Major new policies on resilience and flood mitigation and a return to high levels of conservation and water quality funding have been hailed as the major win in this year’s state budget, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t large swaths of concern amid the more than 1,200 pages of fund allocations and policy provisions.

The two-year budget is the first full biennial budget to become law since 2017. The resilience and flooding provisions will be put into action with allocations totaling close to $1 billion, much of that legislation received the strong backing of the state’s environmental organizations.

Cassie Gavin, senior director of governmental affairs with the North Carolina Sierra Club, said the initiatives showed strong commitments on resiliency and conservation, but there were provisions scattered through the document that wouldn’t have passed scrutiny otherwise.

“There were some big highlights,” she said, “and then definitely, we had some special provisions that shouldn’t belong in the budget at all.”

‘Snag and drag’

One section that’s drawn criticism would pump $38 million into a program for stream debris removal that allows contractors to operate outside water-protection and fire-control rules.

“We’re very concerned about snag and drag and all the exemptions in the provision,” Brooks Rainey Pearson, attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, recently told Coastal Review.

The program would direct the money from a state capital and infrastructure fund to the Department of Environmental Quality.

DEQ would then develop a plan and schedule for stream debris removal within five “targeted watersheds” — the Neuse River basin, Cape Fear River basin, Lumber River basin, Tar-Pamlico River basin and White Oak River basin.

DEQ is to contract with private companies to do the work, but budget language authorizing the program restricts the department’s authority over the projects and exempts contractors from requirements for stormwater or water quality permits as well as all state game laws and forestry statues on open burning. It also directs DEQ to waive any rights of certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act for projects funded by the program.

Rainey Pearson said the combination of exemptions means contractors will be able to drag debris up on the banks and burn it with little oversight.

Grady McCallie, policy director for the North Carolina Conservation Network, said the provision as written would greatly reduce the amount of input state regulators would have in reviewing projects, even if they’re required to have a federal permit.

“If you have to get Army Corps of Engineers-permitted for doing stuff in waters of the United States, you still have to get that permit. This doesn’t change that, but it does eliminate the state’s ability to condition and comment on that permit to protect water quality,” McCallie said. That takes the state out of its role in water quality protection and reduces the input of people with on-the-ground familiarity with the watershed. “It’s not a good idea to get rid of that.”

The legislature did delay funding any stream debris removal projects under the program until at least the first draft of a statewide flooding blueprint is completed. That could give the legislature time to go back and tweak the oversight exemptions as well as analyze the impacts, McCallie said.

“It would be really dumb just to spend this money and end up increasing flooding, by speeding up the movement of water downstream on to other communities,” he said. “There’s every chance that you can do that if you do without studying what you’re doing and without environmental review. You could think that you’re taking water off one community but what you’re really doing is just speeding it down to the next and flooding them.”

Career jobs to become political appointments

Another provision that’s getting attention from environmental groups would shift five positions in the Office of Administrative Hearings from career positions to political appointees.

Although those positions haven’t been named, Rainey Pearson said the worry is how the shift could impact administrative hearings going forward. 

“That’s often the first stop for environmental cases,” she said.

McCallie said the administrative judges oversee challenges to environmental permits known as contested cases.

“What we don’t know is whether these five positions would be administrative law judges. There’s been nothing in writing to say that one way or another, but we’re concerned about the politicization of that office,” he said. “They need to be impartial, and having career civil servants doing that makes them more familiar with the laws that they are reviewing. That makes a lot of sense.”

The provision would give the chief administrative law judge authority to designate the five from existing positions. The chief judge is appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Last summer, new Chief Justice Paul Newby appointed Donald van der Vaart, who served as DEQ secretary under Gov. Pat McCrory, to the position.

Local government wins, losses

Gavin said that as the negotiations were winding up, there was an all-out effort to dial back many of the environmental provisions aimed at restricting local governments.

Earlier versions of the budget included limitations on local governments to implement tree-protection ordinances and water-quality requirements.

Those provisions were stripped in the final round of talks on the bill, Gavin said. So was another provision aimed at reducing wetland protections.

One long-sought set of changes benefitting the billboard industry did make it into the final bill. Gavin said those changes further reduce authority over billboards by both local governments and the Department of Transportation and could clear the way for more digital signs as well.

“It’s all the little things that the outdoor advertising industry has previously sought before but not gotten,” she said. “It’s essentially a previous bill that was vetoed by the governor in past years and it’s stuck in there to get through the legislature even though it wouldn’t normally.”     

There are a lot of firsts and significant investments in the newly minted state budget, and among the biggest of those that check both boxes is a broad array of new efforts to increase resiliency and decrease flooding — along with the kind of money that could make it happen.

Remarkable as that might be, it comes as no surprise.

Although there was ample skepticism that a full, two-year budget plan could be worked out, given the contentious relationship between the legislative and executive branches, there was little doubt that the resiliency and flooding plans and the kind of funding necessary for them would come out of this year’s session.

All three budget plans proposed by the state House, Senate and Gov. Roy Cooper included a major push to bolster resiliency and address flooding.

Among the initiatives are $20 million to develop a statewide Flood Resiliency Blueprint to guide strategy at the local and state level; $15 million for a new transportation infrastructure resiliency fund and $15 million for a new disaster relief fund for transportation-related flood mitigation; $8.5 million for an innovative flood mitigation pilot project in the Stoney Creek watershed near Goldsboro; $5 million for Southport waterfront stabilization; $1.15 million in local coastal planning and management grants; and $300,000 to hire coastal resiliency planners.

Also in the package is about $70 million for local flood mitigation projects and disaster recovery, and another $40 million for coastal storm damage, with up to $20 million earmarked for the Brunswick County town of Oak Island shoreline stabilization and $2 million allocated to the North Carolina Coastal Federation for living shorelines, oyster reefs and marsh-restoration grants.

In all, the budget appropriates roughly half of $800 million in the state’s disaster and resilience reserve toward local and statewide flood mitigation and resiliency, as well as new personnel to assist local governments in planning and developing shovel-ready projects.

Although there’s a focus on areas of the coastal plain repeatedly hit by both hurricanes and the more frequent heavy downpours that have marked this era of climate change, any question about whether flooding was mostly an eastern concern was answered again this year in August when deadly floods from Tropical Storm Fred underlined the vulnerability of the state’s mountain and foothill communities. The budget allocates about $124.4 million to them for disaster relief.

In statements released Friday, shortly after Cooper signed the budget, Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne, and Sen. Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, who led the flooding and resiliency efforts in the House and Senate, respectively, said early on in the session that the intent was to break away from dealing with disasters one at a time and move toward a more forward-thinking approach.

“North Carolina has now been hit by two 1,000-year floods within the past five years,” Bell said last week. “This budget provides an historic and unprecedented investment to help these local communities recover and prepare for future disasters. This is the largest proactive, statewide package that North Carolina has ever made to address flooding. It will help put an end to the costly cycle of spending after disasters.”

Perry said the changes would make a long-term difference in flood-prone areas.

“We can’t stop flooding, but we should work to reduce its severity,” he said. “This budget takes a huge step forward to reduce flooding and prepare us for the next big storm.”

Rep. Charlie Miller, R-Brunswick, said the legislation would assist coastal areas that are struggling to deal with repeated flooding.

“As a Southport native, I’ve seen countless storms decimate the area and can recognize the importance of having a proactive plan in place, not waiting until we’re faced with the recovery process to identify that we needed to be more prepared,” Miller said.

Follow-through required

Will McDow, director of the Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds project for Environmental Defense Fund, said the state is taking a critically important step that will require substantial coordination across multiple state and federal agencies. 

“This really needs to be an all-of-government approach to make sure that things are coordinated and being done in a way that is additive to the state and not creating confusion or duplicating efforts,” McDow said Monday in an interview with Coastal Review. “Because this can’t be a one-time investment. This is going to take multiple years of investing. Eastern North Carolina has been the current focus, but Hurricane Fred shows us that western North Carolina is also in the bull’s-eye of these climate-induced floods.”

McDow, who was part of a budget negotiating team representing environmental groups, said the budget sets up an interagency group to coordinate and monitor the effectiveness of the programs.

Much of the responsibility for implementing the programs falls to the North Carolina Office of Resiliency and Recovery, which was set up in 2018 under the Department of Public Safety mainly to manage federal disaster relief following Hurricane Florence.

NCORR, now also administering numerous programs including disaster relief from other recent hurricanes and tropical storms, became a permanent state agency under the new budget and picked up three new positions dedicated to resilience planning and implementation.

The Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Mitigation Services is charged with development of the Flood Resiliency Blueprint, which according to the budget “shall form the backbone of a State flood planning process that increases community resiliency to flooding, shall be a resource for riverine and stream management to reduce flooding, and should support the establishment and furtherance of local government stormwater maintenance programs.”

McDow translates that to mean the development of a “decision-support tool” that will allow local governments to weigh their options in building resiliency.

“To me, it’s just a central piece. It’s not the largest funding piece, but it’s possibly the most important connector to all of this work,” he said.

McDow said the blueprint will build on extensive mapping and modeling that the state has already done to give communities a better understanding of what’s needed to reduce flooding and the most effective ways to go about them. “It’s going to help communities really know at a tangible level, what they need to do.”

Some of the projects funded in the budget will study whether natural solutions upstream, such as engineering agricultural fields to flood, rebuilding wetlands and reforesting are more effective and less costly than building up levees or raising roads downstream.

Other aspects are also aimed at assisting local decision making with funding for local planning and additional staff and support for the Division of Coastal Management’s Resilient Coastal Communities Program, which seeks to help communities to assess their risk and vulnerability, engage the public and identify and prioritize projects.

Legislators are expected to begin voting on new congressional and state legislative districts next week.

Mapmaking for the new districts is drawing to a close after a series of hearings and public comment sessions held over the course of the last month on a variety of proposals for redrawn districts for Congress and the state House and Senate.

Versions under consideration, including maps and statistics can be found at the North Carolina General Assembly website at www.ncleg.gov, including the following:

• House redistricting plans.
• Senate redistricting plans.
• Public comments form.

A House plan introduced Thursday is set to be heard at 2 p.m. Monday by the chamber’s redistricting committee, but congressional and state Senate plans have yet to be finalized.

Legislative leaders said they expect the plans to be voted on by the end of next week and told legislators to be prepared to stay in session through Friday.

The state constitution gives the General Assembly sole authority in mapmaking and plans adopted by the legislature are not subject to veto by the governor.

That doesn’t mean that any maps voted out next week are set in stone.

Once passed by each chamber, the new plans would be likely to face extensive legal challenges in both federal and state courts. Maps for the last two redistricting cycles were repeatedly challenged at the state and federal levels and final sets of districts weren’t in place until the last election cycle in each decade.

The legislature is adding a 14th district this year since the state was awarded an additional congressional seat following the 2020 Census.

After years of on-and-off negotiations, a set of sweeping energy policy changes sailed through the North Carolina General Assembly this week after a deal by legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper cleared the way for its passage.

On Thursday, House Bill 951, Energy Solutions for North Carolina, was approved by a vote of 90-20 in the House after passing the Senate 42-7 a day earlier.

Cooper was expected to sign the bill as soon as this weekend.

The legislation would require Duke Energy and other major electricity producers to reach carbon-reduction goals of 70% by 2030, and a zero-carbon goal by 2050.

The goals are in line with Cooper’s 2018 Executive Order 80, which called for the state to commit to aggressively lowering its carbon dioxide emissions.

General Assembly leaders were cool to the idea at the time and both chambers have generally avoided taking up carbon-reduction goals directly.

An earlier version of the new energy legislation did not include the targets but relied on an extensive framework of rules and standards for a mix of energy sources that would have the effect of reducing emissions. That version of the bill, which passed the House in mid-July, ran 49 pages. At the time, its sponsors admitted it was imperfect and promised it would be very different once it returned from the Senate.

As predicted, it is.

Trimmed down to 10 pages, most of the proscriptive language on the mix of energy sources has been cut and the bill puts the responsibility for creating the rules and standards for the strategy, including the phaseout of Duke’s fleet of coal fired units, with the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

The commission is a seven-member board whose members are appointed by the governor but who must be confirmed by the Senate.

The new legislation, put together and negotiated in a behind the scenes stakeholder process over the course of the session, started on its quick course to passage last week following the announcement of an agreement.

On Friday afternoon, in a rare moment of unanimity in messaging Cooper, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, put out identical statements heralding the deal.

The bill quickly moved through the Senate Tuesday and Wednesday without amendment, although Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabbarus, a key negotiator, acknowledged that he would seek changes in response to criticisms through a technical corrections bill later in the session. 

The House took up the legislation Thursday as a concurrence vote on the Senate version, which does not require a committee hearing, and passed it shortly after noon as the last item of the week.

During floor debate, Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union, an original House sponsor, said the Senate simplified the legislation by removing carve-outs and mandates for use of specific energy sources and putting policy choices like the mix of sources and the schedule for phaseout of coal-fired units in the hands of the Utilities Commission. He stressed that the commission was charged with doing so in a way that prioritizes using a “least-cost” method to protect consumers and an array of sources that guarantee reliability.

Opposition to the bill focused on the potential impact of sections of the bill that could allow multiyear rate hikes, instead of the current system which requires utility companies to take rate hikes to the commission on an annual basis.

Opponents said the bill allows too much wiggle room for Duke Energy to get around goals and raise prices.

House members who voted against it said it was being rushed through and that Newton’s promise of tweaks to the plan weren’t enough to satisfy concerns.

“I do like what we have in part one, about the carbon reduction,” Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, said Thursday. “I think we are in a climate crisis. I think science has proven it, and we should have these goals to reduce the carbon, and to go down 70% by 2030. I think is admirable, but I think it’s aspirational.”

Morey said she was worried that the goals would never be met without more teeth in the bill because the bill allows the commission to reset the goals every two years. She also questioned whether it would be able to keep rate hikes from hurting low-income customers.

Environmental and consumer advocates have also expressed a divided view of the bill.

A statement from the Southern Environmental Law Center said the bill did not go far enough to make sure reductions would actually be achieved. 

“While the Southern Environmental Law Center strongly supports the goals to reduce heat-trapping carbon pollution in House Bill 951 and appreciates the efforts to negotiate a bipartisan energy bill, we are concerned that the current bill will not achieve those reductions and fails to spread the clean energy transition to include low-income customers,” according to the statement.

House and Senate members who shared similar concerns but opted to vote in favor of the bill, said it was important to move forward in climate policy.

Rep. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, said he wanted to support the spirit of compromise among legislators who came together to advance the goals in the bill. He said he was disappointed the legislature deferred to the Utilities Commission to work out the details, but said that there is a consensus to put a process in place to reduce carbon emissions is significant.

“I think that’s why I’ll end up voting for the bill, because it sets a goal that I think is so critically important,” Meyer said, “and I appreciate those members of the Republican Party who haven’t been very vocal in support of major climate change legislation for being willing to vote and be on board for this bill.”

In all, a dozen Democrats voted against the bill. They were joined by eight Republicans, including Rep. Larry Pittman of Cabbarus County, who gave a lengthy speech in support of carbon dioxide, called anthropogenic climate change “a farce and a fraud” and called on members of his caucus to vote against the bill.

“All this hysteria about the production of CO2 and the supposed need to reduce it is nothing more than a not-so-well-hidden agenda of government control of the people and our lives,” Pittman said.

It is not.

Despite objections from both sides of the aisle, the bill has enjoyed strong support.

Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, and co-director of the Southern Blue Ridge advocacy organization Mountain True, said it marks a tangible change in attitudes on climate change.

“This is a first step to protecting future generations of North Carolinians,” Mayfield said in a statement after the Senate vote. “With this legislation, we can say that combating climate change is a bipartisan issue.” 

Andrew Hutson, Audubon North Carolina executive director and National Audubon Society vice president, also called it a turning point. 

“We know the stakes of climate change for birds and people, especially communities on the front lines who are already facing the impacts of extreme weather and air pollution. This bill will clean up our power sector and deliver carbon reductions at a time that we can’t afford more delays,” Hutson said.

State House and Senate leaders signed off on a new budget plan last week, kicking off the next phase in negotiations with Gov. Roy Cooper and the potential for an agreement that could end years of budget standoffs.

House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, announced that House and Senate conferees reached a deal Wednesday morning. They said they had previewed portions of the plan with Cooper’s staff and hope to avoid another protracted budget fight.

This year’s budget process is running months behind schedule, but the downside to that is overshadowed by the prospects of a deal that would avoid the kind of bitter veto and override battles of the last three years.

State government has not operated under a formal two-year budget since 2018, the last year both chamber of the legislature were controlled by Republican supermajorities.

In 2019 and 2020, a budget standoff between Cooper and the legislature led to a series of minibudgets to fund agencies and proposals where the two sides agreed. Other parts of the government have operated under an automatic budget law that funds departments and agencies at the prior year levels until a new budget is passed.

The reduced spending, a massive influx of federal COVID-19 and disaster relief, and a larger than expected jump in revenues have given lawmakers plenty to work with on a spending package.

The legislature’s Fiscal Research Division’s end-of-tax-year analysis this summer estimated that the state would collect $6.5 billion more than originally estimated.

But the rosy revenue scenario hasn’t made drafting a budget an easier task.  

This year, disagreements early on between the House and Senate, including on a target spending level, slowed the budget rollout.

The Senate passed its plan on June 28 with a 32-17 vote. The House put its plan to a vote on Aug. 12 and passed it 72-41. While both margins are enough to override a governor’s veto, in practice, Democrats have closed ranks in the past to back Cooper.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said Friday she expects the plan to go to the governor this week and expects the process to take roughly two weeks.

“I would guess we should have something to vote on by the middle of October or so,” she said.

Cooper press secretary Jordan Monaghan confirmed that top level talks have started.

“The Governor and legislative leaders and staff are beginning budget negotiations and that will continue into next week,” Monaghan said Friday in an email response to Coastal Review.

Consensus on coastal concerns

Much of this year’s budget discussions have taken place behind the scenes, in particular the latest round of talks in the House and Senate conference committee that crafted the final legislative product.

Because of that, what’s been worked out in areas where the two chambers diverged won’t be known until the final product is unveiled, but what’s been in agreement all along, especially things also in Cooper’s plan, are likely to be in the end product.

Although details vary between the proposals, the list includes numerous coastal and environmental policy and funding provisions.

Topping the priorities are flood mitigation and resiliency projects, personnel for emerging contaminant research and tracking at the Department of Environmental Quality, and the large increases in conservation, water quality and parks funding.

The House is proposing $80 million in the current fiscal year for the Land and Water Fund and $70 million for the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF. The Senate budget puts $73 million toward the Land and Water Fund and $53 million into PARTF.

Support for both conservation funds bottomed out in 2013 and have been on a slow, steady climb since. The proposed funding levels would restore both to levels prior to the Great Recession that began in December 2007. 

The House, Senate and governor’s plans all include additional funds for shellfish programs including leasing, additional personnel for the Division of Marine Fisheries, and the long-sought replacement of the aging West Bay, the vessel the division uses for cultch planting.

Special provisions in both House and Senate budgets include continued studies on per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, by the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, along with a new, mandatory statewide online registry of all firefighting foam containing PFAS and related substances.

Both chambers’ budgets also include provisions setting up a voluntary commercial fishing license buyback program to reduce underutilized licenses and both include a continued shellfish leasing moratorium in sections of New Hanover and Carteret counties. The Senate’s version extends the moratorium indefinitely. The House would end it in 2026.

If even half of the funding and policy changes in the pursuit of resiliency, flood mitigation and land conservation make it through the budget process, it would be far and away the biggest effort in the state’s history to meet the challenge of a changing climate.

This year, there is broad consensus across party lines and between the legislature and the executive branch to make bold moves in these areas, spending as much as $1 billion in state money and putting plans in place to draw billions more in federal support.

But the consensus on flooding and resiliency could prove to be more exception than rule as lawmakers grapple with other strategies and policies that in one way or another address the impacts and causes of climate change.

Although with each year and with each new set of disasters, the risk of doing nothing becomes clearer, the job of putting together policies in an atmosphere in which even the phrase “climate change” is still viewed by many with suspicion remains one of the heavier lifts on Jones Street.

Mark Fleming, president and CEO of the Conservatives for Clean Energy, said polling indicates that while attitudes are shifting about clean energy, “climate change” is still a loaded term for some.

“I would say we are getting there as a state, we really are,” he said. “The problem is if you try to inject the phrase ‘climate change,’ everyone goes to their corners because of the politics of that phrase. It’s not even the policy as much as the phrase. But if you’re talking about sustainability, if you’re talking about lowering emissions, conservatives are there on that.”

There’s no doubt attitudes are changing in the legislature as well, Fleming said. “Ten years ago, this was all viewed as a partisan issue. Today it’s really not.”

A decade ago, clean energy was only backed by a couple of Republican members, Fleming said, compared to 10 to 15 members today, a number that’s likely to grow with each new class of legislators.

“We’ve come a long way,” he said. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done on these issues, but we see a growing number of conservatives that are championing these issues. I think you’ll continue to see that and a lot of it is generational.”

