MountainTrue Raleigh Report, Issue 21: Hallelujah, That Session Is Over

Action Expired

Sine die (adverb). Definition: with reference to business or proceedings that have been adjourned with no appointed date for resumption, as in “On Friday, July 2, the North Carolina General Assembly adjourned sine die.”

In this edition of the MountainTrue Raleigh Report – It’s OVER! On Friday, legislators adjourned the short session sine die and headed back home – just in time for the Fourth of July holiday.

Up until the very end of session, there were a number of important bills still up in the air. Some good things happened and some bad things didn’t. Here’s the rundown on the end of session – and our overall take on what The Honorables did and didn’t do this year.

Coal Ash Rests With McCrory

If you remember, Chuck McGrady’s (and others’) coal ash legislation met with the veto stamp earlier this session. A veto override seemed likely, but the Senate stepped in and forged a “compromise” with Governor McCrory.

The new bill eliminates the state’s Coal Ash Commission and requires Duke Energy to provide drinking water either through water lines or filtration systems to residents within a half-mile of the coal ash pits. DEQ will also assess how far contaminants from the coal ash ponds have traveled in groundwater and could be required to take further measures for clean water.

Under the bill, once Duke Energy has provided the water lines or filtration systems to local residents and can certify that it has fixed leaks or problems with dams at a coal ash site, DEQ is required to classify the site as low risk. That designation could allow Duke to cap the site and leave the coal ash in place in unlined basins for the foreseeable future.

MountainTrue and a number of other environmental organizations – as well as Rep. McGrady – opposed this legislation. In our view, this latest coal ash bill guts the criteria the state uses to determine how dangerous the coal ash pits are to surrounding communities. Unless something changes, the result will be that coal ash pits will continue to pollute our groundwater as well as our rivers and streams.

The bill is now awaiting action by the governor, who seems all but certain to sign it.

Crunching the Budget Numbers

There is plenty of good and bad in the new, $22.34 billion budget. You can read overview stories like this one from WRAL for a sense of the big-ticket items. Here are some provisions of special interest to us:

DuPont Recreational Forest receives $3 million in funding for new restroom and parking facilities, as well as a provision that would allow the forest to compete with other parks projects in the annual round of grants from the state’s Parks and Recreational Trust Fund. New staffing positions are also created to help oversee DuPont’s management.
The budget restores funding and positions for the Natural Heritage Program, which was reduced by $314,726 in 2015. The revised net appropriation for the program is $764,726.
An $8.6M increase for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund is included, bringing the total appropriation for FY16-17 to $22.4 million. That is the single largest appropriation to the CWMTF since 2010.
The Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust is increased by $1 million.
Funding for the Parks & Recreation Trust Fund was maintained, bringing the total appropriation for FY16-17 to $22.7 million.
A provision to repeal stream buffer rules, endangering water and habitat, was largely eliminated, but clean up rules for Jordan and Falls lakes in the Triangle were delayed even further.

Things Left On the Table

The two regulatory reform bills – S303 and H593 – died when session ended. That’s good news for those of us who care about the environment.

Some of the items of concern in these bills included:

A prohibition on the state Environmental Management Commission (EMC) and Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from enforcing air emissions standards that regulate fuel combustion that “directly or indirectly” provides hot water or heating to a residence, or heating to a business.
Requiring the EMC to achieve a 3/5 majority to adopt federal new source performance standards (NSPS), maximum achievable control technology (MACT), or hazardous air pollutant standards; and disallows state enforcement of federal standards until the EMC adopts them.
Prohibiting stormwater control measures, exempting landscaping material from stormwater management requirements and amending stream mitigation requirements.

H3, the Omnibus Constitutional Amendments bill, was also left on the table as session ended. The bill proposed three constitutional amendments for the November ballot. The amendments concerned eminent domain; the right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife; and capping the state’s personal income tax at 5.5 percent (the current cap is 10 percent). Look for the cap on income tax to be a major issue during the 2017 session.

