Celebrate Earth Day with MountainTrue

As you may have heard, the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced recently that it will order a full cleanup of every coal ash pit in the state! This is truly one of the biggest environmental victories of our era. As if that wasn’t enough, last week Duke Energy announced that it has indefinitely postponed the construction of a 190-megawatt gas-fired peaker plant on Lake Julian, removing it from its list of future projects.

For six years, MountainTrue members kept the pressure on Duke Energy and the state Department of Environmental Quality to clean up the coal ash mess and to move beyond fossil fuels toward more efficiency and renewable energy. You are part of that legacy. Your support held Duke Energy accountable. These victories are an important reminder that your activism can change the course of history.

When you stand with MountainTrue, you fight for our environment. Will you stand alongside MountainTrue this Earth Day?

Whether you’re taking action in the field, making conscious decisions in your daily life that lead to a sustainable future, or making contributions that invest in a lasting impact, we celebrate you for being part of a community that is making a difference this Earth Day.

By donating to MountainTrue, you safeguard public lands, advocate for the common good in the halls of government, protect our waterways, and help build a sustainable future in the face of climate change.

In honor of Earth Day, act locally by making a contribution to MountainTrue today. With your donation, you will be helping to fight for future successes like these.

Thank you for being part of MountainTrue and making this work possible.

Enter to Win a Liquidlogic Remix XP 10 Kayak

MountainTrue Raleigh Report: It’s Road Trip Season!

MountainTrue staff were able to thank the Department of Environmental Quality’s Chief Deputy Secretary John Nicholson (far left) and Secretary Michael Regan (center) in person for their recent historic decision to require Duke Energy to dig up all of its remaining coal ash ponds in North Carolina.

This time of year, protecting Western North Carolina’s shared places means taking road trips to Raleigh.

With the General Assembly now running full steam, MountainTrue staff are making regular visits to the state capitol to speak up for our mountains. We made our second visit of the year last week to have conversations with a number of key legislators as well as the leadership at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

At the General Assembly, we had good visits with Representatives John Ager, Kevin Corbin, Josh Dobson, Susan Fisher, Cody Henson, Chuck McGrady and Ray Russell, as well as Senators Deanna Ballard and Chuck Edwards. Thank you to all of these lawmakers for making time for us.

Much of our conversation focused on funding for a variety of conservation efforts in Western North Carolina. These include improvements to the French Broad Paddle Trail, creating permanent public access to the Green River and removing a dam on the Watauga River to improve water quality and fish habitat improving public recreation and reducing flooding.

Another priority for MountainTrue this year is to increase the state’s investment in water quality testing in our region. While North Carolina regularly tests its beach waters to protect public health, there is no comparable effort for WNC’s rivers and streams. This is true despite our region’s rapidly growing population and the increasing number of tourists who now swim, paddle, wade and tube in our untested rivers and streams. Unfortunately, these waters are often of lower quality than we’d like them to be. In 2017 and 2018, more than three-quarters of the streams monitored by MountainTrue did not pass the EPA safe water quality standard for E. coli at some point in the year.

We’re also calling on lawmakers to re-establish the Wastewater Discharge Elimination (WaDE) Program, which before its demise reduced bacterial pollution by identifying pollution associated with straight pipes and failing septic systems in Western North Carolina. Between 2002 and 2010, the program surveyed 28 separate areas, visited 13,379 homes and identified 2,016 violations.

Then at the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), we had a brief few moments with Sec. Michael Regan and were able to give him two thank you cards – one for him and another for Gov. Cooper – signed by MountainTrue staff for the administration’s recent, historic decision to require Duke Energy to dig up all remaining coal ash ponds in North Carolina.

Then we got down to business, with conversations about MountainTrue’s legislative agenda, concerns about several water quality issues in the North Toe and Green Rivers and some ideas about improving the process the Department uses to engage and educate the public during public meetings. Overall we’ve found that Department officials have consistently been willing to listen to our concerns and, in most cases, work with us to find shared solutions.

MountainTrue’s next Raleigh road trip is scheduled for early May. If you would like to plug in and help support our policy agenda, please contact our Advocacy & Communications Associate Eliza Stokes at eliza@mountaintrue.org. And as always, thanks for the support that makes our legislative advocacy efforts possible!

MountainTrue’s Statement on DEQ’s Announcement to Order Full Excavation of Duke Energy’s Coal Ash Pits in North Carolina

Media Contact:

David Caldwell

Broad Riverkeeper, MountainTrue
E: david@mountaintrue.org P: 704-300-5069

April 3 2019

Cliffside, N.C. – On April 1, North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced that they will require full excavation of all coal ash impoundments in NC. As a result, a total of nine coal ash pits at six coal-burning plants – Allen, Belews, Cliffside/Rogers, Marshall, Mayo and Roxboro – must be fully excavated and moved to lined landfills. Below are statements from MountainTrue’s Broad Riverkeeper, David Caldwell, and MountainTrue’s Co-Director, Julie Mayfield.