Fleming said this year’s resilience and flooding legislation is a good sign that bipartisan consensus is possible. He still expects to see policy battles on how to approach solutions going forward, but the legislature appears more and more willing to take action.

“The need to do something is the driving thing,” he said. “I think we’ll see more and more consensus on that, bipartisan consensus.”

Rep. John Ager, D-Buncombe, said that consensus can’t happen soon enough. Ager, a farmer and small farm proponent, has been trying to pass a bill that would encourage no-till techniques, better use of cover crops and other practices that improve carbon sequestration in soils. It’s the kind of bill that’s passed in other states but he can’t get traction among his GOP colleagues in Raleigh.

“It’s been frustrating,” he said. “We had to be careful to use the right words because it felt like if they heard the wrong words they’d just turn their minds off and I don’t know what the right words are to turn them back on.”

Sen. Natalie Murdock, D-Durham, said she has reason hope that the legislature is moving in the right direction despite language barriers.

“I think a lot of people don’t want to call it climate change, they don’t want to talk about global warming, but they may focus more on ‘we need more renewables’ or ‘we need more diversity in our energy portfolio.’ They may call it something different, but I definitely think that we can achieve that goal even if they don’t have my belief that climate change is real,” she said. “I focus on what we agree on and kind of work from there.”

Murdock said ultimately the legislature’s hand will be forced by circumstances. The recent report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and natural disasters have made it clear that the state has to get serious about taking action.

“I think we’ll be forced to,” Murdock said. “I don’t think you can deny the science.”

Heated hearings

Although legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper have found common ground on flooding and resilience, sharp differences remain around greenhouse gas reductions.

Cooper’s call early in his first term for the state to set carbon-reduction targets and to sign on to the Paris Agreement received a cool reception in the North Carolina General Assembly.

This session, opposition to the governor’s carbon-reduction goals heated up during confirmation hearings in the Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee for Cooper’s two choices to lead the Department of Environmental Quality, former secretary Dionne Delli-Gatti, who the Senate rejected, and DEQ Secretary Elizabeth Biser, who was confirmed last month.

At both sets of hearings, Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabbarus, and former president of Duke Energy North Carolina, took aim at Cooper’s carbon reduction strategy, making the case that reductions by North Carolina would be costly and ultimately futile given increases in emission in places like China and India.

“Would you agree with me that if North Carolina is the only one that reduces carbon, and everybody else around the world is increasing carbon, North Carolina’s contribution to improving the climate is actually zero?” Newton asked Biser Aug. 17 during her confirmation hearing.

Biser, a former legislative liaison, agreed, but said the state won’t be going it alone. 

“If we were the only ones doing it, I think we would get lost in that bucket,” she replied. “Fortunately, we’re joined by a lot of other folks. It’s not everyone, as you point out, but I think this is top of mind for a lot of leaders worldwide.”

Legislators have also recently criticized a move by the Environmental Management Commission in July to accept a petition calling for the commission to begin a process for drafting carbon-reduction rules.

Last week, the House added an amendment to a comprehensive energy reform bill that would prevent the administration from joining a regional greenhouse gas compact without explicit legislative approval.

In a response to Coastal Review on Monday, Cooper spokesperson Jordan Monaghan said the governor would continue to push for emission reductions and that the state would reap the benefits of a clean-energy strategy.

“Climate change poses an existential threat and we must do our part to reduce carbon emissions, but just as important is the economic boost and high paying jobs that North Carolina gets if we lead the way on the inevitable move to renewable energy,” Monaghan said.

Although it’s not spelled out entirely, a major reduction in the state’s overall carbon output is built into major energy legislation now in the hands of the Senate.

The legislation, House Bill 951, Modernize Energy Generation, would accelerate the decommissioning of Duke Energy’s fleet of coal-fired units, streamline solar rules and revamp the state’s energy infrastructure. Hammered out in closed-door negotiations earlier this session, the 47-page bill passed the House 57-49 in mid-July but only after sponsors acknowledged its imperfections and assured their colleagues it would likely undergo substantial changes during the back and forth between the two chambers.

Rep. John Szoka, a Cumberland County Republican and one of the bill’s three main sponsors, said it’s unclear what direction the legislation will take.

He said Senate leaders and the governor have an interest in moving the bill forward. “I don’t know what they’re going to do, they could throw the whole thing away and start from scratch, they could take pieces of it,” he said. The most beneficial thing about House Bill 951 wasn’t the end product. It was the discussions that were raised.”

He said policymakers are trying to strike a balance between increasing renewable energy production, achieving carbon reductions and keeping costs down. 

“It’s one of those things where everyone has to give up something,” he said.

Monaghan said Cooper wants to see ideas on renewable energy, ratepayer protection and clean-energy jobs from Executive Order 80, the governor’s 2018 clean energy initiative, incorporated into the bill.

Szoka said that while he’s not sure where the Senate is going on the legislation, he expects that it will likely include fewer mandates and rely more heavily on the state Utilities Commission than the House version.

“I think there’s a path ahead,” he said, “but it’s a process and energy issues are incredibly complex.”

Murdock, who serves on the Senate’s Agriculture Energy and Environment Committee, said she doesn’t support the House version of the energy bill and expects the Senate to make considerable changes, like putting the Utilities Commission back in the driver’s seat on some of the decisions.

The result for the legislation may not be exactly the kind of sweeping change initially promised, she said, but there’s a real chance at progress.

“I know that it still has a long way to go,” she said. “But I think that we’re moving in the right direction. I couldn’t support the initial version of it, but the fact that we’re having serious talks about more coal plant retirements is definitely a step in the right direction.”

Like Fleming, Szoka, who has been in the legislature since 2012, says despite the disagreements over details, attitudes are changing in both chambers and policy is likely to follow.

He said it’s true that the legislature has been generally slower to accept carbon reduction than Congress and other states, but he recalled a similar skepticism about renewable energy.

“When I first got here the view was that it wouldn’t exist without tax credits. Now, it’s a generally more acceptable form of energy by people in both parties,” he said. “Sometimes ideas evolve over time and it takes a period of time to get to where an idea really gets some legs under it.”

This story has been updated.

House and Senate negotiators are working on a budget deal after the House approved its version 72-41 following 10 hours of floor debate last week. The House plan would spend $25.7 billion this year and $26.7 billion next year.

Although the amount on the bottom line remains the same for both chambers, a House and Senate conference committee will start working through differences large and small between the chambers.

Like the Senate, the House plan includes significant appropriations and policy provisions for flooding mitigation and resilience programs, part of a major new surge in state initiatives in natural resources, parks and conservation. That includes a major boost for the state’s Land and Water Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and a substantial flow of funds into new, flood-prevention strategies.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said the budget was the best for the environment that she’s seen in her 15 years in the legislature. She said the commitment to the Land and Water Fund and the parks trust fund would make a real difference.

“During the pandemic we all know where people wanted to be, and it was in their parks, it was outside,” she said. “This is money for our folks, this is money for our constituents, to make sure that those parks and those grants to our local governments are there for them.”

House Majority Leader John Bell, R-Wayne, said the House plan’s roughly $1 billion aimed at flood mitigation and disaster recovery represents an important shift toward more pre-disaster strategies.

“This bipartisan plan provides historic and unprecedented investment in tools to help the local communities recover from previous damage and prepare for future disasters,” Bell said during a budget announcement last week. “For every dollar spent on predisaster mitigation today, taxpayers save four to seven in disaster recovery funding on the back end.”

Bell said the plan would spend more than $465 million on planning and statewide and local mitigation projects as well as set aside another $330 million for future projects.

Most of the flood-mitigation and resilience provisions in the budget stem from House Bill 500, which was introduced in June.

While several sections of the legislation correspond to priorities outlined by the Senate in its budget, there’s still an array of differences between the two chambers, mainly in how the flood programs will ultimately be administered.

Those differences, including the role of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR, could be settled through the budget or standalone legislation.

That includes NCORR itself, which was set up under the Department of Public Safety in the wake of Hurricane Florence to manage federal aid and develop resiliency programs. It was originally authorized for three years. Language in both budgets would establish it as a permanent agency.

Although the final package is still a work in progress, the flood and resiliency projects that made the list in both chambers’ budgets are likely to make it into the conference committee report.

They include $10 million for local and regional resiliency planning assistance, $20 million for a statewide flood resiliency blueprint, $40 million for Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund and dozens of local projects.

Coastal area projects on the list include $2 million to the North Carolina Coastal Federation for living shorelines, oyster reef and marsh restoration; $1 million to Hyde County for Lake Mattamuskeet Restoration Drainage project; $2 million to Carolina Beach to complete the dredging of Lake Park; $20 million to Oak Island for beach nourishment; $5 million to Southport for waterfront stabilization; and $250,000 to Carteret County for Marshallberg flood mitigation, ditch restoration and harbor discharge project.

Wetlands provision out

Although most of the House plan remained intact through last week’s debates, one proposed change in wetland protections was removed from the final bill.

The provision would have removed state protections for isolated wetlands. New federal Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rules dropped protections for isolated wetlands in 2020.

Environmental advocates said the provision could have left more than 1 million acres statewide without any protections, with the bulk of the wetlands concentrated in eastern North Carolina.  

Other controversial environmental provisions remain in the bill. One would prevent local governments from adopting tree ordinances and tree protections on their own, requiring them to be only adopted through an act of the legislature.

Another provision would prohibit local stormwater and riparian buffer rules that are more stringent than state or federal requirements.

A third provision would eliminate all local regulation of billboards. 

Scott Mooneyham, communications director for the North Carolina League of Municipalities, said the large number of provisions has left the budget “top heavy” with non-budget items. He said provisions such as the tree ordinance haven’t been reviewed by committees and need a full hearing.

“These ideas, which will affect a lot of people’s lives, ought to rise and fall of their own accord, rather than being put into a 670-page budget document,” Mooneyham said Monday in an email response to Coastal Review. “The nature of state budget negotiations is that public input from this point forward will be limited, and a final agreement will be subject to an up or down vote without the ability to make changes.”

Deal or no deal

Both chambers are far behind schedule on the budget, but could wrap up work in the next two weeks on the final legislative package.

After that, the outlook is far from certain. House Democrats last week pointed out that although they had scant participation in drafting the budget, they expected to have a seat at the table during final negotiations between the governor and the legislature.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper, who have been effectively engaged in a budget standoff since 2019, have expressed hope that a final deal can be reached in this year’s negotiation.

During a press conference Wednesday, House Minority Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, said this year appears to be different and an agreement is much more possible.

“We have differences of opinion, obviously, about policy and about how best to send us home,” he said. “But I do believe that everybody involved in this process understands the word compromise and is fine with the word compromise, and we are all ready to see what we can do to come to some type of compromise, to figure out to make sure that we’ve got the budget.”

North Carolina’s new fiscal year started on July 1 and state agencies have been operating under an automatic budget law that funds operations under the prior budget’s levels.

House budget committees rolled out their spending and policy plans Thursday, including large increases in funding for conservation, flood prevention and stormwater infrastructure.

But details in the plan, including an abundance of earmarks for local projects and a controversial provision to drop protections for hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands, have drawn questions — even as the bill is on track for a final vote as early as next week.

Conservation, flood prevention

The House budget includes large increases for the state’s Land and Water Fund, Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and other conservation efforts, and appropriates close to $2 billion toward flood prevention, resiliency and stormwater and wastewater infrastructure.

Much of that would come from a $1.58 billion transfer from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund to the Department of Environmental Quality for four department-run programs.

The newly created Viable Utility Reserve would receive $500 million for grants to financially distressed water and sewer utilities. The state Drinking Water/Wastewater Reserve would receive $900,000 to use for infrastructure grants. Another $80 million would go to local systems for assistance with inventories, merger studies and training. And $100 million in grants would be available for local stormwater infrastructure projects.

Legislators already have carved out a considerable number of earmarks, with more than 100 county and municipal grants specified in the bill.

Conservation funds in the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources would see the same scale of increases envisioned in the proposed Senate budget, although some differences remain between the two chambers.

The House is proposing $80 million in the current fiscal year for the Land and Water and $70 million for the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

A state disaster relief fund would provide $20 million for Land and Water Fund grants for floodplains and wetland areas, and $10 million from the parks fund would be dedicated to grants for local governments for persons with disabilities. 

A new, separate fund for trails throughout the state is also in the plan. The Complete the Trails Fund would start up with a $29 million appropriation to distribute $25 million for trail construction, planning and design projects.

Worries over wetlands

The jump in resiliency and conservation spending in this year’s session has drawn praise from environmental advocates, but several budget provisions are raising concerns, especially a wetland provision in one section that appears to conflict with flood prevention strategies elsewhere in the budget.

The provision would strip away existing state protections for isolated wetlands, which until recently were protected under federal rules.

Under the new Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule, those wetlands are no longer under federal protection. That protection required permits for development or other impacts to go through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The wetlands are still under state protection, but there was no regulatory system for them until a recent set of temporary rules were put in place by the state’s Environmental Management Commission, or EMC. The commission is working on permanent rules.

The budget provision would strip that protection for any isolated wetland not classified as a bog or a basin.

During a hearing Thursday on the budget plan by the House Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources appropriations committee, Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, questioned the intent of the provision and whether it was meant to preempt the new EMC rules.

Joy Hicks, senior director for governmental affairs and policy at DEQ, told the committee that the department wanted to review the change. She said the EMC rules are needed to provide a permitting system for some types of wetlands.  

“When the new Waters of the U.S. came out, it left what we are considering orphaned pieces of wetland that the Clean Water Act no longer covers under the federal rule,” Hicks said. State rules say that all wetlands are protected but there’s no permitting mechanism for those wetlands.

“This would go in and exempt those from having to be permitted.” Hicks said, adding that the provision represents a change in policy that so far hasn’t been vetted by a legislative committee.

Mary Maclean Asbill, attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the attempt to remove protections on wetlands goes against resilience and flood mitigation strategies elsewhere in the budget that call for increases in wetlands and restoration projects to reduce downstream flooding.

“This would be terrible for North Carolina’s wetlands and for North Carolina communities. State leaders should be doing all that they can to protect North Carolina citizens and communities from extreme flooding, yet this does the opposite,” Asbill said Thursday afternoon.

The law center has estimated that there are about 900,000 acres in the Cape Fear and Neuse river basins that are potentially no longer protected by federal rules as a result of the 2020 change.

Harrison also objected to provisions in the budget that would preempt local ordinances on stormwater, wetlands and riparian buffers. Under the new provisions, those ordinances can only be used to meet state or federal laws, preventing local governments from adopting stronger standards.

While there was a lot of “good stuff” in the budget, Harrison said she opted not to vote for it. Instead, she plans to seek amendments to the relevant sections either during next week’s full appropriations committee hearing or when the bill gets to the House floor.

“I appreciate that extra funding for resiliency and conservation, but I’m super troubled by the provisions in there relating to wetlands and stormwater and buffers,” Harrison said.

The subcommittee approved its section of the budget on a voice vote.

Running behind

The House budget is more than six weeks behind schedule. The Senate, which started the budget process, was also behind schedule this year, approving its plan on June 25, five days before the end of the state’s fiscal year.

Since the beginning of the new fiscal year, state agencies have been operating under automatic funding legislation, which maintains prior-year spending levels.

Updated 3:30 p.m. to include comment from Gov. Roy Cooper.

Prospects for major federal infrastructure legislation that would send billions to North Carolina for resiliency, transportation, ports and clean water projects improved dramatically this week with the announcement of a new framework agreement calling for $1.2 trillion in spending over the next eight years.

The final draft of the legislation has yet to be introduced, but a procedural vote in the Senate Wednesday evening drew 17 Republican supporters, seven more than needed to overcome a filibuster, including North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr. All 50 Senate Democrats voted for the measure.

Tillis joined a bipartisan group of 20 senators hailing the agreement.

“We appreciate our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and the administration, working with us to get this done and we look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support among our Senate colleagues for this historic legislation,” the statement read in part.

If it were to become law — a big if, but far more likely today than Tuesday — the legislation would be the largest public infrastructure investment since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in the mid-1950s.

“I support the bipartisan infrastructure package advanced by the Senate as it will help North Carolina emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever,” Gov Roy Cooper said Friday in a response provided by staff. “Funding for roads, bridges, public transit, rail, high speed internet access and more will help our communities recover and become more resilient to natural disasters.” 

How the funds would be prioritized and distributed and any appropriations for specific projects or initiatives are to be spelled out in the days ahead as the Senate debates amendments on the bill, but a spending breakdown in a fact sheet distributed by the White House after the deal was announced offers a first look at the initial $579 billion in spending.

It includes the largest federal burst of resiliency funding with $47 billion designated for both infrastructure and projects in natural and working lands. 

The largest portion of the framework is $312 billion for transportation with $109 billion for roads, bridges and other major projects, $49 billion for public transit, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail upgrades, $25 billion for airports, and $16 billion for ports and waterways, which includes $2.5 billion designated for ferry systems.

The prospect of a major boost in federal funding comes as high growth and aging infrastructure is driving discussions about how to increase transportation spending. A recent state report calls for an increase of $20 billion in transportation investments over the next decade.

Broadband infrastructure aimed at rural and underserved communities would receive $65 billion in funding. Water infrastructure, including a plan to eliminate the use of lead pipes in all public water systems, is budgeted at $55 billion.

Another $71 billion would be used to upgrade the nation’s power grid. Accelerated Superfund site cleanup and other environmental remediation would be funded at $21 billion.

Although at this point the exact impact in North Carolina is hard to discern, the size of the framework agreement portends an unprecedented surge of funds should the bill become law. And it could be just the start.

Democrats intend to link the legislation with a larger $3.5 trillion bill aimed at housing, schools, caregiving assistance and research innovations. That legislation would move through the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority to pass.

It also includes large-scale investments in green energy and climate resiliency, including flood mitigation and solutions focused on the use of natural and working lands, areas that dovetail with state efforts proposed in this year’s North Carolina General Assembly session.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that resiliency is a key part of the plan.

“Americans will strengthen our infrastructure, like our levees, in the face of extreme weather like superstorms, wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, and heat waves,” Biden said in a statement.

The White House fact sheet also touts the framework agreement as “the largest investment in the resilience of physical and natural systems in American history” 

It notes that road and bridge improvements will be focused on “climate change mitigation, resilience, equity, and safety for all users, including cyclists and pedestrians.”

In interviews following the announcement of the Senate framework, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said climate mitigation and resiliency will be an important part of the overall transportation strategy and part of the requirements for any projects seeking funding. 

Forward progress

U.S. Senate leaders intend to move forward on both the infrastructure deal and the reconciliation package in the coming weeks. The legislation would then move to the House.

Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would only take up the bills in tandem.

U.S. Rep. David Price, a Democrat who represents the state’s 4th district that includes the Triangle, chairs a key House appropriations subcommittee, called the Senate infrastructure deal an important step forward in investing in communities in North Carolina.

“While narrower than I would prefer, this compromise plan includes vital investments in roads, bridges, ports, and water infrastructure that would benefit all North Carolinians,” Price said Thursday. “I’m pleased to see it also includes plans to mitigate future natural disasters, like hurricanes and threats from rising sea levels, by funding climate resilience for infrastructure construction and upgrades.”

Price, who chairs the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, stressed that the larger reconciliation plan remains necessary as well.

“While this package represents progress, we cannot lose sight of America’s pressing need for a broader package that makes simultaneous investments in affordable housing, climate resiliency, and our care infrastructure,” he said.

The White House fact sheet on the Senate framework includes the following funding levels:

*New spending + baseline (over 5 years) = $973B

*New spending + baseline (over 8 years) = $1,209B

As budget plans begin to gel in Raleigh, it’s growing more likely that North Carolina’s Land and Water Fund, a longtime driver of clean water and conservation projects in the state, could receive funding this cycle at levels not seen in more than a decade.

The fund, which was formed under the 2013 merger of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Natural Heritage Fund, issued just over $21 million in grants in its last cycle from a list of applications totaling four times that amount. One of several areas of state government not funded through one of last year’s mini budgets, the Land and Water Fund appropriation has remained where it was in 2018. This year’s Senate budget calls for upping that amount considerably to $73.2 million in this fiscal year and $53.2 million next year.

On Monday, Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that oversees natural resource funding, confirmed that the House leadership is on board with the increase.

In a response to Coastal Review, McElraft said the House is looking at an increase that would be the “same size or bigger.”

The last appropriation in that range was the 2007-08 funding cycle, just as what became the Great Recession started to eat away at state revenues.

The fund’s appropriation drifted lower until then-Gov. Pat McCrory’s 2013-14 budget proposal all but zeroed it out. The General Assembly maintained it, although at greatly reduced levels, with much of the funding earmarked for buffers around military installations. Appropriations began a slow increase after that, but still not at the levels envisioned at the inception of Clean Water Management Trust Fund in 1996 when then-Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight set an annual target of $100 million.

Will Summer, interim executive director of the Land and Water Fund, said the additional appropriation will help catch up with some of the demand on the fund.