Post Mortem

Judging the 2016 legislative session and its impact on the environment does not lead to clear-cut generalizations.

On the plus side, the state budget makes important – and substantial – new investments in open space preservation, both statewide (with a large bump in funding for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund) and in western North Carolina (DuPont State Forest).

On the downside, the budget also includes rollbacks on clean water provisions for two of the state’s largest drinking water sources – Jordan and Falls lakes. Here again, however, things could have been much worse, as the original language in the Senate budget would have repealed protections in a number of other river basins. Thankfully, those protections were left in place.

Lawmakers also get high marks (of a sort) for what they didn’t do. A political meltdown that occurred at the end of session meant that two regulatory “reform” bills died when the Senate abruptly ended the session before they could be approved – taking a number of bad policies down at the same time.

Still, it’s hard to give the legislature good grades on anything in light of what it did on coal ash. The revised legislation seriously weakens the protections approved just two years ago. Perhaps most appalling, the new law allows DEQ to reclassify coal pits all over North Carolina and likely allows Duke Energy to leave the coal ash in place – in unlined pits – instead of moving it to safer, lined facilities.

Overall, we have to give the legislature low to middling grades – at best – this year when it comes to protecting our water, our air and our open space.

That’s probably enough about the General Assembly for now. In future updates, we’ll let you know about some upcoming meetings with legislators we are planning in WNC. And we’ll have news about our plans for the 2017 legislature, which begins in January. In the meantime, enjoy the summer and the knowledge that the legislature is out of session and can’t do any more damage for the rest of the year.

Bad Coal Ash Bill Being Rushed Through Raleigh

Action Expired

On the evening of Tuesday, June 28 the North Carolina Senate rushed through a rewrite to H630, the state’s coal ash cleanup law. This bad coal ash bill is quickly making its way through the legislature and we expect the House to take it up as soon as today.

Please call your NC Representative Immediately and ask them to NOT CONCUR with the Senate’s version of House Bill 630.

Official statement by MountainTrue Co-director Julie Mayfield:

“The legislature’s rewrite of the state’s coal ash cleanup law is a betrayal of the people of North Carolina. The General Assembly has abdicated its responsibility to clean up North Carolina’s coal ash and protect us from the ill effects of toxic pollutants.

“HB630 would disband the Coal Ash Management Commission and with it any effective oversight of the Department of Environmental Quality, which has a poor record of protecting our communities and our environment. Worse, this new legislation delays final classification for North Carolina’s coal ash pits and completely guts the criteria the state uses to determine the threat of these pits to our communities. The result will leave coal ash in place to continue polluting groundwater, our rivers and our streams.

“The strength of the Coal Ash Management Act of 2014 (CAMA) was that it used science to guide the coal ash cleanup effort. That science indicated that there are no low priority coal ash sites or low priority communities. Now the legislature wants to scrap the protections that are based on that science – protections lawmakers themselves have repeatedly touted as ‘the best in the country.’ The legislature’s willingness to weaken laws that protect so many people from such harmful pollution is both bewildering and shameful.”

Read the full text of H630.

H630, as passed by the Senate, would:

eliminate the Coal Ash Management Commission and, with it, legislative oversight over the NC Department of Environmental Quality, a deeply politicized agency with a poor track record;
eliminate criteria for risk assessment based on a site’s threats to public health, safety, welfare, the environment and natural resources;
give Duke two years, until October 15, 2018, to provide clean drinking water to affected households through a water line or filtration device;
require that DEQ classify ponds as “low risk” if dams are repaired and public water supply hookups are provided, regardless of whether they continue to pollute ground and surface waters;
allow the DEQ to revise and downgrade their classifications of coal ash pits for 18 months, until November 15, 2018;
delay closure plans for low and intermediate sites until December 31, 2019; and
give DEQ expanded authority to grant variances and extensions to the deadlines above, creating further delay and less accountability for Duke Energy.

The time to act is NOW. Call your representative and tell them that no North Carolina community is a low priority. Tell them to oppose H630.

