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MT Raleigh: The General Assembly’s Back In Action

MT Raleigh: The General Assembly’s Back In Action

MT Raleigh: The General Assembly’s Back In Action

The North Carolina General Assembly is back in action for its 2021 session – and MountainTrue is ready with a list of suggestions for legislators to protect Western North Carolina’s natural resources.

In recent weeks, our staff have met with legislators from across the region to educate them about our 2021 legislative priorities and to hear about their To-Do lists for the session. Thanks to Senators Deanna Ballard, Chuck Edwards and Kevin Corbin, as well as Representatives Jake Johnson, Tim Moffitt, Mark Pless, Karl E. Gillespie and Ray Pickett for taking the time to meet with us. We’ll also meet with other members of the WNC delegation through the early weeks of the session.

Some of MountainTrue’s priorities for 2021 include:

Water Quality Solutions

  • Increase funding to help farmers improve water quality. Agricultural waste is a significant source of E. coli and other bacterial pollution in WNC’s waters. Allocating more money to help local Soil and Water Conservation Districts help farmers with fencing and other pollution control efforts will keep agricultural waste out of rivers and streams.
  • Address failing septic systems. Failing septic systems are another major source of bacteria. Reinstating the Wastewater Discharge Elimination (WaDE) program will help reduce this pollution. Before it was cut several years ago, WaDE visited 13,379 WNC homes and identified 2,016 sources of water pollution in WNC – mostly from leaking and failing septic systems.
  • Help property owners reduce stormwater pollution. Stormwater is the third largest source of bacteria in NC’s waters. The Community Conservation Assistance Program (CCAP) allows WNC’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts to help property owners reduce stormwater pollution.  Like the cost-share program for farmers, existing CCAP funds are insufficient to meet the demand for assistance.

Improving Access and Quality of Outdoor Recreation

Outdoor recreation is a $28 billion business in North Carolina, and WNC’s outdoor industry accounts for thousands of jobs in our region. Improving access to our region’s wild places builds support for their protection and helps our economy. That’s why we support the following investments: 

  • Expanded public access and improvements to the Watauga River and French Broad River Paddle Trails 
  • Improvements to public access and trails for a popular recreational area on the Green River Game Lands in Henderson and Polk counties
  • Dam removal and improved fishing access on the Watauga River
  • Trail improvement and other investments to improve outdoor recreation on the Tuckasegee River in Swain County
  • New public access for float boats on the Valley River in Cherokee County
  • Expanded funding for the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund as well as the North Carolina Land and Water Fund (formerly known as Clean Water Management Trust Fund) to help preserve the health of critical watersheds. 

The General Assembly will now be in session every week through mid-summer. Stay tuned for updates from us on how our region’s waters, recreation spots and communities fare at the legislature in the coming months.

Speaking up for WNC’s environment in Raleigh is central to MountainTrue’s mission – that’s why we are the only WNC environmental organization with a year-round advocate in the capitol. Your support of MountainTrue is key to our success, so thank you for making our state policy work possible! 

Help Make the Pigeon River Healthier

Help Make the Pigeon River Healthier

Help Make the Pigeon River Healthier

Action Expired

 

Blue Ridge Paper Products has a long history on the Pigeon River in Canton. It has provided good quality jobs for decades, but also caused significant environmental impacts to the Pigeon River. Because of the pressure brought to bear from the public, environmental groups and the EPA, significant improvements in the amount and quality of the discharge to the river have been obtained, but we have a long way to go.

The goals of the Clean Water Act are to have all waters be fishable and swimmable. The way that regulators have tried to achieve those goals while balancing the interests and needs of industry is by slowly reducing permit discharge limits over time. The draft permit as proposed by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) takes a step backwards by weakening regulations, requiring less monitoring and allowing for more pollution to be discharged to the river.We are calling on the public to make their voice heard for continued improvements at the mill, so the Pigeon River can finally meet the goals of the Clean Water Act, almost 50 years after its passage. Attend and speak at the public hearing and submit comments to DEQ.Update: The NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is postponing the public hearing until April 14 and extending the period for public comments until April 30.

What you can do

    1. Provide Public Comment via email to the Department of Environmental Quality.
      The public comment period has been extended until April 30. Take action today.
    2. Speak up at the online public hearing:
      You must register by noon on April 14. Click here for registration and hearing details.