“For many years, the demand for our grant program has outpaced our available funds many times over. Last year, we had $82.6 million in requests, but we were only able to fund $20.1 million,” Summer said in an email reply to Coastal Review. “The result of this disparity is the loss of opportunities to protect and restore critically important places, including areas that provide public access for outdoor recreation, hunting, and fishing. These opportunities help create economic sustainability and ensure better resiliency in the face of natural disaster.”

In September, the fund’s board of trustees will review $62.7 million in requests, but Summer said it is hard to judge what the real demand is for grants since local governments have likely held back on requests during the recent low funding cycles.

“After several consecutive years facing such competitive grant cycles, many of our applicants have adjusted their efforts accordingly and submitted fewer and smaller applications despite increasing need,” Summer said. “I anticipate that if a budget passes this year that prioritizes conservation, our next grant cycle, which opens in December, will show even more demand.”

Bill Holman, state director of The Conservation Fund, said the jump in the state appropriation and the potential for higher levels going forward could make a difference for larger land acquisitions.

“It really makes possible larger conservation projects and more projects that are landscape scale,” he said.

The increase, he said, is sorely needed to help keep up with rapidly increasing land prices.

Holman said there are large-scale land acquisition projects that dovetail with the strategy of using natural lands to improve resilience with several projects under study in the lower Cape Fear and Waccamaw watersheds that would restore floodplains and reduce downstream flooding.

Summer said it’s unclear exactly how communities will respond to a funding increase, especially give the challenges of the past year, but he anticipates that the past year has underlined the importance of parks and open space.

“I expect that many communities will implement and continue plans to increase their parks and greenways,” Summer said. “I also hope to see more projects that focus on protecting and restoring floodplain and wetland areas that can help make our communities more resilient to extreme weather events.”

Learn more

• 2021 North Carolina Land and Water Fund Grant Applications

This report has been updated to clarify the boundaries of the shellfish moratorium in New Hanover County.

House budget committees rev back up this week starting with an overview of spending proposed in the newly minted budget sent from the other side of the Legislative Building.

After a lengthy debate Thursday, the state Senate passed its version of the two-year biennial budget last week in a 32-18 vote.

The budget spends roughly $25.7 billion in the fiscal year starting June 30 and $26.7 billion the following year. After a protracted negotiation with House leaders on the overall total, the Senate’s bill is more than a month behind the typical schedule.

House leaders expect to wrap up work on their budget plan later in July.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, who chairs the House Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources appropriations subcommittee said Friday she expects committee work to be completed within a couple of weeks after the legislature returns from its July Fourth break.

McElraft said the plan should be voted on by the end of the month. After that, the two chambers will have to reach a compromise on their differences before sending a final version to Gov. Roy Cooper, who has already raised concerns about elements likely to be in a final version. 

North Carolina hasn’t had a full budget enacted and signed since 2018. Cooper vetoed the last two-year budget in 2019 and state agencies and operations have been funded through a series of targeted, mini-budgets and an automatic continuing budget law that maintains funding at the previous year’s levels.

Another veto fight is expected, at least according Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, who all but said as much in a news conference last week.

“Well, we’ll see where things are as far as the governor is concerned. This is a little facetious, but I’m sure that the governor is not going to veto this budget, because this is not going to be the final budget,” Berger said Monday of the Senate plan. “We will see what happens once we see what the House does and then we’ll have further conversations with both the House and the executive branch.”

Fisheries in focus

Next year marks the 25^th anniversary of the state’s landmark Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 and the 50^th anniversary of the Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, and the legislature is using the milestones to launch a comprehensive review of its coastal and marine fisheries.

The Senate budget plan provides $1 million to the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory to produce an analysis of trends in state fisheries over the last few decades and to develop policy recommendations to better manage the overall health and viability of the fisheries and their habitats. Fisheries listed for the studies include bay scallop, blue crab, eastern oyster, estuarine striped bass, hard clam, kingfish, red drum, river herring, sheepshead, shrimp, southern flounder, spotted seatrout and striped mullet.

The study is due by Dec. 31, 2022.

The Senate budget also adds two new positions for management and technical work to handle the expansion of the shellfish lease program and allocates additional costs for the northern shellfish lab. Shellfish growers would also see a new loan program through the North Carolina Rural Center aimed at providing working capital and equipment for small, new or existing shellfish operations.

The Senate plan extends indefinitely a moratorium on shellfish leases in New Hanover and Carteret counties enacted in 2019. In New Hanover County, the moratorium would be for waters from the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge through Masonboro Inlet to the mouth of Snows Cut, and in Bogue Sound in Carteret County from the U.S. 70 high-rise bridge in Morehead City to the Emerald Isle bridge.

The moratorium was scheduled to expire on July 1. It was established in the legislation  setting up the state’s new water column and bottom leasing program. There’s a strong interest in shellfish leasing in the areas, but they are also among the spots on the coast with potential for conflicts with fishing, recreation and tourism uses.

Also in the Senate budget is $1 million for a voluntary commercial fishing license buyback program aimed at “retiring” underutilized licenses. The plan requires the Division of Marine Fisheries to set up a three-year buyback program starting with a report on its plans due in April 2022.

The licenses would be retired and not revert to the pool of available licenses. Any holder who sells their license would not be eligible for a commercial fishing license for three years after the sale.

Ferry fund established

The state’s ferry service would get its own dedicated capital fund, one of several new funds set up in the Senate budget.

Currently, the cost of new vessels and maintaining the ferry fleet comes out of the state Highway Fund, the state’s main transportation funding vehicle.

The new Ferry Capital Special Fund would be separate from the Highway Fund and tolls collected within the system would flow directly into it as would receipts from work at the state shipyard at Manns Harbor.

The fund is mainly for acquisition and maintenance costs for the ferry fleet as well as tugs, barges and dredges. Under the Senate plan about $9.6 million in vessel replacement funds and $14 million in accumulated fare revenue and state support will be transferred to the new fund. The state would also continue an additional $2.5 million appropriation annually for vessels and maintenance.

The budget also spends more than $4 million to complete two vessels, with $718,090 to finish the M/V Salvo, a river class ferry to replace the M/V Chicamocomico, and $3,450,807 budgeted for the completion of the M/V Avon, a river class ferry that will replace the M/V Kinnakeet on the Hatteras-Ocracoke route in 2022.

RALEIGH — An array of provisions aimed at stepping up state monitoring of emerging contaminants have been rolled into the Senate budget plan released this week.

They include the creation of a new group within the Department of Environmental Quality charged with investigating emerging contaminants, more funding for the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory for its PFAS Testing Network of researchers and tighter requirements for reporting on the use of firefighting foam that contains per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. 

The provisions, along with the rest of the mammoth budget bill, moved closer to passage Tuesday after the measure was approved on a voice vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Senate Finance Committee was scheduled to take up the bill Wednesday morning with floor votes in the Senate expected over the next two days.

The budget process, delayed by snags in negotiations between House and Senate leaders over the total amount of spending, is about a month behind schedule.

The House is expected to move fairly quickly on its version and a final version could be headed to the governor’s office mid-July. Gov. Roy Cooper, who released his own version of the budget in April, has already raised objections to several aspects of the Senate plan.

While there is likely to be a vigorous back and forth over the final version of the budget, the PFAS studies and firefighting foam regulations are among the consensus items in the plans.

Collaboratory studies, firefighting foam

The Senate’s budget includes sections of the 2021 Water Safety Act, a bill introduced earlier in the session by Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, with several PFAS related provisions.

Provisions from the Water Safety Act in the Senate budget proposal include $15 million to continue a testing and monitoring for PFAS and other emerging contaminants by a network of researchers under the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory. Of that, $10 million is earmarked for deployment of three pilot filtration projects. One project would go to a public water system that draws from the Cape Fear River, one would go to a public system that discharges into the river and the third would go to a system that draws water from either the Pee Dee or Castle Hayne aquifer.  

Another provision directs the collaboratory to continue work developing a statewide registry and inventory tracking the use of aqueous firefighting foam, known as AFFF, that contains PFAS compounds and tightens the reporting requirement for firefighting operations.

The legislature wants to see the initial registry and online reporting portal for use of the foam in place by July 1, 2022.

Lee’s AFFF provisions track much of House Bill 355, which passed the House 112-0 in the first week of May. But the Senate stops short of the full House plan, which would ban the use of foam with PFAS for most training and testing and tighten requirements for containment and disposal of the compounds.

The testing and training ban would be the first legislated restrictions of PFAS in the state. The ban is likely to become one of many differences the two chambers will have to work out in the final budget discussion.

Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, one of several groups advocating for action on PFAS, said Lee should consider amending the bill to include the ban that’s in the House bill.

Donovan said there are safer aqueous firefighting foam alternatives and noted that the federal government banned the use of foams containing PFAS by the military for training purposes in 2020 and for all uses by 2024.

The Senate also allocates $975,000 for 10 new positions at the Department of Environmental Quality to make up a new investigative Emerging Compounds Unit under the Division of Water Resources and another $200,000 for two new positions to continue the emerging contaminants statewide mapping program.

Lee said the new unit at the Division of Water Resources would be a “quick-response unit” to coordinate work on emerging compounds.

Donovan said the funds for DEQ fall short of what’s needed.

“The senate budget is a small step forward regarding PFAS funding for DEQ,” Donovan, said in an email response to Coastal Review Tuesday. “However, NC has some of the worst PFAS pollution in the nation and this budget simply doesn’t cut it.”

Hurricane season ceased to be theoretical in eastern North Carolina coast early last week, with rip tide warnings issued for northern beaches as Tropical Storm Bill formed far offshore and then veered away to the northwest.

That storm had a minor impact, but as Tropical Storm Claudette bears down on the region from the west, there’s no let up of worry. For a coastal economy already flagging from a year of shuttered restaurants and canceled bookings, any storm-related downtime would be doubly harsh.

There is a similar and powerful worry inland, away from the beach houses and rough surf where the television crews set up. Recent major storms showed that it is in the low-lying lands along the networks of coastal plain creeks and rivers where water does the most damage.

The river towns, especially along the Neuse, Lumber and Tar-Pamlico systems, are still reeling from the last decade’s cascade of catastrophes.

The named storms are just part of the flooding threat in these towns. As the state’s warmer, wetter climate drives more frequent heavy rains, deluges are doing repetitive damage in vulnerable areas across the state, including places like Kinston, where this past winter’s rains inundated areas also submerged during Hurricane Matthew. 

With broad agreement between the legislature and the governor’s office to address the problem and a potential surge in federal funding to scale up the response, scientists, planners and policymakers are trying to create a blueprint for flooding mitigation and resilience that they can take statewide. To do that, they first have to figure out what works.

Understanding Stoney Creek

There are no silver linings to hurricanes, but there are a lot of lessons to learn. In the hardest of ways, North Carolina has gotten especially good at predicting where floodwaters will rise by tracking in real time innovative flooding models during storms and relaying that information to emergency responders.

As powerful a tool as those predictive maps have been during emergencies, they are also emerging as an important source between storms, driving long-term policy to build more resilient communities.

Among an array of projects and studies funded in recently introduced legislation to develop a statewide plan on flooding is a large-scale trial of strategies developed to mitigate a persistent critical threat when Stoney Creek in Goldsboro jumps its banks.

It would be difficult to find a threat from flooding easier to grasp than when roads to a hospital become impassable. That’s what happens when the waters of Stoney Creek start to rise alongside Goldsboro’s cluster of health care facilities between N.C. 13 and the U.S. 70 bypass. They include Wayne UNC Health Care, the county’s main hospital.

The creek, which is part of a roughly 30-square-mile watershed, starts in northern Wayne County farmlands near Eureka and wends through the heart of Goldsboro, passing near the medical centers and then through a light industrial and commercial zone before flowing into the Neuse River near Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. 

Barbara Doll, a North Carolina State University engineering professor and one of the state’s leading researchers in resilience strategies, said the Stoney Creek project is an attempt to understand the actual impact of resilience strategies like restoring wetlands, reforesting farmland and improving road crossings. Her team built detailed models of soils, land use and other data points throughout the entire watershed and each sub-basin within it. 

“We did a lot of ground-truthing and refining,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of work where people just come and they overlay soils and land use and some other layers and they say, ‘here’s where you want to restore a wetland,’ and they have no numbers for how much flow reduction there is to that,” Doll said in an interview with Coastal Review earlier this year. “So, we said, ‘let’s look where actually it really would work to do these things and how would you have to design them and what would this water storage on farms look like.’”

They picked farmland sites in the upper watershed where there was actual potential for conversion, lands that were less productive or already out of use due to flooding. Then they mapped how much water could be held back under different types of storms and strategies and what those combinations meant downstream.

The revelations of what Doll calls “getting into the nuts and bolts” of resilience and mitigation were both promising and sobering.

For the larger storms, the 500-year storms like Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence, the capacity of the water storage system is overwhelmed. But for the large deluges and even the 100-year storms, the plan would shave between 1 and 2 feet off the height of the floodwaters, with the biggest impact near crossings closest to the hospitals. Throughout the watershed dozens of structures, homes and businesses, would remain above the waterline.  

There are three basic solutions to dealing with the floods damaging home and businesses and washing out roads in places like Goldsboro, Doll said. You can engineer your way out of by raising roads and improving culverts, you hold back the water, or you can move people and structures out of the way.

Many places in eastern North Carolina are faced with a losing battle, she said, where the only reasonable long-term solution is to get people and structures out of harm’s way.

One goal of the Stoney Creek project is to give communities a more realistic set of tools to understand the costs and benefits of mitigation and resilience.

Both the state House and Senate are looking at major flood legislation this year, including roughly $30 million for a handful of projects in priority watersheds. Stoney Creek is among those and is considered the pilot project for the state’s natural and working lands effort. House Bill 500 earmarks about $5 million for land acquisition to kickstart the Stoney Creek plan.

Will McDow, Resilient Landscapes director for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the Stoney Creek studies are important in developing an accurate tool for planning.

“I think this study provides a kind of a clear example of how the state can use and build upon its existing science and data and models to help communities understand what are their options to reduce the flood impacts that they’re feeling,” he said. “Before this study, the community clearly knew that when it rained a 100-year event, their hospital was getting cut off, but they didn’t know how much water needed to be held back. Once you know how much water needs to be held back, then you can really begin to have the different conversations about how you might do that.”

Resilient Routes, Water Farming

One part of Doll’s resiliency work has been to assess the effectiveness of rebuilding roads and overpasses.

It makes sense, Doll said, for the state to put the funds into raising a road like I-95, but in many cases “engineering the way out” of the problem is fiscally unlikely. “It gets expensive, and it takes time,” she said.

What the Stoney Creek project showed, she said, was that in some cases a natural and working lands solution can be cheaper and more effective.

By holding back water upstream through a combination of reforestation of farmland and allowing some specified fields to flood, Doll’s team determined that three of the seven key creek crossings around Goldsboro’s hospital area would be prevented from washing out in a major storm.

That work has helped sharpen the focus around so-called “resilient routes,” critical roads for evacuations, supplies and emergency response.

“We can’t do every road. We can’t size them all to the 100-year storm and so we create these resilient routes and really work to protect them,” she said.

Doll said using natural and working lands solutions will mean different things in different places. The Stoney Creek project benefits from a sizable amount of farmland upstream of Goldsboro where the slope of fields is only 1% or less. With a little engineering, including constructing a berm, the 1% fields can hold a considerable amount of water, she said. “These low-lying lands provide a lot of opportunity.”

Since they’re often the same fields that tend to flood or that farmers can’t get to because of high water, Doll said that working out a way for farmers to be compensated for allowing their fields to hold back water makes sense.

“Why not store some water on these lands and have that farmer compensated so they know they’re going to get their investment back,” she said. “We call it water farming. They’re being paid to farm water for certain events. I think that could be a great assurance to them.”

North Carolina Farm Bureau Natural Resources Director Keith Larick, who has been working with Doll and others to develop the plan, said farmers he’s talked to are open to the ideas, especially considering the amount of damage they seen both from major storms and more frequent flash flooding.

“People don’t really know what the program is going to look like yet,” he said. “There are a lot of ideas out there as far as how are you going to fund something, who decides what gets built, is it a state program or more of a local program.”

The idea of water farming might be new, but farmers are used to incentive programs like those for conservation practices. Whatever is developed has to be flexible, he said.

“Some of these practices that we’re talking about may not take land out of production permanently,” he said.

You could have a case where a field only needs to be used occasionally to hold floodwaters, Larick said. In that case the farmer would get the payment for water farming, but during other years could keep working the land.

“We’re trying to be creative and flexible when we talk about these kinds of things to come up with something that works for landowners but also accomplishes the goal of helping with flood issues.”

RALEIGH — A temporary impasse in the North Carolina General Assembly over the overall spending total for a fresh state budget ended last week, but don’t expect to see a final product anytime soon.

House and Senate negotiators settled on a $25.7 billion budget ceiling for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which starts on July 1, and $26.7 billion for 2022. The budget targets represent a 3.45% increase in spending the first year and 3.65% in the second year.

The total does not include debt service for capital projects, which will come out of a new State Capital and Infrastructure Fund.

In a joint statement, Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said they intend to direct $4.2 billion in spending through the new fund “to support critical needs across the state, including several transformational projects.”

Although the exact numbers by department have yet to be spelled out, Berger and Moore said the budget agreement also includes significant tax reductions and the replenishment of the state’s “rainy-day” fund.

“As we work out the details of the budget, we intend to fulfill our commitment to balance the budget while saving for future needs and cutting taxes for the vast majority of residents,” they said in the statement released Tuesday.

The two sides have been at odds over total spending, so much so that House budget committees began meeting to move forward with its own version and not wait for the Senate, which was supposed to release its plan first this year.

The House effort barely got rolling before the announcement of the agreement.

Senate leaders plan to roll out their budget in about a week with a final round of votes likely to come ahead of the legislature’s weeklong break in early July.

The House then takes up its version. A rough timetable set out by legislative leaders last week, predicts a final legislative deal coming in August.

Less certain is what happens after that.

In a press conference Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper, who released his budget proposal in April, said he expects to see his priorities reflected in a final deal. Although the legislature’s agreement did not include Medicaid expansion, a major sticking point in 2019, Cooper said he would continue to push for it in negotiations.

Cooper also called for a much more ambitious bond program than what’s envisioned for the new capital and infrastructure fund.

The last comprehensive two-year budget to become law was passed in 2017 over Cooper’s veto, as was the 2018 budget. But later that second year, Democrats gained enough seats in both chambers to sustain a Cooper veto and in 2019 talks between the legislature and the governor ended in a stalemate.

Since then, state government has been funded through the combination of an automatic spending law that maintains current spending levels and a series of consensus “mini-budgets” for various departments and programs.

This year, with no spending plan likely to be in place by the end of the fiscal year, the automatic spending law will kick in July 1.

Ferry bill sails through

While the budget churns forward, legislators are working their way through a stack of legislation moved in last month’s crossover marathon.

Just before adjourning for the week, the Senate in a 47-0 vote gave its final approval for legislation authorizing the Department of Transportation to lease and operate the Hatteras-Ocracoke passenger ferry.

The bill, which had passed the House the day before in a vote of 106-2, allocates $700,000 from the State Highway Fund for a lease through Aug. 15 and includes an opt-out provision if the state can put a new state-owned boat into operation sooner.

On Friday, the Ocracoke Observer reported that construction of the new state-owned boat, a 92-foot catamaran, had been completed and was undergoing trials.

The boat was originally due to be completed in 2018, but inspections of hull welds raised concerns and work was halted, leading to a protracted legal battle between the state and its contractor, US Workboats, formerly based in Hubert, in Onslow County.

A new contractor, boat repair specialists Waterline Systems, also based in Hubert, took over the $4 million project in 2020.

The boat is being tested in the water at the company’s shipyard in Hubert, NCDOT spokesman Tim Haas said Friday.

“It’s part of the process the builder goes through before it gets turned over to the Ferry Division, so I can’t put a date on when that will be completed. It will be named the Ocracoke Express,” Haas said.

As far as the leased ferry goes, Haas said nothing can happen until the bill becomes law. “Then we will work on completing the contract with the owner of the boat (SeaStreak Marine). After that, the boat will transit down here from New Jersey, then we have to perform required route verification and a ‘new to zone’ inspection before it can begin service.”

Haas said the Ferry Division has been making preparations all spring for passenger ferry service, so once the contract is signed and the testing completed, it should not take long before service would begin. “But again, none of that can start until the bill gets signed.”

Act II for Farm Act

The House will move forward on its review of Senate Bill 605, the Farm Act of 2021, and could vote on the bill as early as early as next week, despite objections to a provision putting all hog farm biogas operations under one general permit.

The Senate approved the bill on May 11 along party lines 29-21 and the provision is expected to lead to a similar conclusion in the House.

After passage in the Senate, environmental groups vowed to fight the biogas provision. In a statement after the vote, the North Carolina Sierra Club said the biogas plan would further entrench lagoon and spray field systems for hog waste.