What The Heck Is Going On In Raleigh Re: Coal Ash? Some Answers

Action Expired

After approving comprehensive coal ash legislation in 2014, a Supreme Court battle in 2015 and an abrupt end to the state’s Coal Ash Commission in 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly took up SB 71 this week to revise the state’s coal ash clean up laws. The bill would reconstitute the state’s Coal Ash Management Commission, extend the timeline for making final classifications of Duke Energy’s coal ash pits and require Duke Energy to provide a permanent drinking water supply for some residents living near coal ash pits.

The bill’s chief sponsor is Representative Chuck McGrady of Henderson County.

The GOP-controlled House passed SB 71 on Wednesday, May 25 by a vote of 86 to 25 and sent it to the Senate, after speeding the bill through several committees. The Senate could take up the bill as soon as next week. Senate leaders, including Hendersonville Republican Sen. Tom Apodaca, appear to support the legislation but want to fix a largely technical issue with some of the bill’s language.

You can read the current text of SB71 (version 3) here.

Here’s a summary of the major parts of the bill and MountainTrue’s take on each part:

1. Clean Drinking Water. The bill requires Duke Energy to provide a permanent source of clean drinking water to homes where wells are already or will potentially be contaminated by coal ash. Residents whose drinking water is threatened by coal ash contamination will be connected to public water supply, or, where doing so cost is prohibitive, Duke will be required to provide and maintain water filtration systems.

MountainTrue’s Take:
We support the legislature’s efforts to provide a safe, permanent drinking water supply to all residents who are or will be affected by coal ash. (It’s this section of the bill, by the way, that needs fixing in the Senate. An amendment approved during the House debate of the bill inadvertently disqualifies some people from receiving requirement of clean drinking water. Clearly, this mistake must be corrected.) While we support piping in clean water to these residents, requiring Duke Energy to do so does not take the company off the hook for thoroughly cleaning up North Carolina’s coal ash pits; nor should it be used to justify downgrading the risk classification for any coal ash pond.

2. Beneficial Use of Coal Ash. SB 71 requires that Duke Energy find safe, beneficial reuse of 2.5 million tons of coal ash annually, with at least 50 percent coming from existing coal ash pits.

MountainTrue’s Take:
We support a legal requirement that Duke Energy find a safe reuse of coal ash to reduce the amount that must be excavated and stored away from our rivers and drinking water sources. SB 71 specifically and correctly dictates that this coal ash be used to make concrete – a relatively safe application – instead of other less safe products, such as agricultural fertilizer or landscaping infill.

3. Reviving the Coal Ash Commission. The overriding goal of SB 71 is to reconstitute the Coal Ash Management Commission, which was disbanded when the state Supreme Court agreed with Governor McCrory that the commission created under the 2014 legislation violated the state constitution’s separation of powers requirement. In response to the court decision, SB 71 gives the executive branch more oversight of the Coal Ash Management Commission. Under the new bill, the governor would appoint five of the commission’s seven appointees, who would be subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The previous commission included three members appointed by the Senate, three by the House, and three by the Governor.

MountainTrue’s Take:
MountainTrue supports oversight and review of the Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) coal ash cleanup efforts, which have not inspired confidence in the agency’s leadership. The problem is that under SB 71, reconstituting the commission would also provide an opportunity to change DEQ’s recently announced classifications for most coal ash pits in the state. These classifications dictate the level of clean up at each coal ash pit, including whether a pit must be emptied and the coal ash moved offsite or simply capped in place. Many in the legislature believe these classifications are a political stunt by the McCrory administration to appear tough on Duke Energy – and that Duke will find a way around them. Others believe Duke’s claims that the DEQ classifications will require clean-up efforts that are unnecessarily and prohibitively expensive – and will drive up utility costs for consumers and businesses. We believe these concerns are exaggerated and that, if they prove to be accurate, they can be addressed more narrowly, without revising all of the DEQ classifications.

