clean Water Act.

Therefore, MountainTrue has joined the Southern Environmental Law Center, Cape Fear River Watch, Environmental Justice Community Action Network, and the Haw River Assembly in filing a formal petition asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw North Carolina’s authority to regulate water pollution. This action is necessary because the state legislature has crippled the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s ability to protect our waterways, drinking water sources, and communities from harmful pollution.

As with most states, EPA delegates authority to North Carolina to regulate pollution from industry and wastewater treatment plants into rivers, lakes, and other waters through the “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System” program. This means the state takes on EPA’s legal duty to issue water pollution permits that protect North Carolina waters, to solicit participation from the public, and to enforce against any polluters that violate water quality laws.

Unfortunately, the North Carolina General Assembly has systematically undermined the Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Management Commission to the point that the state can no longer effectively protect our waters.

These legislative actions have led to weakened permits, an inability to regulate toxic chemicals effectively, and a state budget that leaves DEQ severely underfunded. As a result, industrial facilities are allowed to operate under expired permits with outdated protections, efforts to better protect the public and enforce against polluters are routinely blocked, and North Carolinians are exposed to more pollution in our waterways and drinking water sources.

Moreover, recent changes to state law have given final authority over water pollution permits to the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings, an entity that is not equipped to prioritize public health and environmental safety. This shift not only sidelines DEQ’s expertise but also cuts the public out of the permitting process altogether.

Given these circumstances, we believe that the only path forward is to request that the EPA reclaim its authority over water pollution regulation in North Carolina. This is a drastic measure, but one that is necessary to ensure that our waters and communities are protected from the serious threats posed by unchecked pollution.

We understand that this news may be concerning, and we want to assure you that MountainTrue will continue to fight tirelessly for clean water and healthy communities. We will keep you informed of any developments as the EPA considers our petition and takes action.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to protecting our precious public waters.

Sincerely,

Gray Jernigan
Deputy Director & General Counsel

Resources:

Press Release: Legislative actions leave North Carolina unable to protect water and communities, groups warn EPA – Southern Environmental Law Center

Petition: 2024.08.28-SELC-NC-De-Delegation-Petition.pdf (southernenvironment.org)

Encourage Clarity and Public Participation in GAP Restoration Project

This action has expired

Encourage Clarity and Public Participation in GAP Restoration Project

In July, the US Forest Service released a draft environmental assessment for the Grandfather, Appalachian, Pisgah (GAP) Restoration Project. The GAP Project aims to reduce wildfire risk, restore fire-adapted ecosystems, and improve forest health over the course of roughly a decade.

While these goals are commendable, the actions identified to achieve them lack specificity and could lead to inappropriate management of sensitive areas. This lack of site-specific information also obstructs public participation by limiting our ability to fully evaluate the project’s potential environmental impacts.

Please act now and encourage the Forest Service to clarify the GAP Project’s environmental impacts and improve collaboration with the public over the project’s duration.

TAKE ACTION

Comment Deadline: August 12, 2024

Review the locations affected by the project here: GAP Restoration Project (arcgis.com)
Review the project website here: Forest Service (usda.gov)

Our Concerns:

Project duration is not clearly defined: Although the GAP Project is part of the 10-year Pisgah Restoration Initiative, there is no clearly stated project duration for GAP included in the draft environmental assessment. However, the GAP Project includes annual goals for management activities such as timber harvest, prescribed burning, and temporary road construction. Without a clear project duration, the environmental impact of these and other activities is difficult to estimate.
Recommendation: The Forest Service should state a duration for the GAP Project to help clarify its environmental impacts.
Locations for logging activities are not clearly defined: A lack of specificity around exact locations for various management activities like burning and harvesting also creates confusion. A stated goal of the GAP Project is to reduce wildfire risk. However, the project identifies logging as a potential management activity in cove forests – moist forests that are not fire-adapted and do not pose any significant wildfire risk. The GAP Project proposes over 10,000 acres of potential timber harvest in cove forests.
Recommendation: The Forest Service should identify cove forests in the project area and exclude them from logging activities.
Allowable management activities are poorly defined for areas with saw timber versus areas without saw timber: In the GAP Project proposal, the Forest Service fails to make a distinction between allowed management activities in areas with sawtimber and areas without sawtimber. Both areas over a total of 29,000 acres allow for temporary road construction, tree removal, and the same harvest methods. All of these activities have the potential to contribute to erosion and habitat disturbance.
Recommendation: Rather than relying on the presence of sawtimber in an area, the Forest Service should make a distinction based on whether or not trees will be removed from the site – this will help avoid future confusion over which management activities are allowed in a particular site.
Project proposes to log along the Appalachian Trail, backcountry, and in sensitive ecological areas: Unfortunately, the GAP Project proposes several controversial sites for commercial timber harvest, including 1500 acres along the Appalachian Trail, 1600 acres of backcountry, and areas with unique ecological values. Logging in these areas could damage these values through road construction and the presence of heavy machinery.
Recommendation: The Forest Service should amend the project so as to not allow commercial timber harvest or road construction along the Appalachian Trail, in Backcountry Management Areas, or in Special Interest Areas.
The proposal lacks specificity on what kind of management activities will happen and where: The GAP Restoration Project promotes wildfire risk reduction and habitat restoration but lacks clarity on site-specific management activities and timelines. The Forest Service seeks to approve the project before determining where roads will be built, what type of timber harvest will occur where, what the harvest methods will be, which areas will be burned, and before biological and archeological surveys have been completed.
Recommendation: The Forest Service should provide more information and complete more analysis before approving the GAP Project.

The GAP Restoration Project has the potential to greatly benefit the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, but it needs clear guidance for which activities happen where. Unfortunately, as currently proposed, the project could open up sensitive ecological areas, backcountry, and areas along the Appalachian Trail to commercial logging.

Submit your comments now, and urge the Forest Service to provide more information and complete more analysis before approving the GAP Project.

Take Action: Oppose Weakening Macon County’s Flood Protection Ordinance!

Let Macon County Commissioners know that you oppose weakening Macon County’s Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance by removing restrictions on the use of fill dirt to elevate new houses or expand development in high-risk flood areas.

Two ways to take action: *these actions have now expired, thanks to everyone who raised their voice in favor of flood protection!)

1. Attend the July 9 Public Hearing to oppose changes to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance:

Macon County Board of Commissioners Meetings
July 9 at 6:00 p.m. in the Commissioners Board Room, Courthouse, third floor.
5 West Main Street • Franklin, NC 28734

2. Email Macon County Commissioners and let them know you oppose gutting our floodplain protections.

Seventeen years ago, to better protect public safety and the environment in a region with steep mountain slopes and a higher risk of flooding, Macon County adopted an ordinance that is stricter than the state’s minimum standards. A natural floodplain allows water to spread out during a flood event, soak into the soil, and reduce a river’s speed and destructive power.

Now, Macon County Commissioners are considering weakening the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance to allow property owners to use fill material in these areas — decreasing safety and increasing public and private losses due to flooding, including potential loss of life. Using fill dirt to raise houses, create driveways, or build more homes in flood-prone areas reduces the amount of floodplains that we have to mitigate flooding and puts more people at risk of floods by encouraging more homebuilding and development in floodplains.

Using fill dirt and materials in the floodplain will also increase costs for residents and taxpayers by raising insurance premiums and creating the need for the government to update floodplain maps routinely. The increased risk to life and property from accelerated flooding will also demand costly county resources and put county emergency personnel and volunteer rescuers at risk.

Because of Macon County’s steep slopes, narrow floodplains, and fast-flowing streams, former county leaders adopted stronger floodplain restrictions that have served the county well for many years.

Let Macon County Commissioners know that you support keeping our community safe by keeping these reasonable flood protections.