Last week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, said he supported the bill as is and would likely urge a vote on the bill during the committee’s next meeting. Dixon dismissed criticism of the biogas plan, saying it’s better than the system currently in place.

Trail bill on track

The House overwhelmingly approved a plan adding the East Coast Greenway to the state parks system’s trails. The greenway which runs through Atlantic Coast is a primarily inland route but includes “supplemental” routes along the coast as well as a section south of Wilmington through Brunswick County. Coastal trails included are South Tar River Greenway, Greenville; Jacksonville Rail-Trail, Jacksonville; Greenfield Lake Path, Wilmington; The Wilmington Riverwalk; Cross-City Greenway, Wilmington; Dismal Swamp Canal Trail; South Mills; Carolina Beach Island Greenway; Surf City Bridge Multi-Use Path; Fort Fisher Trail, Kure Beach; Southport to Fort Fisher Ferry; Emerald Path, Emerald Isle; and the South Tar River Greenway in Greenville.

RALEIGH — A broad array of provisions aimed at flood prevention and resilience continues to move forward in this year’s session of the North Carolina General Assembly.

Last week, a House committee approved the latest version of a long-term effort to address the growing risk of widespread flooding. Although driven by catastrophes like Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence, the scope of the legislation recognizes vulnerabilities to flooding throughout the state.

“This bipartisan measure reflects input from leaders across the entire state of North Carolina that have taken the brunt of a number of these storms,” House Majority Leader John Bell, R-Wayne, said Wednesday while introducing the latest iteration of the House efforts, House Bill 500, the Disaster Mitigation and Relief Act of 2021, to the House Environment Committee. “It’s my opinion that it’s time to address these challenges and be proactive in a comprehensive way. That’s why we’re focused on real solutions that we can protect homes livelihoods, communities and infrastructure.”

It’s evident, he said, that the state needs a comprehensive strategy to address flooding and resiliency.

The House legislation follows a set of provisions introduced in the Senate earlier in the session and a set of strategies proposed by Gov. Roy Cooper in his budget proposal in March.

At the heart of all three plans is an attempt to use what’s been learned through recent disasters along with advances in science and technology to get ahead of future disasters. 

Bell said the more than $290 million in new spending in the bill represents one of the largest investments to deal with flooding in the state’s history, but it’s intended to break a cycle of flooding and recovery that’s cost more than $3.5 billion spent in recent years.

Committee chair Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said that when the House first started looking at resiliency there wasn’t enough money to do what was needed. She said that now the state has enough in its rainy day funds to move forward.

“We finally have some money to put into resiliency, and to prevent these kinds of things from happening, instead of looking at fixing homes after it’s flooded,” McElraft said.

Bell co-chaired the House Select Committee on Disaster Relief, which was established in 2017 to track the recovery from Hurricane Matthew, then the costliest natural disaster in state history.

The select committee reviewed the long history of proposals for how to deal with riverine flooding, particularly along choke points in the Neuse River basin. Their work was interrupted and dramatically altered by Hurricane Florence in 2018, which dwarfed Matthew in rainfall, reexposed the extensive flooding vulnerabilities in eastern North Carolina and revealed new infrastructure and transportation faults.

As much as the major disasters in eastern North Carolina were an impetus for a flood mitigation and resilience strategy, the growing frequency of intense rain events and flooding in other parts of the state have given the effort an extra boost in the legislature.

Will McDow, who helped lead negotiations on the bill for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the bill, and ultimately, the flooding legislation that is likely to come out of the session and be signed by the governor, is a strong recognition across government that there’s a need and an opportunity to rev up resiliency efforts.

“This is something that both chambers and the governor recognize is a critical issue,” he said. “And so, you know when you get that level of consistency in recognition, it creates opportunities.”

Environmental Defense Fund and other environmental groups have supported both House and Senate bills partly because they both lean into the idea of leveraging natural lands.

“We appreciate the sponsors’ commitment to natural solutions as one tool in the toolbox to prepare our state for to make our state more prepared for floods,” Will Robinson, director of government relations for the Nature Conservancy in North Carolina, told House members last week.

‘Works in progress’

The bills in the works now are evolving and to become law will require a lot of negotiation and perhaps some luck, especially given the recent breakdown in budget discussions in Raleigh.

Bell called House Bill 500 “a working document” that will change as it moves through the process. Some or all of it could be folded into the budget or, if the legislature adopts another “mini-budget” system in lieu of an actual budget, be rolled into one or more standalone bills.

Here’s a breakdown of main provisions of the bill:

• Permanently establishes the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency and adds up to 19 new positions with responsibilities for statewide flood mitigation and resiliency.
• Allocates $20 million for a statewide flood resilience blueprint.
• Allocates $32 million for Neuse River buyouts, levee and railroad projects.
• Allocates $36.5 million for Lumber River buyouts, dam repairs, levee and railroad projects.
• Earmarks $5 million for Southport waterfront stabilization and $14 million for Boiling Springs Lake dam repairs.
• Establishes the state Disaster Relief and Mitigation Fund and Transportation Infrastructure Resiliency Fund with an initial $40 million appropriation for grants.
• Adds $30 million to the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund for living shorelines, oyster reefs and marsh restoration.
• Funds planning grants and four new positions at the Division of Coastal Management for the Resilient Coastal Communities program.
• Adds $20 million to the state’s Land and Water Fund for restoration of floodplains and wetlands to increase their capacity to store water and reduce flooding.
• Allocates $30 million to the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Mitigation Services to create a pilot program to address chronic flooding along Stoney Creek in Wayne County and other flood mitigation projects.

House Bill 500 is expected to be taken up next by the House Appropriations Committee, but so far no hearings have been scheduled.

Updated at 2 p.m. Thursday: After an hourlong debate early Thursday afternoon, the state Senate voted 26-20 to reject the nomination of Dionne Delli-Gatti as secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality.

Original report follows below.

RALEIGH — After a surprise move by Senate leaders to pull the plug on Dionne Delli-Gatti’s nomination to lead the state Department of Environmental Quality, Gov. Roy Cooper accused Republican legislators of using the confirmation process to strong-arm state energy policy and said the decision had nothing to do with qualifications.

“First, Secretary Dione Delli-Gatti is well qualified to serve as DEQ secretary. She is a scientist, she is a veteran, and she has years of experience in environmental and energy policy. I would hope that the Senate would not vote on this tomorrow, she is well qualified to handle this job and to do the job,” Cooper said at a press conference Wednesday. “And I’ll say this to anybody who’s listening, any lobbyist or whoever, nothing is going to stop this administration from working toward a clean energy future for North Carolina, and protecting our air and water.”

Following a short, tense discussion Wednesday morning, the Senate’s Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee voted not to confirm Delli-Gatti, who has served as DEQ secretary since February.

Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, Delli-Gatti’s sharpest Senate critic, accused her of not having developed a sufficient strategy on natural gas and moved to have her confirmation voted down.

Before the vote, Democrats on the committee demanded Delli-Gatti be allowed to answer Newton’s accusations. When committee chairman Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, refused, they called the proceeding a sham and walked out.  

In a subsequent press conference, Senate leader Phill Berger, R-Rockingham, said the Senate is likely to vote down Delli-Gatti’s confirmation as early as Thursday.

Berger said he informed Cooper of the decision Tuesday after a GOP caucus discussion on the matter. 

Under the 2016 law that requires Senate confirmation of a governor’s cabinet picks, Delli-Gatti would lose her position.

Berger said his understanding of the law means she could not be reappointed.

At the press conference, both Berger and Newton said they were disappointed by Delli-Gatti’s responses on natural gas infrastructure during her one appearance before the committee five weeks ago.

“Experts recently told the Senate that North Carolina’s reliance on a single natural gas pipeline is the state’s — quote – ‘number one vulnerability,’” Berger said. “Based on our confirmation testimony, Ms. Delli-Gatti has only a cursory understanding at best of the most urgent energy problem facing North Carolina, that is disqualifying.”

Delli-Gatti, a former Environmental Protection Agency governmental liaison and director of Southeast Climate and Energy for the Environmental Defense Fund, testified at the April 27 hearing for about two hours on topics ranging from wastewater infrastructure to fishery policies.

The committee held a separate meeting May 18, after the Colonial Pipeline cybersecurity hack during which Newton and others continued to make the case for more natural gas and petroleum pipelines, saying the state is at risk having only one major pipeline for each.

Newton, former president of Duke Energy North Carolina, said with so much of the state’s electricity and heating needs shifting to natural gas, the lack of pipelines is a top vulnerability.

Berger noted that the recent gas shortage had sharpened public awareness of the need for more pipelines and the possibility of interruptions.

As one of the chief negotiators in the southeast for energy policy at EDF, Delli-Gatti is on record as supporting Cooper’s clean energy initiatives and she’s advocated that power producers, including Duke Energy, not rely too heavily on natural gas in the transition away from coal.

Wednesday afternoon Duke Energy issued a statement of support for Delli-Gatti’s nomination.

“We are committed to a clean, reliable energy transition for North Carolina. While the communities we serve are seeing the benefits of this transition already, we understand there are many opportunities left to further this good progress,” the statement from the company said. “Based on our many years of experience working with DEQ Secretary Delli-Gatti, we fully support her confirmation to lead the Department of Environmental Quality. Secretary Delli-Gatti previously served on our North Carolina president’s advisory council, and we have appreciated her willingness to collaborate on key energy issues and the perspective she brings as the state works together to chart a path forward.”

“Based on our many years of experience working with DEQ Secretary Delli-Gatti, we fully support her confirmation to lead the Department of Environmental Quality. ” pic.twitter.com/Vu6JLVma3G

— Kirk Ross (@ludkmr) June 2, 2021

The Senate’s plans drew a sharp reaction from environmental groups, who called the move partisan politics.

“Dionne Delli-Gatti has significant education and experience to lead DEQ, a job she has done well for over a month. The refusal of committee members from the majority party to accept her in this role isn’t founded on any question about her qualifications,” Cassie Gavin, senior director of government affairs with the North Carolina Sierra Club, said in a statement. “This action does a disservice to North Carolinians who want qualified leaders like Delli-Gatti to run our state agencies professionally and competently.”

If the Senate moves forward and votes not to confirm her, Delli-Gatti would be the first cabinet nominee to be rejected since confirmations were required in 2017.

David Kelly, director of North Carolina political affairs at Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement that Wednesday “should have been notable because our state was poised to advance the confirmation of the first woman to serve as North Carolina’s Secretary of Environmental Quality — not because it was the first time a cabinet-level nominee was blocked since the process was created in 2016.”

Calling Delli-Gatti “a thoughtful, capable and eminently qualified leader,” said her professional qualifications and accomplishments speak for themselves. “She is a committed public servant, a veteran, a successful working mom who’s dedicated her career to bettering the lives of people and families in the communities she serves. We hope the Senate will think better of today’s vote and move forward with Secretary Delli-Gatti’s confirmation.”

In the hearing Wednesday, Democrats warned against heavy-handed use of the relatively new confirmation process. They said there was no reason not to give Delli-Gatti time to respond. 

Sen. Natalie Murdock, D-Mecklenburg, said she was disheartened that the process had so quickly become politicized and the state would lose a well-qualified leader as a result.

“The secretary is here with us today. We have the opportunity to extend the process to continue to engage to continue to have conversations. That is the right of this body to do that,” she said. “I think it’s unfortunate that we’re not doing that.

RALEIGH — House budget committees are due to start up Wednesday after an abrupt shift in plans were announced late last week ahead of the legislature’s Memorial Day break.  

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, told members last week that with the Senate running late on its budget plan, the House would move forward on its own version.

House and Senate negotiators so far have failed to settled on an overall spending target. Senate leaders began a rollout of tax breaks last week as part of their proposal, but have yet to release details of a spending plan.

Under the North Carolina General Assembly’s rules, the Senate was charged with producing its plan first. Gov. Roy Cooper issued his budget proposal in early April.

The impasse raises the prospect that the legislature could resort to the strategy it adopted in 2019 when it failed to reach an agreement with Cooper on a final plan.

Much of the government was funded either through a series of so-called minibudgets or continued at the previous year’s levels via an automatic stopgap provision in state law that kicks in if a new budget isn’t in place by the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1.

Flood resilience, mitigation

In addition to budget committee hearings, the House is due to review major flood resilience and mitigation legislation in a hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday by the House Environment Committee. Video and audio for the hearing is available on the website.

House Bill 500, the Disaster Relief and Mitigation Act of 2021, includes $219 million in additional state funds for disaster relief and flood resilience and mitigation. The proposal includes $98 million to develop a statewide flood resilience blueprint and flood mitigation on the Neuse and Lumber rivers; $30 million for the state’s Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund for living shorelines, oyster reefs and marsh restoration; and funding for floodplain and wetland restoration, and coastal planning grants.

The bill also makes the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, created in the wake of Hurricane Florence in 2018, a permanent part of state government under the Department of Public Safety.

RALEIGH — Legislation to tighten requirements on the use of firefighting foam with per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, including a statewide ban on its use in training, passed the North Carolina House last week in a 112-0 vote.

House Bill 355 represents the first legislated restrictions on the use of PFAS in the state. It follows similar attempts in prior sessions to limit the use of aqueous film-forming foams, or AFFF, containing PFAS.

Two years ago, the North Carolina General Assembly declined to take up the foam ban, but did approve the development of a statewide registry led by researchers at the University of North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.

The new bill strengthens the reporting requirements for local governments and other agencies that use the foam. The registry would track the inventory of AFFF, identify all foam not in use that needs to be disposed of and log all incidents in which it is used. It gives the state fire marshal authority to adopt rules for compliance and sets a deadline of July 1, 2022, for all fire departments to file their first annual report.

During a hearing last week, Rep. Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, said the bill was an important step in tracking the use of PFAS, reducing firefighters’ exposure to PFAS, and limiting its release into the environment. He said there are enough foams that don’t contain PFAS now on the market to provide a safer alternative.

“We’re trying to get a grip on this AFF foam, so that we can inventory it, manage it and make sure that if it’s going to be used, it’s going to be used in a responsible manner,” he said.

Davis said that with cancer now the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths of firefighters, reducing exposure to PFAS that are strongly linked to some cancers is critical. Davis said he’d been told that firefighters were exposed to more PFAS through training, practice and testing than in fighting actual fires.

Davis, whose district was rocked by findings released in 2017 of widespread contamination of the Cape Fear River from a PFAS known by the trade name GenX, chaired a House select committee that studied the presence of PFAS and other similar contaminants in the Cape Fear River basin.

Industry groups have lobbied against regulation of PFAS and in the past have opposed an outright ban on their use in firefighting, citing the necessity of their use in fighting petroleum fires.

The new bill bans the use of PFAS in foam for training and practice and restricts testing of it to facilities with adequate containment, treatment and disposal methods.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, said the bill is an important step in regulating PFAS.

Harrison, who has been working to get PFAS regulations passed since 2005, said the new legislation has a good chance of passing, especially given the unanimous vote in the House. She’s been trying to get controls on AFFF for more than five years after contamination linked to airport firefighting operations was found in Greensboro’s city water supply.

She said banning AFFF from training exercises should eliminate most of its use in the state.

“There’s clear support for this,” she said. “It’s not as strong as what advocates would have liked. It’s not entirely what industry would like, but I think it’s a happy medium, and if I understand it correctly, the practice foam is responsible for 80% of its usage, so that’ll cut back considerably on the foam that’s getting into our water.”

Attorneys for the Southern Environmental Law Center, who were part of negotiations on the new legislation, also called it an important step in regulating PFAS in the state. The law center represents Cape Fear River Watch, the Haw River Assembly and other organizations pushing for tighter controls on PFAS and emerging contaminants.

“We are pleased to see the House taking action to protect firefighters and North Carolina’s waterways from these harmful substances,” Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Mary Maclean Asbill said Monday. “It’s a small first step that we hope to build upon in sessions to come.”

The bill now moves to the Senate but is not likely to be taken up immediately.

Both chambers are in a sprint this week to pass dozens of bills ahead of Thursday’s crossover deadline.

Legislation must pass at least one chamber of the legislature before then to be considered viable for the remainder of the session.

Rather than pass the stand-alone House bill, the Senate could opt to include the House PFAS language in its version of the state budget, which is likely to be released later this month.

Budget chairs Sens. Mike Lee, R-New Hanover, Deena Ballard, R-Watauga, and Chuck Edwards, R-Hendersonville, drafted legislation earlier this session that would provide an additional $15 million in funding for the collaboratory for further sampling and analysis of PFAS contamination and to develop and test technologies to address it.

Senate Bill 544, the Water Safety Act of 2021, would cover the cost of testing the efficacy of new technologies developed in three water systems in the Cape Fear River basin, including one that draws either from the Castle Hayne or PeeDee aquifer.  

Lee and Sens. Lisa Barnes, R-Nash, and Amy Galey, R-Alamance, also introduced a similar AFFF registry bill earlier in the session, but the current version of the bill, Senate Bill 327, does not include the ban on AFFF use in training. 

Environmental groups are pushing for changes in biogas provisions that are part of this year’s farm bill, saying the legislation takes away important oversight of the new technology.

The Farm Act of 2021, Senate Bill 605, would put the projects under a combined general permit, rather than require each project to go through the permitting process.

Advocates of the move say it’s necessary in order to speed up the process for the facilities, which can take more than a year to complete.

The biogas operations would pump methane captured from hog lagoons to a central collection point where it can be converted to renewable natural gas, or RNG, and then burned for fuel to generate electricity.

Last year, a partnership between Smithfield Foods, Duke Energy and biogas developer OptimaBio opened an RNG facility using wastewater from Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant.

Smithfield and Dominion Energy recently announced plans for a network of swine farms connected via pipelines to a major new RNG production facility in Duplin County.

Environmental groups have opposed the plan, saying that the infrastructure and digesters pose a risk to air and water quality and moving the facilities under a general permit would eliminate oversight and public input.

Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources chairman Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, said last week that he wants to see state environmental regulators move faster on the biogas projects.

In a series of questions during confirmation hearings for Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Dionne Delli-Gatti, Jackson cited the 18 months it took for the Tar Heel facility and said it was unfair to force companies to wait so long for projects to be approved.

Delli-Gatti said that one complication in that case involved a new kind of facility and new type of application and permit process. DEQ has been in conversations about the process with industry representatives since, she said.

“One of the things I am pleased to hear, we’ve met with the industry since then, and they have indicated they felt that the permits, and the requirements of the permits are fair,” she said.

The Farm Act of 2021 is scheduled to be heard in Jackson’s committee on Tuesday. The meeting agenda, materials and livestream will be available online.

Delli-Gatti confirmation hearings

Senators spent about two hours questioning Delli-Gatti, whom Gov. Roy Cooper nominated for the DEQ secretary position in February after President Joe Biden picked her predecessor, Michael Regan, to be the top administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Like Regan, she’s been on the job for months ahead of the formal Senate confirmation process. She and Regan are the only DEQ secretaries to go through the confirmation process. The legislature initiated the confirmation requirement for a governor’s cabinet-level appointees under legislation passed in December 2016, ahead of the partisan shift in the governorship from Republican Pat McCrory to Cooper, a Democrat.

Senators used part of Delli-Gatti’s hearing to take aim at Cooper’s climate change proposals, along with questions on decommissioning solar facilities, and the future of natural gas and electric automobiles.

Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, focused on carbon-reduction goals in Cooper’s Clean Energy Plan and the state’s renewable energy portfolio standards. He said they seemed pointless and costly given that India and China are continuing to build coal plants that will far offset the state’s reductions.

“What is the value to North Carolinians for charging them billions of dollars to reduce carbon emissions?” Newton asked. He pressed Delli-Gatti on whether any of the state’s carbon-reduction plans would reduce sea level rise or storms in North Carolina.

Delli-Gatti stressed that the governor’s plans are focused on building resiliency to the effects of sea level rise and more powerful storms. She defended the carbon-reduction goals, saying the hope is that through greater cooperation on reductions, some of the trends experienced here can be reversed.

Jackson said he expects to schedule a follow-up to last week’s confirmation hearing, but it had yet to be scheduled as of Monday. Under the 2016 statute, the Senate must confirm Delli-Gatti’s appointment during this session for her to remain in the job.

Bill adds teeth to native plant requirements

Last Tuesday, Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, announced to members of the Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources committee that he was no tree hugger.

Fans of the Bradford pear and crepe myrtle would heartedly agree.

Rabon took a rhetorical ax to both nonnative trees while advocating for his Native Plant Right to Work Act — Senate Bill 628 — saying there was nothing good to say about the Bradford pear and he never saw a crepe myrtle that didn’t need a chainsaw.

He said it was time for the state to put some teeth into a law that now only “strongly encouraged” the use of native plants by state agencies and in projects that use state funds.

The new legislation would make that a must for local government projects using Powell Bill funds or grants from the State Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and the Land and Water Fund, the new name for the combined Natural Heritage Trust Fund and the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. It also prohibits the use of nonnative plants by state agencies and on state property.

The bill passed the committee, but not without criticism from some nursery operations that sell nonnative plants. It now heads to the Senate Rules and Operation Committee.