4. Extended Comment Period. SB 71 reopens the public comment period for the proposed risk classifications for the state’s coal ash ponds until August 1, 2016. Under the proposed bill, DEQ will have until September 1, 2016 to submit new proposed classifications for review by the Coal Ash Management Commission, which is reformed under the legislation. The Commission will have up to 240 days to make a final classification.

MountainTrue’s Take:
We strongly oppose unnecessary delays to the approval of the risk classifications for the state’s coal ash ponds. Under SB 71, final decisions about classifications might not occur until March 2017. That is an unacceptable delay. Duke Energy and the state have been collecting data on coal ash lagoons for years. Earlier this month, DEQ issued its recommended classifications, as required by the 2014 Coal Ash Management Act. The Governor, DEQ and the legislature should accept these classifications. If there is concern about Duke’s ability to meet statutory deadlines for excavation, those concerns can and should be addressed without revising the 2014 legislation altogether.

Bottom Line:

We understand and agree with the motivations of Representative McGrady and other legislators who support this bill, and their desire to help the people of North Carolina who are most directly impacted by coal ash pollution. However, we believe that risks of SB 71 outweigh its benefits. We are concerned that in the process of revising the state’s coal ash laws, the legislature may provide an avenue for the reclassification of many of Duke Energy’s coal ash pits and substantially decrease the quality of their clean up, including the number that are required to be excavated rather than simply capped in place. If there is concern about Duke’s ability to meet statutory deadlines for excavation or other requirements of the Act, those concerns can and should be addressed without running the risk of revising the entire classification process for most of Duke Energy’s coal ash pits.

Making Your Voice Heard

The legislature’s review of SB 71 is ongoing but moving quite quickly. North Carolinians who want to have their voices heard on this important legislation should act now.

We encourage you to contact your legislators and ask them to reject any changes to the state’s coal ash laws that would allow the current classification recommendations submitted by the DEQ to be revised.

> Click here to take action.

If you have questions about this issue or MountainTrue’s coal ash work, please contact Joan Walker, Campaigns Director at joan@mountaintrue.org or 828.258.8737 x205.

MountainTrue Raleigh Report, Issue 20

MountainTrue Raleigh Report

Issue 20: Tuesday, May 3, 2016

They’re Baaacck
Legislators returned to Raleigh last week for the “short session.” Aside from dueling protests over HB2, the big news was the release of the Governor’s budget. The $22.8 billion proposal contains pay raises for teachers and represents a 2.8 percent spending increase over last fiscal year.

Conservation and the Budget
There was good news in the Governor’s budget for those of us who care about conservation and natural spaces. McCrory’s budget:

Provides an additional $1 million annually for the Department of Agriculture’s farmland preservation fund.
Restores the cuts made last year to the Natural Heritage Program, the state program that compiles information about the most important natural areas in North Carolina.
Restores funding for the Air & Water Quality Management Account, which pays for the Division of Air Quality to do much of its monitoring and oversight of air quality.
Maintains funding approved last year for the state’s trust funds for clean water, parks and other conservation efforts for the upcoming 2016-17 fiscal year.

There’s still plenty of work to be done before the budget is complete. Both the House and Senate will release their own versions of the budget and then differences will have to be ironed out before the final spending plan goes to the Governor for signature. Early chatter inside the legislative building indicates a strong desire among both House and Senate leaders to have the final budget approved on or very shortly after the new fiscal year begins July 1 – a very ambitious goal. We’ll see if they can pull it off.

Welcome to NC – Just Don’t Drink the Water
One bill we are already following is SB 779/HB 1005, which limits when state agencies, local boards of health or local health departments can issue health advisories for pollution in drinking water wells and public water systems. This bill stems from confusion over notices sent by the state to well owners near coal ash ponds about the safety of their drinking water over the last year or so. The State first told the residents their water was NOT safe to drink, then, several months later, under a different standard, the state sent new letters to many well owners saying their water was indeed safe.