Read more:

U.S. Forest Service abandons plans to recklessly log sensitive area of Nantahala National Forest after lawsuit

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — In response to a lawsuit from a coalition of conservation groups, the U.S. Forest Service announced it is scrapping plans to log an important area of North Carolina’s Nantahala National Forest near the Whitewater River.

The announcement, which was published in a letter last week, comes nearly six months after the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the MountainTrue, Center for Biological Diversity, Chattooga Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, and Sierra Club, sued the Forest Service over the logging plans. The lawsuit would not have prevented the agency from implementing other parts of the Southside timber project.

The agency offered to abandon its logging proposal in the area if the coalition of conservation groups dismissed the lawsuit, which they anticipate doing later this week.

The area spared from logging sits above stunning waterfalls, boasts towering trees, and shelters rare plants in a unique, wet microclimate. The Forest Service had slated it for heavy logging in the controversial Southside timber project.

PHOTOS: Area of proposed logging project

Because of the area’s incredible ecological value and stunning beauty, the Forest Service designated it as a “Special Interest Area” in the recently published Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan. Destructive projects, like logging and roadbuilding, are significantly restricted in Special Interest Areas. The Forest Service’s previous decision to move forward with the logging project contradicted its own decision to protect the area, undermined one of the few things its new Forest Plan got right, and violated federal law.

Below are quotes from conservation groups about the resolution of the lawsuit:

“We have been pointing out problems with the agency’s logging plans for this area for years. It’s a shame we had to take them to court to achieve this outcome, but we’re glad this incredible area is no longer on the chopping block,” Patrick Hunter, Managing Attorney of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Asheville Office, said. “Unfortunately, the new Forest Plan sets us up for more of these conflicts in the future. National forests in western North Carolina—and the people who enjoy them—deserve better.”

“This wild and beautiful forest was saved because people spoke up to defend it,” said Will Harlan, Southeast director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Even though the public overwhelmingly supports protecting special places like the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, the new Forest Plan tragically fails to do that. Unless the Plan is changed to protect important forests and streams, more legal fights are probably going to be the only way to ensure that the public’s voice is heard.”

“We applaud the Forest Service for agreeing to drop their illegitimate plan for logging in a Special Interest Area next to the Whitewater River. Regretfully, it took filing a lawsuit and six months of negotiations to prompt the recalcitrant Forest Service to abide by federal law, to save one unique stand of our national forest,” said Nicole Hayler, Director of the Chattooga Conservancy. “The rest of the damaging Southside Project still is on the chopping block, while the new Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan is on deck with its mandates for escalating logging in sensitive areas—fueling more controversy and conflict that further undermines public trust in Forest Service managers.”

“We are thrilled to see the U.S. Forest Service commit to upholding the law,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “It’s unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to get there, but this commitment ensures a future for vulnerable species whose habitat would have been destroyed by logging.”

“We are pleased that the Forest Service chose to walk away from logging that is incompatible with sound stewardship of the Whitewater River Special Interest Area. It’s unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to reach this outcome, but we thank the Forest Service for coming to the right conclusion,” Josh Kelly, Public Lands Biologist at MountainTrue, said.

“The decision by the Forest Service is the right one, given the recent federal emphasis on old growth protection and the importance of recognizing North Carolina’s Natural Heritage sites. Unfortunately, it took legal action for the agency to make the right decision,” said David Reid, Sierra Club National Forest Issue Chair.

Media Contacts:

SELC: Eric Hilt, 615-622-1199, ehilt@selctn.org
Center for Biological Diversity: Will Harlan, wharlan@biologicaldiversity.org
Chattooga Conservancy: Nicole Hayler, info@chattoogariver.org
Defenders of Wildlife: Jay Petrequin, jpetrequin@defenders.org
MountainTrue: Karim Olaechea, 828-400-0768, karim@mountaintrue.org
Sierra Club: David Reid, daviddreid0@gmail.com

###