Rabon, chair of that committee, said he is willing to carve out some exceptions for disease-resistant hybrids or ground-cover species in heavy use by the Department of Transportation, but he said it’s time to get serious about protecting native species and the birds and pollinators that rely on them and stop letting agencies and local governments off the hook when it comes to using native plants.

“Along our highways and our state property we can help the birds and pollinators make a living every day,” Rabon said.

Crossover approaches

The General Assembly session kicks into high gear this week with fast-approaching deadlines for bills to be considered during the 2021 session.

Tuesday is the House filing deadline for all nonbudget-related bills and next Tuesday is the budget bill deadline. Senate deadlines were in early April.

The session’s crossover for both House and Senate deadline is May 13. After that, only bills that have passed at least one chamber are considered viable for the remainder of the session, although on occasion provisions from bills that fail to make the crossover deadline resurface in other legislation.

The lead-up to the filing deadlines is a busy time at the House Clerk’s Office, where 78 bills were filed last week.

This is the sixth and final installment in a series on making the North Carolina coast more resilient to the effects of climate change, a special reporting project that is part of the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines initiative.

There’s a growing body of evidence on what a warmer, wetter climate holds in store for our generation and future North Carolinians.

Among the effects already being felt and already baked in for decades ahead are more frequent heavy rains and, with them, repeated flooding in vulnerable areas.

The threat of greater flooding extends to every corner of the state. Eastern North Carolina comes to mind quickest because of the stunning disasters here. But intense rain events are happening in the west as well in places like Asheville, which has seen a series of floods over the past decade.

Although most of the state’s cities and towns have been expanding their stormwater requirements and capabilities over the past few decades, none are engineered to deal with a deluge.

In the state’s farmlands, the effect of heavy rains extends beyond direct damage to crops. Floods delay planting and harvesting, strand livestock and leave fields inaccessible.

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence brought about major changes in the way the state handles long and short-term disaster response. The one-two punch of 500-year storms that struck less than two years apart washed away doubts about the risks ahead. Even though climate science is not universally embraced in North Carolina, a changing climate is evident. Strategies for dealing with it are changing, too.

After Florence in 2018 churned through many of the same places as Matthew did in 2016, taking on disasters one at a time no longer made sense. Resiliency went from buzzword to watchword.

Gov. Roy Cooper and legislative leaders, often at odds, agreed to form a new state agency, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, to handle both the massive inflow of federal disaster and housing aid, but also to find ways to best fit that aid into a resilience framework.

Getting proactive about flooding in the same way has not been so straightforward, in part because the impacts vary with every turn of the waterways, but mostly because of the enormous expense of raising roads, reconfiguring bridges and culverts and moving people and key infrastructure out of the floodplain.

Although there’s consensus across political and ideological lines, turning consensus into action has proven difficult, especially in an era of political polarization and a deadly pandemic.

This year, as the North Carolina General Assembly and the governor begin another fresh attempt to reach a deal on a comprehensive state budget, there’s early agreement on the need for a major effort on flooding resilience.

In his budget proposal last month, Cooper targeted $56 million for flood resilience programs and additional floodplain buyouts, along with a substantial increase for land conservation and stormwater infrastructure.

This week, a state Senate committee charged with working on major flood resilience and mitigation legislation holds its initial hearings.

Although there are differences among approaches and strategies between policy makers and stakeholders, one key theme that’s emerging in resilience and any likely legislation is an emphasis on leveraging the state’s land resources, particularly the vast areas of natural and working lands in eastern North Carolina.

The proposals come at a time when climate researchers say it is even more essential to preserve and enhance those lands because of a growing understanding of how essential they are to carbon sequestration and mitigating the state’s contribution to greenhouse gasses.

Both approaches envision converting some cropland back to forests and using farmlands, wetlands and other natural systems to reduce the severity of flooding.

As the state grapples with what to do about storms and floods to come, the nexus of resilience and sequestration found in its natural and working lands could become the cornerstone of North Carolina climate policy.

Off the charts

Last June, a working group made up of dozens of scientists, state and local officials and representatives of businesses and nonprofits published a 124-page appendix to the state’s 2020 Climate Risk Assessment and Resiliency Plan on the potential for working and natural lands.

Misty Buchanan, director of the state’s Natural Heritage Program and part of the working group that wrote the report, said that driving the push for putting natural solutions to work were findings in the state’s 2017 greenhouse gas emissions study, which revealed the scale of sequestration potential in natural and working lands.

“What drew me in, and what I think resonates with people, is when we got our greenhouse gas inventory and first started to understand where our emissions are coming from and how much our emissions are,” she said. “We determined that the land use sector, including natural areas and forest and farms and even things like oyster farms, have a huge potential to offset the emissions that are coming from the state.”

The study found that natural and working lands offset 25% of the state’s current greenhouse gas emissions, she said, more than twice the average rate of other states.

“We’re already in a great position,” Buchanan said. “We can do more. We also need to think about how we’re just going to hold on to that percentage as our state develops around us. We need to think about how we can restore land and manage our land in a way that we can continue to offset those gas emissions and sequester and store more carbon each year.”

To jumpstart the ideas and to build support, the group looked at options that provided multiple benefits, keying in on those that benefited both carbon sequestration and resiliency as well as water quality and biodiversity.

They fall under three main categories: protecting land through conservation easements or acquisition and incentives for protection; restoring lands to increase sequestration and resilience; and improving management of existing natural and working lands.

Proposals include programs for farmers to conserve and enhance lands, tools for local governments, changes to forest policies, tax incentives for landowners, further floodplain buyouts, preserving forests, restoring pocosin and coastal habitats, and improving urban land management.

Buchanan said that in assessing the opportunities, there were obvious win-wins. One that also gives an idea of the scale of the possibilities is that about 5% of the unprotected forests in the state are in the floodplain of watersheds with significant sources of pollution.

“If we just protected those forests, that would be a million acres,” she said. “So, there are some large opportunities still in North Carolina for land protection.”

The goal is 1 million acres of floodplain protection and another million acres of wetland and floodplain restoration. If that sounds like too much to shoot for, Buchanan said, consider that the Biden administration recently set far higher goals for land protection than that.

Scaling up resilience

Near the end of last year’s session, the General Assembly approved legislation to create an inventory of natural and working lands that could be used in flood control and potential incentives for private landowners to do stream restoration and wetlands enhancement and build flood-stage capacity. The bill set the stage for this year’s likely follow on.

The Senate Select Committee on Storm Related River Debris and Damage in North Carolina was set to meet for the first time Tuesday to review preliminary results from last year’s bill. The meeting was set for 10 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Legislative Building.

The committee is co-chaired by Sens. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, and Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, who represent eastern North Carolina counties hard hit by prolonged flooding during Matthew and Florence.

Earlier this month, the two announced that they were working on comprehensive flood resilience and mitigation legislation and holding a series of information sessions over the next several weeks, gathering input and reports from stakeholders and state agencies.

Perry said he and Britt believe that the state’s approach right now is too scattered and their primary goal is to focus it by establishing a sole, central agency in charge of enacting a statewide plan. In effect, Perry said in a recent interview, the state needs a flood czar.

“We think at the end of the day, somebody in the state of North Carolina needs to go to bed thinking about flooding mitigation and resiliency and needs to wake up thinking about it,” he said. The state can’t settle for a patchwork approach or sweeping problems under the rug.

Perry is among those advocating for large-scale debris removal as part of the plan as well. He said he’ll listen to the scientists in terms of best practices, but he doesn’t want a here-and-there approach.

“We don’t need to clean out the spots of river, close to the bridge because people can see it. We need to start somewhere around Raleigh and clean it out all the way down to the coast,” he said.

The whole approach to dealing with flooding has to be that way, he said.

“We got to do it right, we’ve got to be committed. And you have to have someone who has ownership who can coordinate with all these agencies who can help prioritize which thing comes next and what’s the next step.”

In addition to the state commitment, there’s an unprecedented wave of federal funding for resiliency and sequestration programs. There’s also another avenue of support expected should Congress approve an infrastructure package.

With so much money on the table and other states providing a blueprint for drawing down federal dollars for large-scale resilience programs, there is a profound sense of urgency in Raleigh to coalesce around a strategy.

Perry said states like Louisiana and Iowa have shown that having a plan opens a lot more opportunities for federal support. The state needs that, he said, if it’s going to do anything on a scale that will make a difference.

“You look at what they’ve done in Louisiana. They’re getting a $1.2 billion federal grant, because they had a great plan,” he said. “They had a great resiliency plan that could change the lives of the people there.”

Perry and Britt’s committee isn’t the only group in the legislature looking at scaling up resilience.

Late last month, a joint meeting of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources met with officials from Resource Environmental Solutions, a Louisiana-based contractor for stream restoration and large-scale natural solutions work. The company recently acquired a North Carolina-based company and told the committee they were ready to ramp up work in the state.

Committee co-chair Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, told committee members the state would have to look to the private sector in order move quickly on bigger projects.

Broad buy-in

Although the exact policies and the dollars involved in making it work are still a work in progress, the moves by both the administration and the legislature to incorporate a natural and working lands strategy are drawing support.

Todd Miller, executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation and a presenter at Tuesday’s Senate committee hearing, told Coastal Review the bills so far are going in the right direction.

“The bills that have been introduced in the Senate and House are very welcome and show a lot of potential for the state making huge gains in using nature-based strategies to reduce future losses from flooding,” Miller said. “The emphasis on the need to develop a volume-based watershed management framework and empower local communities to strategically invest in reducing floods is very encouraging.”

North Carolina Farm Bureau Natural Resources Director Keith Larick said involving farmers in solutions around flooding, resilience and climate-related issues is a growing trend nationwide.

Larick, who has been gathering feedback from farmers on some of the potential flood-mitigation ideas, said most recognize that they’re likely to play a role in the solutions and they’re willing to listen.

“When we talk to farmers there’s a recognition that the types of practices that are being talked about are going to go on working lands, whether it’s forestry, whether it’s ag land, pasture or cropland. That’s where the space is to put these kinds of practices on the ground,” he said.

If the state can come up with a fair system that allows a farmer to agree to conserve land or open a field to floodwaters to take pressure off downstream, there’ll be buy-in, Larick said.

“For a long time, farmers have operated in the world of voluntary programs, voluntary incentives for conservation practices,” he said. “The flood-mitigation side of it is new but it’s an easy connection to make for a lot of folks.”

It’s obvious that farmers in North Carolina, especially those in the east, have been dealt a harsh blow by the major storm hurricanes, Larick said, but they’re also seeing other climate impacts. More frequent heavy downpours with flash flooding are happening in the spring and summer. This year was yet another wet winter that kept some farmers out of the fields. Farmers farthest east are dealing with saltwater intrusion or fouling of groundwater supplies associated with sea level rise.

“There’s been a growing recognition we’re having these issues that are climate related,” he said. “There’s the broader discussion, ‘what are we going to do about climate change?’ but we also have the immediate issue of what are we going to do to mitigate the kind of things that we’re already seeing?”

Larick said he also sees the potential dual role for farmland for flood mitigation and carbon sequestration, which is gaining traction among agriculture interests at the national level.

It makes sense, but the question is whether stakeholders and policy makers can come up with system that works, Larick said.

“The flood mitigation really isn’t the concern at the national level, they’re looking at carbon sequestration, but you know when I see that I’m also thinking in the back of my head ‘OK, there are other benefits here, too. Can we tie all this together somehow?’”

Plans for legislation to deal with riverine flooding and improve flooding resiliency are moving forward in the North Carolina General Assembly this month, with a major review of policy and funding needs planned for next week.

Last week, Sens. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, and Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, co-chairs of a new committee set up to tackle the issue, announced that they are working on a new flood mitigation and resiliency bill to develop a comprehensive, statewide approach.

In an interview Monday with Coastal Review, Perry said the committee will work during the next month gathering information and looking at strategies, but ultimately, he and Britt want to see a focused effort on flooding with a single agency assigned to put mitigation plans into action. He said there are now “too many chefs” with multiple agencies and administrators involved and no comprehensive plan.

“Somebody’s got to take this master plan and execute it,” he said. “Right now, we’ve got a lot of information, a lot of good ideas, but we’re sort of scattered in our approach. Somebody’s got to be in charge to drive the execution or we’re going to end up with a patchwork.”

The Senate Select Committee on Storm Related River Debris and Damage in North Carolina is scheduled to hear a series of presentations at 10 a.m. April 13 in the auditorium of the Legislative Building.

The event will be live-streamed. Information on the committee and the livestream link is at https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/Senate/1163#.

The agenda includes an update from the leadership of the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory on an ongoing study of flood resiliency; a report on nature-based flood mitigation from North Carolina Coastal Federation Executive Director Todd Miller; a review of the Resilient Coastal Communities Program from Division of Coastal Management Director Braxton Davis; reports on flood-mitigation projects from North Carolina Land and Water Fund Executive Director Walter Clark and Division of Mitigation Services Director Tim Baumgartner; and stream debris removal updates from Division of Soil and Water Conservation Director Vernon Cox.

Although some strategies and proposals differ, there is broad consensus among legislative leadership and Gov. Roy Cooper on the need for the state to step up its mitigation and resiliency efforts.

Last month Cooper proposed $56 million for additional flood resiliency efforts along with a hefty increase in funding for the Land and Water Fund to increase grants for flooding-related projects in local communities.

Fisheries bills cast

After running into opposition in the House last year, Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, is trying again to land his marine fisheries management reform bill.

Sanderson’s bill cleared the Senate last year with virtually no opposition, but hit a snag in the House, which had its own version of the legislation. Neither became law, but Sanderson said the new bill should fare better.

Sanderson said most of Senate Bill 317, which adopts a new set of procedures for developing fishery management plans and expands inspection authority, was requested by the Division of Marine Fisheries.

The bill passed the Senate Thursday 45-3, with Perry and Sens. Vickie Sawyer, R- Iredell, and Tom McInnis, R- Richmond, opposed.

Another fisheries-related bill clearing the Senate last week was Senate Bill 296, which directs the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory to study the overall status of all fisheries regulated by the state.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, and approved 48-0, seeks to look at the health and extent of habitats for bay scallop, blue crab, eastern oyster, estuarine striped bass, hard clam, kingfishes, red drum, river herring, sheepshead, shrimp, southern flounder, spotted seatrout and striped mullet.

Boating enforcement

Sanderson also added New Bern, Bridgeton, Oriental and Trent Woods to the growing list of municipalities being granted authority over navigable waters within their municipal limits and extraterritorial jurisdictions.

Sanderson told a Senate committee last week that the towns needed the expanded authority to deal with problems caused by boaters not following the rules.

Sanderson said the state doesn’t have enough officers with the Wildlife Resources Commission and Division of Marine Fisheries to handle all enforcement needs.

“There’s just not enough of them to go around to cover all the coast,” Sanderson said. “We have bad actors that come into these towns and usually these are in marinas that are adjacent to the town or even sometimes in the waterfronts. They don’t follow the rules and they create an unsafe environment for other people who are there to enjoy the coast. This will allow a local police officer to write someone a citation if they come in and they are operating in an unsafe manner.”

Flurry of PFAS bills

A group of House and Senate Democrats are calling for a comprehensive study of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the Cape Fear River and elsewhere, requirements for polluters to pay for cleanup and mitigation, and new drinking water standards for PFAS and several other contaminants.

The proposals are outlined in three bills introduced last week. Senate Bill 460 would create a PFAS task force for the lower Cape Fear River to look at sources and health impacts. Senate Bill 443 would require the Commission for Public Health to establish maximum contaminant levels for PFAS and compounds known as perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS, hexavalent chromium and 1,-4-dioxane.

House Bill 444 would require those found to be responsible for discharge of PFAS, including Chemours Co.’s product GenX, to a public water system to pay for the cost to “remove, correct, or abate any adverse effects” of the contamination.

The appropriation for North Carolina’s parks and clean water trust funds would jump to levels not seen in a decade and a surge of money for flood mitigation projects are key features of Gov. Roy Cooper’s biennial budget proposal.

Cooper and State Budget Director Charles Perusse announced Wednesday the details of the $27.3 billion plan for 2021-22 and $28.7 billion plan for 2022-23.

It reflects a growing, albeit temporary, state budget surplus, in part to collections running higher than expectations and in part due to changes from last year’s tax schedule that pushed a substantial amount of revenues into the new fiscal year.

Although some previous federal aid is in the mix, Cooper’s budget does not include recently approved federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, which he said Wednesday would come later in a separate proposal.

The budget plan includes a pay raise for teachers and principals averaging 10%, a roughly 7.5% raise and bonuses for all school personnel and a 5% raise for state employees. State retirees would receive a 2% bonus each year and a recurring 2% cost-of-living adjustment.

With much of the available surplus deemed nonrecurring or one-time money, this year, budget writers in both the administration and the legislature are tasked with finding ways to spend it without creating ongoing expenses.

Cooper has proposed an extensive series of projects along with a $4.7 billion bond proposal to build out and fix state infrastructure. The bond proposal, which includes money for K-12, university and community college construction and repair; water and sewer infrastructure; and parks, museums and aquariums, would go to the voters in November.

Parks, Clean Water Funds

Cooper wants to see an additional $220 million flow into the state’s two main conservation funds over the next biennium.

The state’s Land and Water Trust Fund, which incorporates the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and other related state trust funds, would receive $49 million in each year of the governor’s budget with $30 million going toward clean water grants and $19 million each year targeted “to increase water storage capacity and decrease future flood risk for communities impacted by recent disasters.”

The trust fund hasn’t been funded at those levels since 2009. The state’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund would receive $75 million each year to support state and local parks and beach access. State parks would also get $10 million to upgrade paved and unpaved trails, which have been heavily used during the pandemic.

State Department of Natural and Cultural Resources spokesperson Michele Walker said the funds will help with needed clean water and parks projects and expand the heavily used state parks trails system.

“We believe these investments will improve public health, stimulate economic growth, advance diversity, equity and inclusion, and build resiliency in our communities,” Walker said Thursday.

The governor’s budget also includes $56 million for additional flood-mitigation projects, including more focused buyouts.

With some bills to fund flooding projects already introduced this year in the legislature, resilience and flood mitigation, particularly in eastern North Carolina, are early areas of consensus between the governor and the legislature in the budget process.

House and Senate budget committees are expected to delve deeper into plans for a comprehensive flood mitigation program as the budget works its way through both chambers.

Walker said the Land and Water Fund, or LWF, and Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF, would work together on some of the projects being considered.

“The proposed floodplain buyout program would allow LWF to acquire and restore high-priority floodplains to increase water storage capacity and decrease future flood risk for communities impacted by these recent disasters. PARTF funds could be used to convert these reclaimed floodplains into active recreational assets, such as parks or trails,” she said.

Office of State Budget and Management spokesperson Marcia Evans said the two funds haven’t been at that level since 2011. She said the rationale for the increases are that parks and clean water projects are cost-effective and have an impact throughout the state.

“Use of parks and trails has risen dramatically since the start of the pandemic and we want to continue to support and encourage safe, outdoor recreation,” she said. “But the benefits go beyond recreational uses because land purchases and improvements can also improve resiliency. A portion of the funds are set aside for floodplain buyouts—moving people and businesses out of the floodplain—and stream restoration. This reduces flooding and loss during natural disasters.”

The governor’s plan also provides more than $79 million over the next two years for navigation, water management, flood mitigation and beach nourishment matching money for more than $220 million in federal funds.

Other clean water initiatives in Cooper’s plan include an additional $9 million to buyout hog farms still remaining in the the 100-year floodplain.

The state’s Department of Environmental Quality would receive additional funding to deal with permitting backlogs and implement a streamlined permitting system as well as money for new clean energy programs for schools and communities.

Cooper also wants to hire 26 new chemists, engineers and hydrogeologists to deal with emerging compounds and provide clean drinking water to communities affected by them.

New positions in the Division of Coastal Management budget includes a coastal resilience coordinator to assist local resiliency planning and a “Southern Sites” manager to manage the new Bird Island Coastal Reserve, the state’s southernmost barrier island.

Cassie Gavin, director of government affairs with the North Carolina Sierra Club, said the budget includes several notable initiatives like the hog farm buyout funds as well as $24 million in local clean energy grants.

“We’re excited to see that the Governor’s budget shows a strong commitment to conservation, clean energy and resilience,” Gavin said Thursday in an email.

Road ahead

The governor’s traditional first volley in the budget process comes after two years of often bitter, partisan battles over spending that left the state without a formal, two-year budget agreement since the last one was adopted in 2018.

Since 2019, state government has been funded through a series of supplemental funding bills and an automatic budget backstop that keeps funding at prior levels.

While Cooper and legislative leadership are sure to clash over the budget, the surge of money could make reaching an agreement easier.

Cooper and Perusse said they do not expect the same kind of standoff over this year’s plan.

“Unlike, the last budget cycle we had, I’ve had numerous conversations with both Republican and Democratic leadership,” Cooper said. “And one thing we agreed on is that, first the people of North Carolina elected us again. So, we’re back in the same situation that we were, and we owe it to them to do the best that we can to find a path forward.”

