By Davis Wax
Editorial assistant, Spring/Summer 2013

Scary things are going on in the NC Legislative Building in Raleigh. Photo by Yassie

Among the scary legislation developing in the North Carolina assembly, there are two bills — one a monster of bad environmental reform and the other back from the dead in order to snuff out the state’s renewable energy — which stand out from the creepy pack. These bills are not exactly the slow and shambling kind of creatures from old 50s horror movies, though, and are moving quickly through the state legislature.

The first, the newly-drafted Senate Bill 612, or Regulatory Reform Act, could have many wide-sweeping and detrimental consequences for environmental regulations in North Carolina. The legislation, which passed through the state Senate last Thursday, would limit how local governments can produce and control regulations to protect the environment. Among other measures to weaken environmental protections, the bill would:

• Loosen requirements for cleaning up groundwater pollution
• Loosen requirements for burying demolition debris
• Force state environmental rules to be equal to or less strong than federal standards
• Loosen regulations in place to help wetlands
• Create a fast-track system for erosion-control permits

The first point, fewer requirements for cleaning up pollution in groundwater, is hugely concerning. This provision would increase compliance boundaries to a facility’s property line, allowing coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities to pollute groundwater farther away from their sites.

Second on the list, demolition debris can contain anything from lead paint to asbestos to PCBs, all of which are more likely to pollute water sources if not adequately buried. The provision does not clarify how coal ash waste applies to “demolition debris” and thus the bill could help power plants avoid certain aspects of the permitting process for coal ash ponds.

Another worrisome aspect of the bill is that it would require state environmental agencies and commissions to identify and repeal any existing rules that are stricter than similar federal rules and likewise would not allow local governments to produce rules stronger than state or federal rules.

“This [bill] will eliminate local governments’ ability to solve local problems,” said Molly Diggins, state director of the N.C. chapter of the Sierra Club.

Co-sponsored by Sen. Harry Brown, the bill has been amended several times, each version spawning more and more provisions against state environmental rules. It is a ‘one-size-fits all’ law-making logic that doesn’t allow for the evaluation of unique environmental concerns across the state.

According to the N.C. Coastal Federation, Erin Wynia, a manager of legislative and regulatory issues with the N.C. League of Municipalities, added that “there are differences among [local] ordinances that are to accommodate differences in geology and hydrology. Different places have different ways of doing things and there are likely to be examples of unintended consequences.”

“This is a very complicated bill and it appears to have severe impacts,” she said. Those impacts for towns, cities, and counties all across North Carolina appear to be of little concern in Raleigh, where corporate-interest and deregulation of industry are winning out over citizens’ social and environmental health.

The bill now moves onto the House.

In other Raleigh “horror” stories, the Affordable and Reliable Energy Act, which would repeal renewable energy standards in North Carolina, returned from the dead last week. While Rep. Mike Hager’s House version failed to gain enough backing, its duplicate, Senate bill 365, was pushed through the Finance Committee by a grossly unfair and informal voice-vote.

After both sides voiced their concerns with the bill, with many opponents pointing to the positive economic turn for the state due to renewable energy, Senate Finance Committee Chair Bill Rabon simply ended the meeting with a voice vote and then ruled that the bill had passed. The voice vote given was certainly close, but all requests for a more definitive voting process, including just a hand vote, were ignored.

“The anti-small-business hostility of this legislation is really amazing,” said Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake, who feels that despite a slow economy, the renewable energy industry has grown, and will offer more economic benefits if it’s allowed to thrive.

“Investors will not play (in North Carolina) if we keep playing these games.”

To see the macabre joke lawmakers are making of democracy in North Carolina, watch the meeting below. In this clip you will see some final comments, Co-Chairman Sen. Bob Rucho’s loud “yes” from a microphone, the audible “no’s” throughout the room, and Sen. Rabon’s abrupt adjourning in favor of the bill.

Senate bill 365 will now move on to the Senate Commerce Committee.

Video by The Progressive Pulse

The N.C. General Assembly must be celebrating Halloween early with such bills able to get a frightening leg up. Unlike the mere price of admission for an actual bad horror flick, however, these legislative shenanigans are likely to have very scary consequences for environmental protections and renewable energy initiatives throughout North Carolina.