    Resources

    Talking Points

    Temperature: Over 8,500 fish were killed in the summer of 2007 from an extremely hot discharge from the paper mill. This hot water discharge did not violate the temperature permit limits at the mill, because their limits during that time relied on a monthly average, which allows wild swings in the temperature of the discharge, and potential fish kills. Data from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission shows a substantial impact of aquatic life between  up and downstream monitoring, and temperature is a likely factor in the reduced diversity and abundance of aquatic life downstream of the mill.   MountainTrue, with the help of SELC and Clean Water for NC fought and won weekly monitoring limits in the last permit cycle, but those limits are being rolled back to a monthly average. We believe daily monitoring and a daily average limit for temperature is critical to understanding and protecting the Pigeon River. Now is not the time to roll back protections for the river!


  2. Dioxin: Reduction in dioxin fish monitoring in the draft permit is being proposed. Current monitoring requires monitoring 3 times in 5 years, but the new draft permit reduces that to once every 5 years. This is problematic for two reasons. The most recent sampling conducted in 2014 still shows dioxin in fish tissue, and therefore monitoring on at least the same schedule should be continued until  dioxin is no longer present in fish tissue samples. Secondly, the permit renewal cycle is many years overdue, the last fish tissue sample was taken over six years ago. That means, if new sampling is conducted only once in the next five years, that could mean that we only have one sample in 11 years. For these reasons we call on DEQ to continue the same sampling schedule of three times within every five years.

  3. Fecal Coliform: The mill not only processes its own waste, but also serves as a wastewater treatment plant for the town of Canton. Violations for fecal coliform have been frequent in the last decade with MountainTrue documenting at least 25 permit violations, sometimes in excess of 250 times the safe limit for fecal coliform. The Mill has also commonly violated its permitted standards for total suspended solids and biological oxygen demand. There is an urgent need for significant improvements to the wastewater treatment plant to ensure the river and downstream river recreation users are protected from harmful and dangerous levels of bacteria in the river.

 

  1. Chloroform: DEQ is proposing to allow the mill to increase their discharge of chloroform, a possible carcinogen. This is to an internal discharge point, so we need additional information to determine how much of this discharge is reaching the Pigeon River. The goal of the Clean Water Act is to reduce pollution discharges until all waters are fishable and swimmable. In this instance, not only is the discharge not decreasing, but the mill will be allowed to discharge even more cancer causing chemicals into the Pigeon River. The 2010 permit allowed for chloroform discharge allowances of 5.1 lb/day (as monthly average) or 8.6 lb/day (daily maximum). The 2021 proposed permit ups those limits to 6.27 lb/day (as a monthly average) and 10.5 lb/day (daily maximum). DEQ should be reducing those allowance, not letting the papermill pollute more.

Are we ready for the next threat to public lands?

Are we ready for the next threat to public lands?

Laurel Creek is part of the headwaters of Fires Creek, a favorite trout stream for many anglers in our region.

​I’d like to introduce you to Chris Broomfield, a member of MountainTrue and the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, one of our partner organizations. In June, Chris celebrated when the US Forest Service purchased a 49-acre block of private land in the headwaters of Fires Creek, following a 10-year battle to protect the creek — a favorite trout stream for Chris and many locals.

It all started in 2008 when a group of people requested permission to build a road along Laurel Creek to a piece of property they’d bought high up on the rim of the mountains.

“Thing is, their proposed route was really close to pristine waters and cut through rock formations that would likely cause acid runoff,” said Chris, reflecting back on the project. “We’d read on the state’s website about streams that were permanently damaged by acid runoff generated by other roads constructed through this same geologic formation. There was a very real risk that any kind of road construction would cause irreparable damage to the pristine streams flowing into Fires Creek.”

Long-term fights like this one are not new to MountainTrue. It took thousands of staff hours to protect Fires Creek, and this would not have been possible without the support of our members and donors. Consider making a donation today so that MountainTrue is ready for the next threat to water quality and our public lands.

Make A Contribution

From the very beginning, MountainTrue and the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition led the legal and advocacy work that resulted in the private landowners abandoning the road building project. With this purchase, the land is now part of Nantahala National Forest and Fires Creek will continue to run clean and clear.

“It took 12 years to win this. It wouldn’t have happened without organizations like MountainTrue, who have staying power over the long term and the history of working in these mountains to ensure that clean water and our public lands…our communities are protected in the future!”

With the impact of COVID-19 on fundraising events and small business support, your donation is needed more than ever. We need your help to secure the longevity of MountainTrue. We rely on the generosity of people like you who love both the natural and built communities in these mountains to make sure we are here for the long haul, and with the capacity needed to reach our goals! Make a donation today and help protect more places like Fires Creek in the future.

MountainTrue Western Region program coordinator Tony Ward evaluates native and invasive plants while developing a restoration plan.

It costs approximately $400 a day — or $2,800 a week — to operate the MountainTrue Western Regional Office, including staff time and expenses for our clean water, public lands and healthy communities work. If every person reading this letter gives just $100 today, we can enter 2021 with half of our much needed funding secured! How much would you give to ensure that we’re here to protect your nearby waters, forests and communities?