Coastal provisions

Other coastal-related items in the budget include the following:

• $9.9 million for the University of North Carolina Wilmington Coastal Marine Studies for building renovations.
• $500,000 each year for resources to excavate and conserve artifacts from the 1718 shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
• A new sea turtle assistance and rehabilitation center position at the Roanoke Island.
• Additional parks staffing for Hammocks Beach and Jockey’s Ridge state parks.
• A $7 million boost each year to the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division to enable more timely maintenance and $4.5 million over two years for shoreside infrastructure preservation and improvements.

Last year, a Coastal Review series for the Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines initiative looked at how hurricanes, floods, nor’easters and other major events in recent years significantly dampened any remaining skepticism on the science of climate change.

In this first installment of our latest series supported in part by the Pulitzer Center, we look at how that shift in the debate is changing public policy and what kinds of plans and possible solutions are taking shape.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, the most active on record, ended without a major storm, but many communities still reeling from storms of previous seasons continue to struggle to repair and recover.

The relentlessness of tropical storms and severe weather over the past half-decade has changed the dialogue on climate change statewide. State policy has shifted, too, but slowly and unevenly. While there’s consensus about some actions to further protect communities and make them more resilient, leaders are still divided when it comes to other climate-related initiatives such as greenhouse gas reduction.

In June 2020, Gov. Roy Cooper released the North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan, an extensive 372-page report on what the science is saying about North Carolina’s present and future, the state’s many vulnerabilities and an extensive set of strategies to address climate-related hazards.

The report followed through with a strategy Cooper launched early in his term to combine the effort to build resiliency with an emissions-reduction strategy organized around green energy.

A brief history

In the wake of destructive hurricanes in recent years, record rainfall in 2018, and sporadic, prolonged droughts, there was broad consensus around the need for resilience, a catch-all term that now seems to encompass every strategy aimed at weathering future storms.

The consensus on resilience has been strong enough to draw significant state funding and lead to policy changes, despite the backdrop of long-running political disagreements and budget standoffs between Cooper and leaders in the North Carolina General Assembly.

The most concrete result of the resiliency consensus is a new state agency, the Office of Recovery and Resiliency, which was formed in late 2018 to manage the massive flow of federal funds coming in the wake of the storms.

In contrast to at least a general agreement on the need to build resilience, the difference between the governor and legislative leaders on climate change mitigation, particularly limits on fossil fuels, could not be starker.

The General Assembly began the 21st century with an eye on a less carbon-reliant energy policy, passing requirements for renewable energy generation and forming a commission on global climate change to develop a state action plan.

After a series of delays and over industry objections, the commission released a 117-page report in 2010 calling for a major statewide effort to reduce emissions.

The year the report came out, Republicans won majorities in the state House and Senate and the leadership of key committees shifted to legislators openly skeptical about the science around climate change.

At the same time, lawmakers and administration officials were being courted by oil and gas exploration companies who saw potential for renewing offshore exploration as well as hydraulic fracturing — fracking — for natural gas in Piedmont shale deposits.

Within a year, the legislature embraced both onshore fracking and offshore drilling. A sweeping energy policy bill passed in 2011 declared that both industries would bring jobs and oil and gas royalties to the state.

In 2012, the legislature launched its notorious effort to limit the science used to determine the rate of sea level rise, and the legislature eventually codified skepticism of any science based on models showing an accelerated rate of sea level rise.

The legislature had a willing partner from 2013 to 2016 in then-Gov. Pat McCrory, who enthusiastically supported fracking and offshore drilling.

But McCrory’s defeat in 2016 by Cooper led to a change in the executive branch every bit as striking as the legislature’s shift in 2011, starting with unvarnished opposition to a Trump administration plan to reopen the leasing program for oil and gas exploration along the Atlantic Coast.

In October 2018, Cooper followed through on a campaign promise to reduce the state’s carbon emissions through Executive Order 80, which signed on to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, and mandated a full review of state government policies and operations to reduce greenhouse gas output.

The order was significant because in addition to calling for numerous concrete steps across state government, it also knit together the concepts of climate change resilience and mitigation. The last “whereas” in the document reads:

“Whereas to maintain economic growth and development and to provide responsible environmental stewardship we must build resilient communities and develop strategies to mitigate and prepare for climate-related impacts in North Carolina.”

A different kind of plan

Coastal Review talked with four longtime state environmental policy experts about the Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan, what it means and whether the governor and the legislature can bridge divides on key issues.

Cassie Gavin, director of government affairs with the North Carolina Sierra Club, said the decision to combine resiliency and climate change mitigation into the state’s strategy is a significant step forward, addressing both cause and effect.

“They have to go together. I’m glad that they are and that the state is doing both things at the same time,” she said. “The plan is a good start in that it sets a path for state agencies and local governments to follow and lays out resiliency priorities that the legislature should fund.”

She said it also gives local governments a template to work from in developing their own plans. It includes a scoring system for qualifying risk and other strategies that local governments can use.

“It’s not just the state that needs a resiliency plan,” Gavin said, “every community, especially at the coast or any community near water, needs a resiliency plan of their own.”

Bill Holman, state director of The Conservation Fund and a former state environmental secretary, said North Carolina has suffered from the lack of a long-term resiliency plan.

“Unfortunately, we have a lot of experience dealing with major floods going back more than 20 years,” Holman said. “I think what we’ve lacked is that while we’ve responded to the storms, we really haven’t done much to make ourselves more resilient for the next storm.”

Many communities would like to take action but need technical and financial support from the state to move forward, he said. Success in those communities would likely spur change in other places.

“I’m an optimist about the long haul here, because it’s an imperative and we really don’t have a choice, in particular in eastern North Carolina, where becoming more resilient is going to be critical to its long-term environmental and economic health.”

The choice for many places, he said, will be to become more resilient or wither away.

Will McDow, Resilient Landscapes director for the Environmental Defense Fund, said he agrees that the report could provide a pathway for communities looking to be proactive.

“It does a good job of providing that North Star, providing those guiding principles for where the state should go,” he said.

Attitudes among once-skeptical farmers and residents in rural, eastern North Carolina are changing, he said, and elected officials are beginning to get the message.

“There’s a shift in how people are thinking. They may not believe the science, but they believe their eyes. They’re seeing longer droughts and they are seeing higher flood waters, and that’s beginning to trickle up.”

One concept that’s resonating is using natural and working land to increase resilience capacity, a key part of the plan.

In one of the last bills passed in 2020 legislative session, the General Assembly approved a plan to create an inventory of areas where floodwaters could be diverted to reduce effects on towns and infrastructure downstream.

The bill also expands the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Mitigation Services to include natural-based solutions for flood mitigation in its grant program and to work with private landowners to provide floodwater capacity.

“Natural infrastructure is going to be a critical component of building the resilience of eastern North Carolina. It’s going to differ by watershed and it’s not a silver bullet, but it’s important,” McDow said. “Resilience is going to take a lot of different actions, diversity in all its different forms. There are going to be places where buyouts and getting people out of harm’s way are going to be a critical part of the conversation. There may be places where levees are actually needed or other gray infrastructure, but for the most part finding ways to make our landscapes more spongy is a critical piece of how we’re going to absorb more water when it comes.”

McDow said the climate report’s strong emphasis on environmental justice and bringing more voices into the conversation are also critical, because of the realities of the region.

The plan devotes a major section to a climate justice strategy, breaking down how aspects of climate change disproportionally affect already vulnerable communities.

It calls for the state to step in with funding and expertise for local communities that don’t have the resources, along with greater effort to add more local voices to the discussion and support locally initiated efforts.

“Historically, resilience efforts have not engaged organizations that interface most frequently with socially vulnerable populations, such as public schools, social service and healthcare providers, houses of worship, faith-based organizations, and public transit systems. These kinds of organizations could be the basis of very successful resilience efforts in the future,” the report states.

“This is the place where more conversation is needed,” McDow said. Policy decisions, he said, must be based on a community’s needs and what solutions are going to work for them.

“Resilience is more than flooding, it’s other longstanding impacts, water pollution, air pollution, economic disinvestment, there’s a lot of aspects to be thought about here, not just the flooding,” he said. “It’s got to be informed by those lived experiences.”

Grady McCallie, policy director for the North Carolina Conservation Network, said there’s broad recognition that low-wealth communities and communities of color in flood-prone areas that are hit repeatedly could get the biggest benefit from resiliency planning. But at the same time, they are often the communities that can least afford the planning and engineering costs that go into proposals.

“If you look at traditionally marginalized communities, they have the least ability to do those kinds of plans ahead of time, so that when the next big slug of money comes around, they don’t have anything ready to go and don’t have competitive applications put in.”

Looking forward

McCallie said the new plan has several important features: it establishes a baseline science on climate change; carries forward resiliency planning throughout state government; and looks to build resiliency in local communities. But without follow-through and without additional support from the legislature, he said, it will only go so far.

“The initiative on climate is all coming from the executive branch right now,” he said. “We need it from the legislative branch and legislative leaders are not leading on climate. There’s a lot of stuff that the executive branch can do and is doing, but there’s a lot that only the legislative branch can do.”

The most important step, he said, would be for the General Assembly to set up a reliable funding stream for resilience, particularly for planning at the state and local levels.

“Resiliency needs a stable, long-term funding source,” he said.

Holman said planning funds are important because having plans in place and a set of shovel-ready projects puts states in a better position to draw down federal support after major storms. He said Florida and the Chesapeake Bay region states have been able to tap federal funds from natural solutions because of forward planning and that’s allow them to suck up federal funds following major storms that could have gone to projects here.

“We’ve been missing out on money for natural solutions,” he said. “Some states were ready to go after those funds and some were not.”

McCallie said that, so far, there seems to be commitment to keep moving forward with Jeremy Tarr, the governor’s main policy adviser on resiliency and climate change, now leading an interagency working group on implementing the plan.

“If all they had done is put out this giant report, we’d be concerned about how it’s going to get implemented, but we’re really glad to see this commitment to staffing,” he said.

That’s important, McCallie said, because the buy-in across state government isn’t the same, and one criticism of the plan is that it is uneven, varying from department to department. “It’s evident some agencies thought deeper about it.”

While there are some steps the state can take now, the degree of meaningful follow-through on the plan and the ideas and challenges it raises will depend how much of it takes root in the legislature. Changes beyond what the executive branch can do, including additional funding and significant changes to law and policy, require legislative participation.

Given the political headwinds and the focus on pandemic response and recovery that could prove difficult.

Gavin said whether that changes and how fast it changes will determine how soon we see a difference in policies and funding on climate issues. So far, she said, climate change has far outpaced the General Assembly.

“The political process has been much too slow for the reaction that we need to see to address climate change in a meaningful way,” she said.

Next in the series: Helping underserved communities

North Carolina’s fiscal outlook reflects the hit expected by COVID-19, but overall the General Assembly starts its biennial budget process with a substantial cushion.

In a joint presentation Wednesday to House and Senate budget writers, analysts with the legislature’s Fiscal Research Division estimated that the state heads into fiscal 2021 with more than $4 billion in tax revenue coming in above what was expected. The state also starts with an unappropriated fund balance from last year of about $457 million.

Despite that rosy short-term outlook, Barry Boardman, chief economist for the North Carolina General Assembly, warned legislators Wednesday that uncertainty over the course of the coronavirus pandemic and continued signs of a so-called K-shaped recovery, in which some sectors grow while others lag, present challenges.

Boardman said the diversity of the state’s economy helped keep state revenues up, but the impact of job losses and business closures in the service and hospitality sectors would continue to be felt for some time. He said that it’s one reason the state’s economy will take longer to get back to where it was before the pandemic.

“Those parts of the economy that have lost businesses and lost jobs, or have experienced long-term unemployment, all of those are going to take longer to build back,” Boardman said. “So that’s why in our forecast, we don’t see us returning to a fully recovered economy until at least the middle of next year, and possibly into the early part of 2023.”

With the trajectory of the pandemic hard to predict and its impact on revenue and key budget drivers like public school and community college enrollment difficult to pin down, any spending plan this year is a moving target.

Analyst Jennifer Hoffman said that, by now in a normal budget cycle, the estimates of school enrollment increases and their costs would be available. This year, they’re not because of uncertainty around the pandemic and school reopenings and whether an anticipated early drop in enrollments will persist into the next year. Legislators will also have to decide whether to hold school systems harmless as they did last year if enrollment falls and per-pupil aid drops.

The legislature starts the budget process after two years without a full state budget. Legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper failed to reach agreement after Cooper vetoed a budget passed in June 2019.

Since then, state agencies have been funded through an automatic budget provision passed in 2016 to avoid government shutdowns and a series of mini-budgets and standalone funding bills.

The legislature passed 21 separate funding bills in the 2019 session and 32 bills with appropriations and revenue in 2020.

If passed and signed into law, the 2020-22 budget would be the state’s first comprehensive budget passed since 2017.

Hanig to chair new coastal committee

Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, will chair a new House committee set up to focus specifically on issues around fisheries and marine resources.

Hanig said he worked with House Speaker Tim Moore to pull together a group of legislators with expertise and interest in the often-complicated set of marine issues.

Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, is vice chair of the committee. Other members include Reps. Ashton Wheeler Clemmons, D-Guilford; Ed Goodwin, R-Chowan; Wesley Harris, D-Mecklenburg; Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford; Zack Hawkins, D-Durham; Frank Iler, R-Brunswick; Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort; David Rogers, R-Rutherford; Carson Smith, R-Pender; Brian Turner, D-Buncombe; and Larry Yarborough, R-Person.

Hanig said he expected the committee to hold its first meeting in about two weeks.

Coastal legislators file museum bills

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, has filed H87, a bill to provide $3 million for the Maritime Heritage Foundation of Beaufort to begin advance planning for the proposed North Carolina Maritime Museum at Gallants Channel. The funds would go for a master plan for the 25-acre site, hiring an architect to design the museum and a project manager, as well as infrastructure and waterfront upgrades.

McElraft and Onslow County Republican Reps. George Cleveland and Phil Shepard are also among the sponsors of legislation that would provide $26 million for the Carolina Museum of The Marine and Civic Institute, a proposed 40,000-square-foot facility in Onslow County with exhibits on Marine Corps history, as well as theaters and classrooms. Sens. Michael Larzarra, R-Onslow, and Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, have filed a similar bill in the Senate.

Sen. Norm Sanderson has filed a bill calling for a $600,000 appropriation to fund construction of a new garden house at Tryon Palace.

Another local bill filed this session by northeastern legislators Hanig and Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, would add Southern Shores to the list of municipalities able to use eminent domain to access areas for beach nourishment projects.

The town has scheduled a public hearing to consider the establishment of two Municipal Service Districts as part of its beach erosion, flood and hurricane protection project. A report on the plan, which is estimated to cost between $14-16 million is available at the town website.

Deadlines for filing local bills for this year’s session in the House is March 25 and March 11 in the Senate.

Gov. Roy Cooper Tuesday named Dionne Delli-Gatti, director of regulatory and legislative affairs for Environmental Defense Fund’s Southeast Climate & Energy, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Delli-Gatti, whose nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, replaces Michael Regan whom President Joe Biden appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Regan’s nomination was approved unanimously by a U.S. Senate committee last week and he is expected to be confirmed later this month.

Delli-Gatti shares a similar background as her predecessor working both for EDF and in the EPA’s Southeast Regional administration.

“Dionne Delli-Gatti is an experienced leader and champion for a safer, healthier environment. I’m confident that she is the right person to continue the progress we’ve made over the last four years with cleaner energy, air and water,” said Cooper.

“I’m deeply honored and humbled to be nominated by Governor Cooper to lead this critical state agency. I’m ready to get to work for the people of North Carolina, digging in on the tough environmental issues our state is facing,” said Delli-Gatti.

The nomination drew praise from environmental groups. Cassie Gavin, senior director of government relations with North Carolina Sierra Club, noted Delli-Gatt’s participation in the creation of the state’s clean energy and climate change plans.

“We’re glad to see her continue this mission in a new role, and we look forward to working with her to fight the impacts of climate change and hold accountable polluters who threaten our environment and our communities,” Gavin said in a statement.

Dan Crawford, North Carolina League of Conservation Voters director of governmental relations, said Delli-Gatti has a necessary understanding of the both policy and politics.

“Having worked with Dionne for years, we’re confident she’ll be able to bring regulators, legislators, industry, and community stakeholders together to advance clean energy and environmental justice for every North Carolinian,” Crawford said.

EDF’s Southeast Regional Director Hawley Truax called her a consensus builder.

“During her time with Environmental Defense Fund, Dionne was known for bringing stakeholders of all perspectives to the table, digging in to find common ground, and tirelessly working toward solutions that advance environmental stewardship, public health, and economic prosperity,” Truax said.

RALEIGH — Legislation filed last week in the North Carolina General Assembly could help clear the way for federal assistance with the extension of jetties at Oregon Inlet and possibly secure funding for a proposed terminal groin at North Topsail Beach, according to state and federal representatives.

In an interview with Coastal Review Friday, Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, said companion bills filed in the state House and Senate are a way to secure more federal help for the long-sought, controversial projects.

“I see this as a first step,” Hanig said, adding that he is still researching and getting feedback on the best route to restart a legislative effort on the inlet and may modify the bill.

The state and Dare County are already in partnership on a new dedicated dredge for the inlet, but it’s likely to take another two years before the vessel, which is being built in Louisiana, begins service.

Even then, Hanig said, dredging is not going to be the complete answer.

Hanig’s bill, and the measure filed in the Senate by Sens. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, and Michael Lazarra, R-Onslow, would exclude terminal groins from the definition of erosion-control structures under the state Coastal Area Management Act.

Hanig, the House Republican deputy whip, said the bill is the result of a request from staff for U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is working on a long-term solution for chronic shoaling that makes crossing the ocean bar at the inlet increasingly treacherous.

“It’s really dangerous,” he said, recalling his own experiences trying get a boat from open ocean into the inlet. “You have to really know what you’re doing and even then it’s difficult. I’ve seen 30-foot boats in the air.”

Hanig, who chairs a new House committee on marine resources and aquaculture, said keeping the inlet open is crucial to boatbuilders, commercial and recreational fishing, and tourism.

In addition to the economic impact, the safety issues in the inlet put fishing businesses in peril.

“To me, it is just beyond unacceptable that people have to put their life in danger to go out there to make a living,” he said. “It shouldn’t be that way. It just shouldn’t be that way.”

Over the years, the state has struggled to find a solution to the navigation troubles at the inlet, but environmental and economic concerns have made that more difficult.

The state also has explicit language in terminal groin laws that prevents state funds from being used.

Hanig said the intent of the legislation is not to get around that ban.

“It isn’t my goal to have the state pay for a jetty,” he said. “My goal is to clear the path for the federal agencies to build the jetty.”

Even though a 2015 compromise allowed another four terminal groins to be built on the coast, high costs for local governments, engineering hurdles and environmental challenges have either stalled or killed most attempts in recent years.

Oregon Inlet also has a further complication, which is part of the reason for the bill.

“The sticking point is that with Oregon Inlet, it’s federal property on the south side and the north side is state property,” he said. “Senator Tillis, his office, is, trying to clear the path for them to step in and be able to help get the jetties put in.”

Hanig said restrictive 2003 legislation was meant to stop terminal groins from proliferating on the coast, but wasn’t intended to apply to Oregon Inlet.

Dare County officials have pushed repeatedly for an extension of the existing Oregon Inlet jetties and last year went on record again in support of revisiting the jetty extension.

In a statement emailed to Coastal Review over the weekend, Republican Congressman Greg Murphy of North Carolina’s 3^rd District, said he supports the state legislation and efforts to improve access to the inlet.

“As much as the eastern North Carolina economy relies on maritime travel, it is imperative for our waters to be navigable. Having personally visited Oregon Inlet to assess its needs,” Murphy said, “I am a strong proponent of the effort in the General Assembly to construct an additional jetty there.”

New River Inlet also in mix

Federal help could also be coming for a proposed terminal groin in North Topsail Beach at New River Inlet, which has repeatedly shoaled over the past several years.

A legislative fact-finding trip to the inlet in 2016 drove that home when one of the vessels carrying members of a House transportation committee nearly ran aground after attempting to get close to the mouth of the river.

At the time, Rep. Phil Shepard, R-Onslow, said he was trying to put together a deal between local and state officials and the Marine Corps to keep the inlet open.

Murphy said Sunday that the three-way effort is ongoing and noted that the Army Corps of Engineers is moving forward on studies while he’s working with local leaders on a funding plan.

“The USACE is currently working on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for public comment on this project. The EIS will be released in the coming months,” he said. “I will continue to work with the leadership of North Topsail Beach in exploring all funding options.”

When North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan appears Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works as President Biden’s nominee for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, he might experience a moment or two of Carolina deja vu.

The setting for the afternoon hearing is federal and virtual and thus vastly different than in April 2017, when Regan was grilled in person by members of the North Carolina Senate during his confirmation hearing for his current post. But some of the questions he faces as he advances toward confirmation are bound to sound familiar.