“This is a huge victory for clean water and the health of communities living near coal-burning power plants in North Carolina. DEQ has proven their mettle, showing the people of our state that they intend to do their job of protecting our water and environment. They have shown big business and industry that polluting our water is unacceptable, and that polluters will be held accountable. This has been a long battle for frontline communities, which have shouldered the burden and the risks associated with coal-fired power for decades.

I personally became involved in the fight to clean up coal ash in 2014, and started the Broad River Alliance in 2015. In 2016 I attended the first of DEQ’s public input meetings regarding Cliffside, joining over one hundred concerned local citizens who stood up and spoke out for clean water. We asked DEQ and Duke Energy to do the right thing and dig up the ash that has been sitting in our groundwater and leaking dangerous contaminants into the Broad River.

The Cliffside community has been showing up and speaking out about the dangers of coal ash for the past three years. Finally, a victory has come for the people and for the environment that sustains us all. It is truly possible that I will one day be able to say to the young fishermen of the Broad River, ‘Yes, the fishing here is fantastic! And these fish are good to eat! We have clean water and we intend on keeping it!’”

–David Caldwell, Broad Riverkeeper for MountainTrue

“MountainTrue is so grateful to DEQ for listening to affected communities and heeding the science showing that full excavation is the only safe option for coal ash closure in our state.

MountainTrue and the Sierra Club launched the focus on coal ash in North Carolina in 2012 as part of the Asheville Beyond Coal campaign. Through that campaign, we secured the forthcoming retirement of Asheville’s coal plant on Lake Julian and the full excavation of those coal ash ponds. This put Asheville’s air and water on a pathway to a cleaner future, but the future for the people and environment in Cliffside and other frontline communities across the state were until now uncertain. This historic decision by DEQ will change all of that.

MountainTrue is grateful for the affected community members who spoke out at hearing after hearing to help secure this victory, as well as for grassroots organizers all across the state and partner organizations like the Southern Environmental Law Center who made this outcome possible. We will continue to monitor this process closely, and we call on North Carolina’s legislators to help ensure that DEQ’s decision is implemented efficiently and justly for the people of North Carolina.”

–Julie Mayfield, Co-Director for MountainTrue

For more information: https://deq.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2019/04/01/deq-orders-duke-energy-excavate-coal-ash-six-remaining-sites

###

Test language

Thank Asheville City Council for Making Public Transit Their #1 Priority!

Action Expired

At their retreat on March 8, City Council made improving Asheville’s public transit system their number one priority. This is a big deal: it means City Council has publicly committed to putting a better public transit system – one that runs on time, all day and more often for riders who depend on it – at the very top of their list.

Join the Asheville Regional Transit Coalition in thanking City Council by completing the action below! Let’s remind City Council that the city is watching and that #transitcantwait.

Protect the Clean Water Act from Industry Polluters!

Action Expired

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a proposal that would gut the Clean Water Act, a bedrock environmental law that has protected America’s waters for generations. If adopted, this proposal would open the way for uncontrolled pollution into 49,000 miles of streams that flow into North Carolina’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters. What’s more, the proposal threatens to remove protections from drinking water sources for 200 million Americans – including the drinking water for three of every five North Carolinians.

Time is running out before the comment period closes on this proposal on April 15. Take the action below to show that Western North Carolina will not stand for our waterways and communities being put at risk.

The Emerald Ash Borer – A Novel Threat

The emerald ash borer (EAB) – a voracious metallic-green beetle – is quickly eating its way across North America, killing our ash forests along the way.

The pest came across the ocean from Asia, transported in wooden packing materials.While many species in our forests were foreign to EAB, our ash trees provided a taste of home. The adults quickly began to feed on the leaves of these trees and lay their eggs between layers of bark to protect them. Back in Asia, parasitic wasps would occasionally prey on their larvae, but there are no wasps that hunt them here in North America. Given the abundant food source and lack of predators, the insect thrived.

The emerald ash borer is now eating its way through Pisgah National Forest, so MountainTrue and The Pisgah Conservancy have teamed up on a project to treat and save 100 ash trees this spring, 2019 … before it’s too late. Find out more and how you can lend a hand.

Help Save an Ash Tree in Pisgah

Contribute

These beetles are a half-inch long and have a metallic green color. They were first discovered in the United States in 2002, and since

then, they have killed millions of ash trees and threaten millions more. The damage they can cause in just a few years has alarmed scientists and land managers.