If approved, this legislation would limit the instances in which health advisories can be sent to the public essentially to those instances in which the water already violates a health standard or in which there is an interim standard and state-led investigation that uncovers an imminent threat to public health, safety or the environment. The bill would effectively prohibit health agencies from issuing a health advisory when, for instance, experts know the water is dangerous but the actual standard has not yet been violated. The law would also prohibit health agencies from warning people that their water is close to violating a health standard.

MountainTrue opposes this bill as written. Clearly, health authorities should be allowed to provide the public with all the information we need to make informed decisions about the safety of the water we drink. The good news about this issue is that, as MTRaleigh goes to print, we are getting indications that legislators are reconsidering this unnerving proposal. We’ll continue to keep and eye on it and keep you posted.

Movers and Shakers
For local political watchers, it will come as no surprise that three WNC lawmakers were recently named among the most effective in Raleigh. The rankings are based on a recent survey of members and lobbyists conducted by the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Public Policy Research. Publicly, most legislators will dismiss these rankings as little more than a popularity contest. Nevertheless, the rankings are widely read by legislators, lobbyists and other close followers of state politics.

In the Senate, Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson – the Senate’s Rules chairman – ranked as the second-most effective member of the Senate, behind only Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger. Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, was sixth. Hise is co-chair of the Senate’s Health and Human Services appropriations subcommittee and a key player in the reform of the state’s $12 billion Medicaid system. (He’s also our early bet for Apodaca’s replacement as Rules chairman in 2017). In the House, Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, was eighth. McGrady is one of the three chairman of House committee that oversees the budget process for the House Republican majority and is a major voice in just about all environmental legislation that comes through the General Assembly.

Movin’ and Shakin’
MountainTrue members will be heading to Raleigh soon to meet with McGrady, Hise and other legislators to discuss MountainTrue’s priorities for the 2016 session. Stay tuned for updates on these meetings and more information on how you can be part of MountainTrue’s advocacy efforts.

Get to Know Your Legislators
Keep your eye on our WNC Legislator Profiles. We continue to update them so you can get to know our legislators better.

Striving for a More Diverse, Inclusive Western North Carolina

Striving for a More Diverse, Inclusive Western North Carolina

At MountainTrue we understand that Western North Carolina’s diversity is just as important to our heritage as our mountains.

In fact, we recently adopted a set of principles of Equity, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination that recognizes and honors diversity in our membership, volunteer base, staff and board. These principles establish that we will not discriminate against individuals, communities or organizations based on race, sex, age, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or physical/mental disability.

These principles go further and also commit us to a proactive and strategic approach to equity at an institutional and societal level. We continue our decades-long work to engage diverse voices in decision making at the local and state levels. We connect community voices with their lawmakers through direct communications, in-district and lobby day visits and by keeping the public informed about what’s happening in the NC legislature pertaining to environmental issues via our MT Raleigh Report.

It’s also important that new leaders step up to serve in local government and the general assembly. To that end, we are cultivating new leaders at the local level by encouraging and empowering them to serve on local government boards and commissions so they can effect positive change on the local level and possibly beyond one day.

It’s amazing what you can get done on a non-expert citizen advisory board to make incremental steps in the right direction. For example, I serve on the Buncombe County Planning Board and we just sent to our County Commissioners sweeping changes in our zoning ordinance to improve affordable housing and environmental impacts of development. If you’ve never served on a local government board or commission you’d be surprised at how rewarding this work can be and how you will easily find the time to make your community a better place.

At MountainTrue, we are striving for a better, more equitable and inclusive future. It’s very much a work in progress and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. We welcome your partnership and involvement in this work if you have other ideas of how we can be doing a better job, we are listening.

Thank you,
Joan Walker, Campaign Director

MountainTrue Raleigh Report, Issue #19

MountainTrue Raleigh Report

Issue 19: Tuesday, February 22, 2016

Welcome back to MountainTrue’s Raleigh Report. We are just one month away from North Carolina’s primary and just about two months away from the state legislature’s 2016 session, so it’s time to get back to it. In this edition, we’ll catch you up on recent happenings in Raleigh, take a look at WNC primary races and look forward to session.