In 2017, Regan was running his own consulting business after eight years in a leadership role with Environmental Defense Fund. Before that, he had been a career administrator with the EPA, where he became the national program manager in the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.

During his confirmation hearing, state senators raised concerns about his support of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan and quizzed him on his views on the then-new Waters of The United States, or WOTUS, rules.

Four years later, those issues have not gone away.

Last week, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., joined a group of senators fighting a rollback of Trump administration rules that replaced the WOTUS rules, part of Biden’s ongoing efforts to undo Trump executive orders and rulemaking. Tillis said going back to the Obama-era rules would create a burden for business and agriculture.

“I encourage President Biden and my colleagues on the left to rethink the rollback of the Trump administration’s order on WOTUS before they do irreversible damage to the agriculture industry,” Tillis said in a statement last week.

Regan, who met early on with agriculture groups after being nominated, told an industry newsletter last week that he was looking for a legal remedy that would allow a path forward on WOTUS.

Although Regan will face pushback, earlier this month the new chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., signaled his support.

“The more I get to know Secretary Regan, the more confident I am that he is up to the task and ready to lead. His reputation as the head of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is one of a consensus builder. That will be critical as he engages with Congress, states, the environmental community and business community in mobilizing the agency to address the climate crisis,” Carper said in a statement.

He also cited Regan’s leadership experience in setting up both climate change and environmental justice initiatives in North Carolina.

Regan’s first national listening session after being nominated was with environmental justice groups.

Bill Holman, North Carolina state director of The Conservation Fund and a former secretary of DEQ’s predecessor, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said Regan is a good fit for the job because he knows the department and the complexity of rulemaking and he has proven to be a good administrator through multiple challenges.

“He’s done a good job in North Carolina, and I think he’ll do a good job for the country,” Holman said Tuesday.

Holman and others said they hope Regan’s experiences dealing with GenX contamination and regulating new, relatively unknown contaminants will help focus the EPA on moving forward on new regulations and standards.

In a statement supporting Regan ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Derb Carter, director of the North Carolina offices for the Southern Environmental Law Center, cited Regan’s work on coal ash cleanup and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

“During Regan’s tenure, North Carolina’s environmental agency took a position on toxic PFAS pollution that agencies across the country and the EPA should be taking to protect our communities — stopping pollution at its source,” Carter said. “A course correction at EPA will be welcome so that the agency protects people, instead of polluters as it did under the Trump administration.”

For now, Regan’s possible replacement, who will also require confirmation by the state Senate, is an unknown.

Cooper has held off announcing a successor while Regan moves through the confirmation process.

Cooper spokesman Ford Porter said Tuesday that the governor had been reviewing candidates and would not take long in naming a replacement once Regan is confirmed.

State, federal alignment

Having a native and former DEQ secretary in the top EPA job would add greater familiarity with the state’s challenges at the cabinet level, but North Carolina was already looking at a reset in its relationship with the federal government on environmental issues.

It’s only the second time this century that the same party controls the executive branch of both the state and federal government and it comes after an extended debate over energy and climate policy in which both levels of government shifted with the political tides.

Offshore oil and gas exploration was one of the starker examples of the changes. In 2016, for instance, then-governor Pat McCrory blasted the Obama administration for taking new Atlantic leases off the table. Within a year, Cooper was threatening to sue the Trump administration for reinstating the leases. Earlier this month, the Biden administration signaled another reversal. This time, however, state and federal officials are in agreement.

“I think there’s probably more alignment than there’s been in a really long time,” Holman said. “President Biden’s got clean energy goals, Governor Cooper’s got clean energy goals, climate policies are important for the both of them and also working on adaptation to climate change. So, I think there’s some opportunities for North Carolina to benefit.”

But Holman said the alignment between the administrations will only go so far without further investment by the legislature, particularly in adaptation projects, which require local matches and other commitments that would require legislative approval.

“That’s something I hope the governor and General Assembly can work on in this upcoming session,” he said. “It’s great to have this federal financial assistance but you got to have the match to draw it out.”

The state’s Environmental Management Commission will wait another two months before taking a vote on an updated water resources plan for the Chowan River Basin, which has seen a steady increase in toxic algae blooms over the past decade.

The EMC was poised to adopt the plan during its meeting last week, but after several members objected to a section of the plan highlighting the lack of data available to water quality analysis, the commission instead opted to delay a final vote until March.

Although the basin plan has already gone through a public input and extensive stakeholder process, the commission approved a last-minute revision that changes a section suggesting the need for a statewide water-use permitting program that would provide a clearer picture of water users.

North Carolina is one of only a handful of states that do not have a statewide permitting program for large-scale water users.

Commission member Donald van der Vaart, who was state environmental secretary during former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration, called the idea “a huge, huge leap” and something the North Carolina General Assembly had already cordoned off through legislation.

Van der Vaart said he didn’t see the need for additional reporting requirements.

“I’m not convinced we’ve got that kind of a need for that microscale, granular level of data that you are seeking,” he told Department of Environmental Quality officials Thursday during the commission’s online hearing.

Forest Shepherd, a basin planner with the Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Resources Division, told commission members it is difficult to determine what is happening in the river without finer detail in water use by agriculture operations.

State and federal confidentiality laws prevent details of use by individual operations. Instead, water use for agriculture operations is sent to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which provides DEQ with aggregate use for the basin.

The aggregated data for the Chowan basin shows that agricultural use, including animal process uses account for about 3 million gallons per day, more than 30% of the total water usage in the basin.

Public and other local water suppliers make up the bulk of water use at 58% and about 7% of use is by manufacturing operations.

EMC chair Stanley Meiburg, said that while he agreed that the Chowan plan was not the place to debate the need for a statewide permitting program, he did see the need for more localized and timely information for tracking the river’s water quality issues other than just annualized data.

“That doesn’t really help you if you’re trying to do modeling of what’s causing what, to me, are pretty alarming outcomes with respect to these algal blooms,” he said.

The Chowan River, which flows into Albemarle Sound, begins near the North Carolina-Virginia border at the confluence of the Meherrin, Blackwater and Nottaway rivers

About a fourth of the basin is in North Carolina and includes all or part of Bertie, Chowan, Gates, Hertford and Northampton counties.

According to a 2016 land use survey, about 36% of the basin is forest, 29% agricultural and 20% wetlands. The state requires plans for its major water basins to be updated every 10 years. The current update is aimed at addressing an increase in algal blooms, including some that have produced toxins harmful to humans.

A DWR assessment in the plan shows algal blooms in the Chowan River steadily increasing over the past several years, with many located near Colerain, Edenton and Arrowhead Beach. DWR logged two major blooms in 2015, three in 2016, five on 2017, seven in 2018 and 18 in 2019, when state health officials issued six health advisories to avoid the river because blooms were producing toxins hazardous to people and pets.

The new revisions to the basin plan tone down advocacy of a new permitting program but still highlight concerns about data gaps on water usage.

The report also highlights a lack of information about the impact of poultry operations, including how much land in the basin is being used for poultry operations’ dry-litter waste disposal.

DEQ officials told commission members that because poultry operations operate without the same permitting requirements as other animal operations, there is no information on how and where waste is handled.

The basin plan calls for additional information on poultry operations and land application sites in order to establish new monitoring stations and assess potential nutrient impacts.

EMC commissioner Marion Deerhake said the motivations for the request for specific information on operations were driven by the need to understand where new nitrogen loads in the river are coming from.

“Understanding the dynamics of the new chemistry, new nitrogen loads is, I believe, what’s motivating staff to seek additional information,” she said. “Those loads include making sure that we have properly used the existing system to collect information from animal operations, where the mass of the nutrients that are generated are moving out, where they’re being currently managed, where the most sensitive sub-basins are, areas vulnerable to harmful algal blooms.”

Heather Deck, executive director of SoundRivers, a nonprofit watchdog group for the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico rivers, said the Chowan River basin is a unique watershed with a lot of possible factors affecting the nutrient load, from runoff to industrial sites.

“The blooms on the Chowan are so much more severe than what we see in the Pamlico or on the Neuse, but I think there’s a lot of questions as to why,” she said in an interview with Coastal Review. “It’s clearly a very rural watershed, and so there’s a lot of nonpoint source-type runoff and there’s been an explosion of poultry, as we’ve seen in other places.”

She said the pushback against gathering more detailed information is concerning, because basinwide plans are supposed to be an opportunity to lay out concerns and what might be missing in the way of information.

“These basinwide plans are supposed to be the opportunity to describe: Here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t know and here’s what we think needs to happen, so that managers have the information to ensure that they’re protecting these resources and they’re required to do.”

The full plan and recommendations are available online.

Below is a DEQ story map on the Chowan River Basin.

In a week in which all eyes are on tumult in the nation’s capital, North Carolina’s three branches of government are ramping up for the year ahead.

Gov. Roy Cooper took the oath of office beginning his second term on Saturday.

General Assembly leaders are scheduled to gavel in the new session at noon Wednesday. After a mostly ceremonial first day that includes the swearing-in of members, both chambers are expected to adjourn and spend two weeks preparing for the start of regular business and committee hearings.

Meanwhile, new State Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby has initiated changes in judicial leadership positions.

The governor and legislative leaders pick up this year where they left off, negotiating a state response to the COVID-19 pandemic and attempting to strike a deal on the state budget.

In an ordinary year, legislators assemble in the year following an election to pass a biennial budget before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

In the highly charged partisan atmosphere in Raleigh over the past three years, that’s proven to be a challenge and a comprehensive state budget hasn’t been adopted since 2018 when the House and Senate overrode a Cooper veto.

Late that year, Democrats took enough seats in both chambers to end Republican supermajorities and 2019’s budget debate devolved into a lengthy, often bitter feud over priorities.

Since then, most of state government has operated through a series of ad hoc spending bills and targeted mini-budgets in areas of general agreement.

In the 2020 state legislative elections, four House seats swung back to the GOP and Democrats picked up one seat in the Senate. Republicans remain shy of the supermajorities needed to override a budget veto.

With that past as prologue for Cooper, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, reaching a 2021 budget deal was already a difficult challenge, and it’s now compounded by so doing during a still raging pandemic amid national political upheaval.

In his inaugural address, Cooper sounded a conciliatory tone and said that if the state can work together then it is poised to “roar ahead” just as it did following the Spanish flu pandemic in the last century.

“Let’s cast aside notions of red counties or blue counties and recognize that these are artificial divisions. Let’s place integrity at the forefront,” Cooper said Saturday. “We are all North Carolinians. These times of triumph and trial have shown us that we are more connected than we ever imagined. And one thing is clear, just as we did one hundred years ago — North Carolina is ready to roar again.”

Hopes for more cooperation between the branches were raised earlier this year when Berger, Moore and Cooper announced a deal to preserve $30 million in funding for rural broadband that was due to expire unspent due to rules related to a federal grant. The state’s budget outlook is also likely to make reaching an agreement easier.

One result of the budget impasse is that the state has accumulated more than $4 billion in unspent reserves. That, combined with an additional $1.1 billion in the rainy day fund and stronger than expected revenue growth gives both the governor and the legislature wider flexibility to develop an agreement.

The state’s financial outlook also brightened after the first of the year, after wins in the two U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia put Democrats in control of the chamber, raising the chances for additional state and local aid.

Leadership changes

In addition to the budget, cabinet-level changes in the administration mean another round of Senate confirmation hearings for Cooper appointees.

The governor has yet to appoint a replacement for Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan, who was tapped by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as top administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Also soon to be vacant is the top spot in the state Department of Commerce. Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland is expected to step down at the end of the month. Regan continues with his state duties and has held conference calls and listening sessions on EPA issues during the transition. Confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate have yet to be scheduled.

Cooper’s press secretary, Dory MacMillan said the selection process for the departments’ leadership continues.

“Governor Cooper is committed to seeking out the most qualified people to serve across his cabinet, and an announcement will be made in the coming weeks,” MacMillan said Monday.

In late December, Cooper announced that Reid Wilson, chief deputy secretary of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, would replace DNCR Secretary Susi Hamilton, who announced her departure earlier in the month. Wilson, who has been the department’s point person on climate change initiatives, served as executive director of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina from 2003 to 2017. He was sworn in as DNCR secretary last week.

Under the 2016 law, since Wilson was appointed while the legislature was not in session, he does not necessarily face a confirmation hearing, but his appointment would expire if the legislature doesn’t pass legislation affirming it.

Legislative appointments are also starting to take shape.

Berger announced his committee picks Friday.

Sens. Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico, Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, and Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, will chair the Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee, which handles environmental policy legislation. Sanderson, Edwards and Sen. Todd Johnson, R-Union, will chair the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources.
.

House committee assignments have yet to be announced. Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said Monday that she expects to be reappointed as chair of the House Environment Committee and co-chair of the House committee that oversees agriculture, environment and natural resources.

President-elect Joe Biden has nominated North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Citing the toll exacted by the “undeniable, accelerating, punishing reality of climate change,” Biden announced Regan late Thursday amid a slate of key nominations and appointments making up his climate team. Also announced were Congresswoman Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior; former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy; Brenda Mallory, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality; Gina McCarthy, National Climate Advisor; and Ali Zaidi, Deputy National Climate Advisor.

The nominations of Haaland, Regan, Granholm and Mallory require Senate confirmation.

“This brilliant, tested, trailblazing team will be ready on day one to confront the existential threat of climate change with a unified national response rooted in science and equity,” said President-elect Joe Biden. They share my belief that we have no time to waste to confront the climate crisis, protect our air and drinking water, and deliver justice to communities that have long shouldered the burdens of environmental harms. Together, on behalf of all Americans, they will meet this moment with the urgency it demands — and seize the opportunity to build back better with good-paying union jobs, climate-resilient infrastructure, and a clean energy future that benefits every single community.”

“From the wildfires across California and the west to the storms battering our coasts, our climate crisis is a grave and growing threat to the American people and the planet we all share,” said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said. “On the campaign, President-elect Biden and I proposed one of the most ambitious climate plans in history. The team we are announcing today will help make that plan a reality. They are seasoned public servants and climate experts who reflect the very best of our country. They have the knowledge and experience to confront this global challenge head-on with our allies and partners around the world. And they are the team the American people need and deserve to help protect our communities — and our planet — for generations.”

Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement praising Biden’s nomination of Regan.

“I am proud that President-elect Biden has recognized the talent we have here to select Michael Regan, North Carolina born and educated, to be EPA Administrator,” Cooper said. “Michael has served as DEQ secretary with distinction, helping advance my climate change executive order and promoting creative solutions to some of our toughest challenges. He has important work ahead of him helping battle climate change on a national level, and I wish him and his family the best on this next step.”

The announcement noted the need for immediate, science-based response to climate change.

“The team will turn the climate crisis into an unprecedented opportunity to create millions of good paying union jobs in communities across the country; powering our economy with clean energy and positioning the United States as an exporter of 21st century products; and making our economy stronger and more resilient. They will work closely with communities who bear the outsized burden of environmental injustice, including Tribal Nations and communities of color, and young Americans who will live with the long-term consequences of climate change,” according to the announcement.

News of the appointment Thursday afternoon started a cascade of responses from North Carolina policy makers and environmental groups.

Here’s a selection of the comments so far:

First District Congressman G.K. Butterfield — “I applaud President-Elect Joe Biden’s selection of Secretary Michael S. Regan to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Secretary Regan is an EPA veteran with immense passion and experience with environmental policy. Secretary Regan understands the urgency of protecting our environment from air and water pollution. As North Carolina’s chief environmental official, Secretary Regan has demonstrated he understands that climate change is a threat to human existence. Secretary Regan will work with President-Elect Biden to seek effective ways of protecting our communities. As a native of my congressional district, Secretary Regan is well prepared to meet the environmental challenges of our day and execute the policies of President Joe Biden. I look forward to a fair and expedited confirmation process in the United States Senate.”

Dan Crawford, Director of Governmental Relations, NC League of Conservation Voters — “With Michael Regan, President-elect Biden continues adding to his historically qualified and diverse Cabinet, replacing a fossil fuel industry puppet with an experienced EPA air quality scientist, just as Gov. Cooper did when he put Regan in charge of our DEQ four years ago. Regan has gone to bat for North Carolinians against polluters, and now the rest of the country will get to benefit from his leadership. North Carolina’s loss will be America’s gain.”

Fourth District Congressman David Price — “Through the years, he has proven himself as a determined and effective advocate for scientifically-sound environmental policies that protect the climate, improve public health, and advance environmental justice … Mr. Regan’s experience as North Carolina’s DEQ Secretary demonstrates that he is ready to lead the nation toward an environmentally sustainable future that leaves no community behind. I am confident that as EPA Administrator, he will help execute President-elect Biden’s ambitious plans to curb climate change; accelerate renewable energy development; address contamination of our waterways, lands, and air; rectify environmental injustices; and lead America toward a carbon-neutral future.”

Amy Adams, Program Manager, Appalachian Voices North Carolina — “More than ever, the country needs an EPA administrator who prioritizes and acts on climate change and environmental justice — two of the most pressing issues facing America today. Michael Regan could be that administrator. He has many of the qualifications and qualities of a strong leader. In North Carolina, he inherited a fractured, demoralized agency that had lost the public’s trust and rebuilt it to be a more responsive, pro-environment protection entity that serves the public’s interests over corporate interests. While we’re not crazy about the idea of him leaving North Carolina, we believe he’ll do a great job at EPA.”

Todd Miller, Executive Director, North Carolina Coastal Federation — “His selection is a great choice for the nation. We will miss his wonderful and uplifting leadership here in N.C.”

Andrew Hutson, Executive Director, Audubon North Carolina — “Secretary Regan understands the monumental challenges we face from our changing climate and knows how to work across communities and across the aisle to get things done. He spearheaded North Carolina’s Clean Energy Plan, laying the groundwork for a cleaner and more resilient future in our state, and is a tireless champion for clean air and water. He’s an outstanding leader, dedicated public servant and more than qualified to lead our country’s top environmental agency. We’re sad to see him leave North Carolina, but our loss is the nation’s gain.”

Hawley Truax, Southeast Regional Director, Environmental Defense Fund — “Secretary Regan has led a complex state agency with a positive spirit and a steady hand for the past four years. He’s been a collaborative, energizing force, putting into action his core belief that when you make decisions with input from a diverse group of stakeholders your outcomes are better and more durable because of it.

“During Secretary Regan’s tenure at North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, the state launched its most ambitious clean energy and climate resilience plans. Thanks to Michael’s leadership and his belief that science drives sound decision-making, we are positioned to make meaningful progress on reducing carbon emissions and securing a healthier, safer and more equitable future for our state.

“As an environmental advocate working in North Carolina, I am sorry to lose Michael Regan as the Secretary of our Department of Environmental Quality, but he is an outstanding leader who will be an asset to the Biden administration. I wish him the best.”

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan is the top contender to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, according to multiple news reports citing insiders with the Biden-Harris transition team.

With the Electoral College vote completed and a little more than a month until the changeover in administrations, appointments and nominations by President-elect Joe Biden are picking up pace. An announcement of the new administration’s environmental team is expected this week.

Regan, a former EPA air quality section chief, was named as one of two top candidates in a Bloomberg News report Sunday. On Monday, the New York Times, McClatchy, Reuters and Axios published reports on Regan, quoting unnamed sources within the transition team.

Axios said an official with the transition team said an interview with Regan, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the president-elect went well.

Regan and DEQ officials have not responded to requests for comment from Coastal Review Online.

This is a developing story.

If you’re anxiously looking for further vote totals in in North Carolina’s tight national, state and local races, let it go. They’re frozen.

In a press conference Wednesday, state elections officials said unofficial vote totals will not be complete until after Nov. 12, when most counties are holding official count meetings for remaining absentee ballots.

There are roughly 116,000 absentee ballots listed as still outstanding, and while that number may be reduced somewhat through the next week, the vote counts won’t be added to the state system until then.

Elections officials stressed that they are following established state law and procedures and are more interested in accuracy than speed.

“As has been our constant refrain this election season, our job is to the count right, as fast as we can, but above all, correct,” State Board of Election Chair Damon Circosta said Wednesday.

State Board of Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell said that despite the high turnout and needed COVID-19 precautions, the process is the same as for prior elections. She asked for patience.

“We will continue the same processes of chain of custody, of reconciliation, all of the steps that we have taken as elections professionals for decades to ensure the security and the integrity of North Carolina elections,” she said. “So what we ask at this point in time is let the process happen just as it has in previous elections and with that we will be able to ensure an accurate and fair election for North Carolinians and they can have confidence in the outcome of the votes that they cast.”

State law requires counties to schedule absentee count meetings two weeks ahead of Election Day and send out public notice of the date, location and times, Brinson Bell told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

“So what we ask at this point in time is let the process happen just as it has in previous elections and with that we will be able to ensure an accurate and fair election for North Carolinians and they can have confidence in the outcome of the votes that they cast.”

Karen Brinson Bell, State Board of Elections Director

She said most counties are scheduled to do that Nov. 12 and 13 when they hold their county-level canvasses of ballots.