When the larvae hatch under the bark of an ash tree, they feed on important vascular tissue, creating swirling tunnels called galleries. Eventually, the tree becomes unable to transport nutrients and water from roots to branches, and it dies. Once the trees in one area have been killed, the insect moves on to new territory.

Ash borers can only fly a few miles each year, but they often hitch rides on firewood or other products. This has allowed them to spread more quickly despite the various quarantines and restrictions that are in place around moving wood products across state and county borders. The Emerald Ash Borer was first found on the Tennessee side of Smoky Mountains National Park in 2013 and is now found throughout North Carolina, it’s spread having been assisted by people moving firewood.

When the Ash Borer has attacked a tree, you may find D-shaped holes in the bark made when the matured larvae exit the tree. Unfortunately, by the time these holes are visible, the tree is usually too damaged to be saved. Instead, we look for signs of early damage, such as dying branches, trees that are losing leaves early in the year, and other signs of poor health that are indicators of an infestation.

By treating them early, we can protect them throughout the infestation period, approximately 5-7 years. Once the beetle has exhausted its supply of untreated food, it moves on. Our plan is to then use the seeds of the trees that we have treated to reestablish our native ash tree stands for the enjoyment of future generations.

Learn more and help MountainTrue and The Pisgah Conservancy defend our ash trees against the Emerald Ash Borer, at mountaintrue.org/savepisgahsashes.

If you have observed signs of the emerald ash borer, please send a location and description of the tree(s) to newpest@ncagr.gov or your local county ranger for verification. For more information, visit the NC Forest Service FAQ.

Tell NCDEQ: We Need a Hearing about Mine Permits on the North Toe River

Action Expired

The North Toe River in Spruce Pine is loved by paddlers, anglers and swimmers alike. It provides tourism opportunities for the local community, and is home to trout and endangered species that need clear mountain rivers to thrive. However, mining facilities on the North Toe have violated water quality standards repeatedly in recent years, and last summer, the North Toe closed to the public after a hydrofluoric acid spill from a mine caused a fish kill. And while the NC Department of Environmental Quality considers the river impaired, the agency has proposed new permits for the next several years that would allow the pollution from the mine processing facilities to continue.

Right now, the permits for all six mining facilities are up for renewal. Take the action below to tell the NC Department of Environmental Quality that the Spruce Pine community deserves a public hearing to have a voice in the future of the North Toe River before the permits are approved. You are highly encouraged to personalize your email and share why the North Toe River matters to you!

MT Raleigh Report: What’s on Deck for the Environment?

This week in Raleigh, lawmakers are beginning what is likely to be a long, drawn-out political tug-of-war between newly empowered Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and a GOP legislature that has been reduced in size and influence.

And a good deal of the push and pull will be over the environment.

Cooper, of course, is feeling his oats after the November election reduced the number of GOP lawmakers in both the House and Senate to numbers too modest to override his vetoes. For the first time since the election of 2016, both sides will be forced to negotiate and compromise in order to get anything done.

Republican leaders are talking a good game of cooperation and bipartisanship. Whether both sides can come together to come up with bipartisan solutions remains to be seen.

When and if lawmakers do get down to negotiating, they are likely to have a number of major environmental issues to wrestle with, including:

Open Space Trust Funds – Two of the state’s most important conservation funds, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Parks and Recreational Trust Fund, are caught up in a nasty political battle over executive power and gubernatorial appointments. The question of who appoints the members of these and other state boards and commissions has put them at risk of extinction by GOP lawmakers looking for ways to force Cooper to make concessions on his appointment authority. Look for this fight to continue well into the 2019 session.

Water Protection – Last year, the General Assembly was roiled by the issue of what to do about the presence of “emerging contaminants” like GenX in the state’s drinking water. The issue dominated two separate special sessions, the regular summer session, and spilled over to the November elections – when a number of lawmakers in the Cape Fear region got pounded by their opponents and voters for being too slow to act on water quality protection. Look for Cooper to renew his call for substantial new investments in the Department of Environmental Quality to protect drinking water supplies. This is likely to remain a budget priority this year.

Storm Preparedness – After Hurricane Florence, Cooper released a disaster recovery plan that included substantial new investment in wetland protection, coastal resilience, hog farm buyouts and other measures to get North Carolina ready for “the next big one.” To date, lawmakers have funded traditional recovery efforts – with relief for farmers topping all expenditures – but have not invested much in the way of preparedness. With the six-month anniversary of Florence in March during the budget process, our hope is that the legislature will better address preparedness and adaptation.

Here at MountainTrue, we are refining our legislative priorities for lawmakers and will share them in our next update. Until then, thanks for supporting our advocacy efforts in Raleigh!