Your donations matter. Here are some of the long-term projects we’re currently working on locally that depend on your support:

  • Corridor K Transportation project in Graham & Cherokee counties: Working to ensure community transportation needs are met, while minimizing forest fragmentation and overall environmental impact.
  • US Forest Service Timber projects in Macon & Clay counties: Protecting high-quality old-growth forests, natural heritage areas and water quality as timber is harvested and forest communities are restored.
  • Lake Nutrient Reduction projects in Towns & Union counties: Curbing pollution from leaking septic systems, farms and construction projects to reduce algae growth and the occurrence of harmful algal blooms.
  • Restoring Clear Water to the Tuckasegee River in Jackson & Swain counties: Working with partners to eliminate excess sedimentation from construction projects and eroding stream banks and helping to restore native plant communities along streams.
  • Assisting with planning parks, trails and greenways across all nine counties of MountainTrue’s western region.

Will you help ensure our mountain waters, forests and communities stay healthy in the future? Please help us get a strong start in 2021 by making a donation today.

Thank you for joining me and MountainTrue in our mission to protect the places we share.

What’s Going On With the NC Farm Bill?

What’s Going On With the NC Farm Bill?

Action Expired

 

6/26/2018

Last night Governor Roy Cooper vetoed SB711, a dangerous bill that would greatly limit the constitutional right of North Carolinians living near industrial hog farms to seek justice in the courts for nuisance and pollution of their air and water. The General Assembly will vote later this week on whether or not to override Governor Cooper’s veto.

This is when we need your calls more than ever. Will you make a quick call to your state representative now to make sure Governor Cooper’s veto of SB711 stands? If you don’t know who your representative is, you can use the “Who Represents Me?” tool on the NC General Assembly website here, and find your representative’s phone number here.

 

The Facts About SB711:

  • This bill was drafted to protect Smithfield Foods, an out-of-state industrial hog operation owned by Chinese business interests, from a lawsuit brought by neighbors of industrial hog farms in Eastern NC. The intention is to protect a foreign corporation from liability where rural communities of color are disproportionately impacted by operations they own or control through contracts.
  • This bill is not about protecting farmers, it’s about protecting profits. All of the pending lawsuits are against Smithfield through its subsidiary, Murphy-Brown. The only entity paying damages (or potentially liable) in these cases is Smithfield. While some of the facilities are operated by contract growers, the only defendant in the lawsuits is Smithfield.
  • SB711 allows only neighbors within half a mile of an industrial farm to file a lawsuit, but the claim must be brought within one year of the establishment of the operation. Since there’s been a moratorium on new hog CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations, also known as large industrial animal operations) since 1997, new operations are not being established. This prevents any neighbor from being able to pursue a nuisance suit. This runs contrary to nuisance theory (and general statute of limitations) where the claim arises when the harm actually occurs, not when the potential for harm begins.
  • This is not to mention neighbors of industrial farms who live more than half a mile away, who will have no longer have any standing to sue for nuisance. Water pollution moves animal waste hundreds of miles downstream, and odor and bacteria are carried by the wind, so neighbors farther than half a mile from hog farms will continue to be effected.
  • SB711 would also severely limit local governments’ ability to regulate large agriculture operations – including poultry plants.

You can still take action. If your state representative voted YES on SB711, ask them to support Governor Cooper’s veto. If your NC House Representative voted NO on SB711, call and thank them for supporting North Carolina homeowners, and ask them to stand strong to support Governor Cooper’s veto of this dangerous bill.  Here’s how some of WNC’s House Reps. voted on SB711:

Chuck McGrady (Henderson): No

Cody Henson (Henderson, Polk, Transylvania): Yes

Kevin Corbin (Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon): Yes

Jonathan C. Jordan (Ashe, Watauga): Yes

Michele D. Presnell (Haywood, Madison, Yancey): Yes

Susan C. Fisher (Buncombe): No

John Ager (Buncombe): No

Brian Turner (Buncombe): No

Tim Moore (Cleveland): Yes

Mike Clampitt (Haywood, Jackson, Swain): Yes

Josh Dobson (Avery, McDowell, Mitchell): Yes

And for the record, here’s part of the statement Governor Cooper released after his veto:

“North Carolina’s nuisance laws can help allow generations of families to enjoy their homes and land without fear for their health and safety. Those same laws stopped the Tennessee Valley Authority from pumping air pollution into our mountains…Giving one industry special treatment at the expense of its neighbors is unfair.”

 

Thank you for standing up for North Carolina homeowners and for clean air and water in the state we love.