RALEIGH — Legislation targeting chemical emissions went through significant changes between May 17 and its inclusion in the new state budget.
The North Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, a lobbying group of more than 50 companies, including GenX manufacturer Chemours, asked for three changes to legislation targeting the company’s chemical emissions, and it got all three, WRAL.com reported.
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The lobbying group requested that in Senate Bill 724 and House Bill 972 all references to health goals be removed. It sought to focus the legislation on per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances only instead of on all emerging contaminants. It also sought clarification of Section 12, which would require those holding a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to submit documentation of the chemicals released into the environment to the Department of Environmental Quality.
Neither legislators involved with the bill nor environmental attorneys who also worked to change the bill in other ways said the Manufacturers Alliance had undue input over the final language.
This bill initially was announced as identical legislation from both House and Senate sponsors involved in off-session negotiations on GenX and water quality.