But first-

It’s the MountainTrue 2016 Political Season Webinar – Free Lunch Edition

Wednesday, February 24, 12-12:45 pm.
From WNC legislative races all the way to the Governor’s Mansion, with a stop at the General Assembly along the way, MountainTrue’s legislative guru Rob Lamme gets you caught up on what’s happening in Raleigh, what to look for during the March primary season and what the legislature has in store for us during the upcoming legislative session. And of course we’ll also discuss MountainTrue’s strategies for protecting the places we share. RSVP today and you’ll be entered to win one of four free lunches at a restaurant in Asheville, as thanks for spending this lunchtime with us.

March 15 Primaries

There’s a big election coming up – with the White House, the Governor’s Mansion and a Senate seat on the line. WNC also has some of the hottest legislative races in the state. State Sen. Tom Apodaca (Henderson, Buncombe, Translyvania counties), Sen. Dan Soucek (Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Watauga) and Rep. Roger West (Cherokee, Clay,Graham,Macon) are not running for re-election, prompting serious races for these open seats. Rep. John Ager (Buncombe) could face a very competitive race in November, as could Rep. Joe Sam Queen (Haywood, Jackson, Swain). Make sure you vote in the primaries and ask the candidates about their positions on important environmental issues.

Redistricting Craziness

You’ve probably heard that the U.S. Supreme Court threw out North Carolina’s congressional maps, ruling that two districts – the 1st Congressional District and the 12th Congressional District – were gerrymandered along racial lines. The ruling has thrown our elections into uncertainty, and the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has added to the chaos. The ultimate resolution of the Court case remains to be seen, but the Joint Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting is holding public hearings and accepting written comments.

Environmental Quick Hits

Cleaning Up Cliffside: DEQ finally released the long-awaited draft priority classifications for state’s 14 coal ash dumpsites, but the coal ash dumps at Cliffside in Rutherford and Cleveland Counties were not recommended for complete cleanup. That decision leaves the surrounding communities and all those downstream at risk from toxic pollution. Call on DEQ to rank the Cliffside coal ash dumps based on the real risk they pose to public health, safety and the environment and attend the March 14th hearings in Rutherford and Cleveland counties.

DEQ Secretary Makes Waves: Secretary of Environmental Quality Donald van der Vaart raised eyebrows when he suggested at the Energy Policy Committee that state permits should be required for solar farms and that nuclear energy should be included as part of the state’s clean energy standard.

Coal Ash Drama Continues: State environmental regulators have fined Duke Energy more than $6.6 million for a coal ash spill that fouled 70 miles of the Dan River two years ago. The closing of the state’s coal ash ponds has been thrown into disarray by a N.C. Supreme Court ruling that the legislature exceeded its powers in creating the Coal Ash Management Commission.

More Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court recently voted to delay implementation of the Clean Power Plan. The McCrory administration and DEQ were in favor of this delay. A lower court will hear objections to the law in June.

Coming Soon… The 2016 Legislature!

The General Assembly’s short session begins April 25th, and it will be here before you know it. All indications are that legislative leaders want this session to actually be short, but we will believe it when we see it. Here’s a good preview from Rep. Chuck McGrady.

The legislature’s biggest job will be approval of a revised 2016-2017 state budget. Look for conservation groups to protectincreased funding won last year, anti-tax groups to push for expanding sales taxes and eliminate the capital stock tax and education advocates to ask for increased teacher pay.

Again this session, MountainTrue will be taking the mountain to Raleigh to meet with our legislators about important WNC issues. We usually leave the day before and start meetings bright and early the next morning. Sign up today and join us to make your voice heard!

Get to Know Your Legislators
Keep your eye on our WNC Legislator Profiles. We continue to update them so you can get to know our legislators better.

Legislator Profiles

Get to know your legislators! Check out our updated legislator profiles; we just added Sen. Terry Van Duyn.