Some counties are scheduled to hold absentee count meetings earlier and could update results after their meetings, she said. The county meetings are open to the public.

Right now, counties are working through individual voter history records to determine if any outstanding ballots are from voters who cast their votes on Election Day.

With absentee ballot requests at an all-time record this year, that process could take longer than usual. In a typical year only 3 to 5% of the total number of ballots are sent by mail.

Voters sometimes request absentee ballots to vote by mail and then change their minds and vote in person.

Brinson Bell said there are about 116,000 outstanding ballots, but that number is likely to change. People who voted in person during the early voting period have already been taken out of the system and the change will only be the subtraction of voters with outstanding ballots who voted in person on Election Day.

Brinson Bell also said counties are working through ballots with deficiencies that can be “cured” by the voters. Officials have until Nov. 12 to notify voters of issues such as a signature on the wrong line or a witness who did not also print their name next to their signature.

Brinson Bell stressed that the deficiencies can only be addressed on ballots that have already been cast and that no one will be allowed to cast a new ballot.

Voters can check the status of their absentee ballots at https://northcarolina.ballottrax.net/voter/

Also still in the mix are provisional ballots, but for now there’s not a total count on the number. That’s partly due to the high turnout. Brinson Bell said that in 2016 there were about 61,000 provisional ballots cast and of those about 27,000 were cleared and counted.

All told, the number of ballots that could be added to current totals could tip the balance in a number of close races, including several for state legislature, state Supreme Court, Council of State and, although less likely, U.S. Senate and president.

Among the race totals in amber for now are two close legislative races on the coast.

In the 20^th Senate District in New Hanover County, fewer than 1,468 votes separate likely winner Republican Michael Lee and incumbent Democrat Harper Peterson, who beat Lee in 2018 by just 231 votes.

In Pitt County, Democrat Brian Farkas is 814 votes ahead of incumbent Perrin Jones for House District 9, which was held by 3rd District Congressman Greg Murphy. The race was once one of two expected to be easier Democratic pickups in the House as a result of court-ordered redistricting in 2019.

The race for chief justice of the state Supreme Court also hangs in the balance with Justice Paul Newby 3,742 votes ahead of current Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, out of more than 5.3 million votes cast statewide.

More than 10,000 votes separate Attorney General Josh Stein from his challenger Jim O’Neill.

At the top of the ticket, Democrats would need to win a vast majority of outstanding ballots to change the outcome.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis leads Democrat Cal Cunningham by 96,707 votes in the U.S. Senate race, and President Donald Trump leads former Vice President Joseph Biden by 76,701 votes.

After the counties complete their canvasses, the state board will hold its official statewide canvass Nov. 24.

At that point, candidates in close races can call for a recount if totals are close enough. The threshold for recounts is 10,000 votes in statewide races and 1% in all other races.

Learn more

• For county-by-county outstanding ballot information, see “Outstanding_Ballot_Demogs_Reports” updated daily.

Republicans appeared close to sweeping the top of the ticket in North Carolina late Tuesday night, with President Donald Trump leading Joe Biden and incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis ahead of his Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham.

The races went back and forth throughout the evening, but unofficial results showed both Republicans ahead with only a few precincts left.

If they are close enough, the races could go to a recount, but the full vote won’t be certified until later this month when all mail-in and provisional ballots are recorded.

Gov. Roy Cooper won another term in his race against Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, but it’s likely he’ll serve alongside another Republican in the role, with Mark Robinson well ahead of Democrat Yvonne Holley.

“Tonight’s decisive victory sends the message loud and clear — North Carolinians trust Roy Cooper to put them first. These results show that North Carolinians want to expand Medicaid, boost public education and keep health and safety first during this pandemic. North Carolinians rejected Dan Forest’s campaign of fear and division and dangerous lies and opted instead for steady, decisive, and compassionate leadership,” Cooper’s campaign communications director Liz Doherty said in a statement.

Republicans held their majorities in the state House and Senate picking up at least three seats in the House and taking a Senate seat lost in 2018’s closest races.

With all precincts reporting, former Sen. Michael Lee reclaimed his seat from incumbent Sen. Harper Peterson in District 9 in New Hanover County.

Lee, who lost by 231 votes to two years ago, was 1,468 votes ahead Tuesday night.

In another heavily contested coastal Senate race, Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, held off a challenge from Democrat Tess Judge, winning by roughly 1,000 votes.

In House races, Democrats picked up a House seat near Greenville, one of two they gained in the chamber due to court-ordered redistricting. Brian Farkas defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Perrin Jones by a margin of 800 votes.

All other incumbents in the coastal delegation held their seats and in the only open seat Republican Charlie Miller of Southport handily defeated New Hanover Democrat Marcia Morgan in District 19.

But Democrats, who won 10 seats in the House in 2018, likely lost ground this election with at least four incumbents defeated by GOP challengers.

No major technical issues with voting were apparent late Tuesday.

“We’re doing well considering there’s a pandemic and it’s a presidential election,” said Carteret County Board of Elections Director Caitlin Sabadish.

She said all county precincts ran smoothly Tuesday with no waiting and “courteous electioneers.”

“We had a line of ten people at six-thirty morning ready to vote.” “We have had constant voters all day,” said Hillary Schultz, a Carteret County precinct judge in Merrimon.

The county did have a minor issue just after polls closed, when the board of elections staff hit a temporary snag and had to call state elections officials to troubleshoot an error related to  one-stop early voting results. More than 66% of Carteret County’s registered voters cast their ballots early.

Susan Fetzer, the chief judge at the Beaufort No. 1 polling precinct at the Boys and Girls Club of Coastal Carolina in Carteret County, said the precinct had 32 pages of early voters to process.

“We have had no issues, mechanical or otherwise,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “My staff has been great.”

Unofficial results

The following are North Carolina State Board of Elections unofficial results as of 12:40 a.m. Wednesday:

Federal

U.S. President

• Donald J. Trump (R) Ballot Count: 2,732,084; Percent 49.8%
• Joseph R. Biden (D) Ballot Count: 2,655,383; Percent 48.57%

U.S. Senate

• Thom Tillis (R) Ballot Count: 2,640,379; Percent 48.73%
• Cal Cunningham (D) 2,543,672; Percent 46.94%

U.S. House Of Representatives 1st District (Bertie, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Pitt, Vance, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wilson)

• G.K. Butterfield (D) Ballot Count: 187,125; Percent 54.14%
• Sandy Smith (R) Ballot Count: 158,530; Percent 45.86%

U.S. House Of Representatives 3rd District (Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell)

• Greg Murphy (R) Ballot Count: 227,462; Percent: 63.45%
• Daryl Farrow (D) Ballot Count: 131,011; Percent: 36.55%

U.S. House of Representatives 7th District  (Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Harnett, Johnston, New Hanover, Pender, Sampson)

• David Rouzer (R) Ballot Count: 269,847; Percent 60.35%
• Christopher M. Ward (D) Ballot Count: 176,610; Percent: 39.50%

State

Governor

• Roy Cooper (D) Ballot Count: 2,803,782; Percent: 51.48%
• Dan Forest (R) Ballot Count: 2,563,258; Percent: 47.06%

Lt. Governor

• Mark Robinson (R) Ballot Count: 2,773,751; Percent: 51.66%
• Yvonne Lewis Holley (D) Ballot Count: 2,595,868; Percent: 48.34%

Attorney General

• Josh Stein (D) Ballot Count: 2,684,854; Percent: 50.10%
• Jim O’Neill (R) Ballot Count: 2,674,085; Percent 49.90%

Auditor

• Beth A. Wood (D) Ballot Count: 2,701,357; Percent 50.85%
• Anthony Wayne “Tony” Street (R) Ballot Count: 2,611,323; Percent 49.1%

Commissioner of Agriculture

• Steve Troxler (R) Ballot Count: 2,874,607; Percent 53.89%
• Jenna Wadsworth (D) Ballot Count: 2,459,049; Percent 46.11%

Commissioner of Insurance

• Mike Causey (R) Ballot Count: 2,749,145; Percent: 51.78%
• Wayne Goodwin (D) Ballot Count: 2,559,696; Percent 48.22%

Commissioner of Labor

• Josh Dobson (R) Ballot Count: 2,701,336 Percent: 50.86%
• Jessica Holmes (D) Ballot Count: 2,609,502; Percent: 49.14%

Secretary of State

• Elaine Marshall (D) Ballot Count: 2,726,837; Percent 51.14%
• E.C. Sykes (R) Ballot Count: 2,605,730; Percent 48.86%

Superintendent of Public Instruction

• Catherine Truitt (R) Ballot Count: 2,726,948; Percent 51.40%
• Jen Mangrum (D) Ballot Count: 2,578,238; Percent 48.60%

Treasurer

• Dale R. Folwell (R) Ballot Count: 2,786,254; Percent: 52.60%
• Ronnie Chatterji (D) Ballot Count: 2,510,557: Percent 47.40%

N.C. Senate 1st District (Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington)

• Bob Steinburg (R) Ballot Count: 57,913; Percent: 55.27%
• Tess Judge (D) Ballot Count: 46,862; Percent: 44.73%

N.C. Senate 2nd District (Carteret, Craven, Pamlico)

• Norman W. Sanderson (R) Ballot Count: 62,670; Percent: 63.22%
• Libbie Griffin (D) Ballot Count: 32,634; Percent: 32.92%

N.C. Senate 3rd District (Beaufort, Bertie, Martin, Northampton, Vance, Warren)

• Ernestine (Byrd) Bazemore (D) Ballot Count: 45,246; Percent: 51.99%
• Thomas S. Hester, Jr. (R) Ballot Count: 41,775; Percent: 48.01%

N.C. Senate 6th District (Jones, Onslow)

• Michael A. Lazzara (R) Ballot Count: 47,945; Percent: 65.66%
• Ike Johnson (D) Ballot Count: 25,078; Percent: 34.34%

N.C.  Senate 8th District (Bladen, Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender)

• Bill Rabon (R) Ballot Count: 84,862; Percent: 62.03%
• David Sink (D) Ballot Count: 47,689; Percent: 34.86%

N.C.  Senate 9th District (New Hanover)

• Michael Lee (R) Ballot Count: 62,343; Percent: 50.60%
• Harper Peterson (D) Ballot Count: 60,875; Percent: 49.40%

N.C. House of Representatives 1st District (Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington)

• Edward C. Goodwin (R) Ballot Count: 20,598; Percent: 54.55%
• Emily Bunch Nicholson (D) Ballot Count: 17,160; Percent: 45.45%

N.C. House of Representatives 3rd District (Craven)

• Steve Tyson (R) Ballot Count: 22,443; Percent: 60.81%
• Dorothea Downing White (D) Ballot Count: 14,461; Percent: 39.19%

N.C. House of Representatives 4th District (Duplin, Onslow)

• Jimmy Dixon (R) Ballot Count: 21,066; Percent: 65.85%
• Christopher Schulte (D) Ballot Count: 10,924; Percent: 34.15%

N.C. House of Representatives 5th District (Gates, Hertford, Pasquotank)

• Howard J. Hunter III (D) Ballot Count: 19,862; Percent: 56.72%
• Donald Kirkland (R) Ballot Count: 15,155; Percent: 43.28%

N.C. House of Representatives 6th District (Currituck, Dare, Hyde, Pamlico)

• Bobby Hanig (R) Ballot Count: 30,843; Percent: 64.37%
• Tommy Fulcher (D) Ballot Count: 17,071; Percent: 35.63%

N.C. House of Representatives 13th District (Jones, Carteret)

• Patricia “Pat” McElraft, (R) Ballot Count: 33,316; Percent: 71.70%
• Buck Bayliff (D) Ballot Count: 13,148; Percent: 28.30%

N.C. House of Representatives 14th District (Onslow)

• George G. Cleveland (R) Ballot Count: 19,217; Percent 60.18%
• Marcy Wofford (D) Ballot Count: 12,716; Percent 39.82%

N.C. House of Representatives 15th District (Onslow)

• Phillip Shepard (R) Ballot Count: 17,382; Percent: 69.68%
• Carolyn F. Gomaa (D) Ballot Count: 7,564; Percent: 30.32%

N.C. House of Representatives 16th District (Columbus, Pender)

• Carson Smith (R) Ballot Count: 29,990; Percent: 64.40%
• Debbi Fintak (D) Ballot Count: 16,576; Percent: 35.60%

N.C. House of Representatives 17th District (Brunswick)

• Frank Iler (R) Ballot Count: 36,560; Percent:62.50%
• Tom Simmons (D) Ballot Count: 21,939; Percent: 37.50%

N.C. House Of Representatives 18th District (New Hanover)

• Deb Butler (D) Ballot Count: 25,352; Percent 59.75%
• Warren Kennedy (R) Ballot Count: 17,078; Percent 40.25%

N.C. House of Representatives 19th District (Brunswick, New Hanover)

• Charlie Miller (R) Ballot Count: 33,904; Percent 58.06%
• Marcia Morgan (D) Ballot Count: 24,491 Percent: 41.94%

N.C. House of Representatives 20th District (New Hanover)

• Ted Davis Jr. (R) Ballot Count: 27,764; Percent: 55.41%
• Adam Ericson (D) Ballot Count: 22,344; Percent: 44.59%

N.C. House of Representatives 79th District (Beaufort, Craven)

• Mitchell Smith Setzer (R) Ballot Count: 30,861; Percent 74.42%
• Greg Cranford (D) Ballot Count: 10,610; Percent 25.58%

Mark Hibbs, Jennifer Allen and Dylan Ray contributed to this report.

North Carolina voters smashed turnout records across the state, including coastal areas with high growth, contested races or both, during the early voting period that ended Saturday.

Ahead of Election Day, more than 4.5 million early votes and mail-in ballots have been cast so far, about 238,000 shy of the turnout for all of 2016.

The total represents more than 95% of the votes cast in 2016 according to Michael Bitzer, a professor of political science at Catawba College who tracks voting statistics and voter patterns. In a blog post after the final early voting tally, Bitzer said the state is well on track to exceed 2016’s turnout of 69% and beat the turnout in every presidential race going back 50 years.

Driven partly by concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and the expansion of early voting days and options, the combination of early voting and voting by mail is expected to dwarf Election Day totals.

“In a realistic scenario, North Carolina could be looking at a low to mid-70 percent turnout rate when the polls close Tuesday night; meaning, anywhere from a potential 725,000 to 943,000 voters could show up on November 3,” Bitzer wrote. “That would give the state either a 72 or 75 percent registered voter turnout rate this year.”

On the coast, the highest turnout percentage so far is in fast-growing Brunswick County, where 68.6% of the county’s registered voters have already cast their ballot.

The fastest growing county in the state and one of the top 20 fastest growing in the nation, the population of Brunswick has increased more than 30% since the 2010 Census. The combination of the high growth and high turnout has the votes running at 150% of its 2016 total with Election Day still to go.

The same dynamic goes for other southern coastal counties with Pender and New Hanover counties also showing the combination of growth and high voter turnout playing out in the totals.

Pender, with turnout around 64.9%, is more than 8,000 votes ahead of its 2016 total and New Hanover, the largest coastal county by population, running more than 37,000 votes ahead of 2016 with a 63.6% turnout, so far.

New Hanover County is also where competitive state legislative races have energized voters. Both the House District 20 race between longtime incumbent Republican Ted Davis and Democratic challenger Adam Ericson and the Senate District 9 rematch between incumbent Democrat Harper Peterson and Michael Lee, the man he defeated in 2018, are listed as extremely close but tilting toward the Democrats going into Election Day.

Both races are key to Democrats’ hopes to take control of one or both chambers in the legislature.

District 20 was one of 56 House seats redrawn in 2019 after a successful court challenge over partisan gerrymandering.

Democrats need to pick up six seats in the House to flip the chamber. Depending on the outcome of the lieutenant governor’s race, they need at least four or five seats to do the same in the Senate.

Two other close races farther north also appear to be driving turnout.

Chowan, Dare and Perquimans, three counties in the hotly contested Senate District 1 race between Tess Judge of Dare County and first-term incumbent Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, all report higher than 60% turnout.

Dare County, the fastest growing northern coastal county is on track to double the total number of votes cast there in 2016.

While not a coastal county, Pitt County, where a redrawn district that runs from Greenville to the edge of Washington in coastal Beaufort County is an expected Democratic pickup, is running more than 16,000 votes ahead of its 2016 total.

Early vote totals

The following are coastal county turnout percentages as of the close of early voting:

• Beaufort — 60.3
• Bertie — 58.5
• Brunswick — 68.6
• Camden — 55
• Carteret — 65.7
• Chowan — 63.8
• Craven — 60.8
• Currituck — 53.8
• Dare — 63.1
• Gates — 52.6
• Hertford — 57.2
• Hyde — 39.1
• New Hanover — 63.6
• Onslow — 48.6
• Pamlico — 60.6
• Pasquotank —56.4
• Pender — 64.9
• Pitt — 58.3
• Perquimans — 63.3
• Tyrrell — 49.7
• Washington — 59.5

Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections

Three coastal legislative districts, one in the Senate and two in the House could swing from GOP control to Democrats, according to the latest round of projections by election analysts.

House District 9, House District 20 and Senate District 1 are potential swing districts according CNalysis, a Richmond, Virginia-based forecasting firm that reviews more than 5,000 state legislature races each election cycle.

Forecaster Chaz Nuttycombe, in an interview last week, said a mix of factors, including fundraising, early turnout and shifting demographics and district lines have altered the election landscape from the last cycle.

“Arguably 2020 is looking to be more of a Democratic year than 2018,” Nuttycombe said.

With Gov. Roy Cooper running far ahead of his GOP opponent Dan Forest and the top of the ticket leaning toward Democratic candidates, Nuttycombe said the coattail effect should provide an extra boost for Democrats down the ballot.

The coastal races could be critical in determining which party controls the state legislature. In 2018, Democrats picked up 10 House seats and six Senate seats. This year they would need to pick up an additional six House districts and five Senate districts to take the majority in each chamber.

Cook Political Report recently added North Carolina’s House and Senate to its list of top 10 legislative chambers that could change hands. Cook’s final handicapping report on state legislatures, which came out Wednesday, rates the North Carolina Senate as a toss-up and the House as leaning Republican.

Nuttycombe said the most likely change on the coast is in the district formerly held by 3^rd District Congressman Greg Murphy. House District 9 was among those redrawn in 2019 in a court-ordered redistricting after a successful legal challenge over partisan gerrymandering.

In all, 56 districts in the 120-seat House and 21 districts in the 50-seat Senate were altered in the redraw. Many remain essentially unchanged, but more than a dozen districts across the state shifted enough to substantially alter the odds.

The new District 9 includes a large section of southwest Greenville, including East Carolina University, and extends to the edge of Washington at the Tar River. The change makes it one of the most likely pickups for Democrats in the coastal region.

The race in District 9 is between Democrat Brian Farkas and Republican incumbent Perrin Jones, who succeeded Murphy when he ran for Congress following the death of Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. in 2019.

Two ECU early voting sites, the ECU Student Center and the Willis Building, have combined for nearly 10,000 of the 29,000 early votes and mail-in absentee ballots logged so far in the race.

This year, younger voters have been turning out in large numbers across the state. Although a majority of Gen Z voters are registering unaffiliated, polling indicate that most are voting for Democratic candidates.

Heavy turnout in Boone and Cullowhee, home to Appalachian State University and Western Carolina University, respectively, helped to flip two GOP-held House seats to Democratic candidates in 2018.

Last week, Nuttycombe shifted a redrawn House district in New Hanover County from a likely Republican win to tilting toward the Democrat candidate.

The race for House District 20, which includes part of Wilmington east of College Avenue to Wrightsville Beach and south to Myrtle Grove, is between four-term incumbent Rep. Ted Davis and Democrat Adam Ericson, a teacher and coach at New Hanover High School.

Davis won part of the district when he ran in 2018, but redistricting added part of the University of North Carolina Wilmington, along with sections of a district held by former Republican state Rep. Holly Grange.

While the redistricting plan generally avoided putting two incumbents in the same district, Grange and Davis were both put into District 20 under the new map. Grange agreed to the move in advance because she had already signaled her intent to seek the Republican nomination for governor.

CNalysis lists one other House race as close, but tilting Republican.

Republican incumbent Rep. Edwin Goodwin is favored in a race against Democratic challenger Emily Bunch Nicholson in House District 1, in the northeast.

Turnout in the race is heavy, in part due to a hotly contested Senate race that overlays part of the district. As of Saturday, Perquimans, Chowan and Dare counties logged the highest turnout percentage in the northern coastal region with more than 60% of the registered votes either voting early or casting mail-in ballots.

Senate Races

While most of the coastal Senate seats are relatively safe Republican districts, two Democratic-leaning seats are shaping up to be close races.

The final round of fundraising reports ahead of the election show party leaders pouring money into last-minute ads and get-out-the-vote efforts for the Senate District 1 race between first-term incumbent Republican Sen. Bob Steinburg and Democrat Tess Judge.

The contest could prove to be the most expensive state Senate race of the cycle. Last week, a burst of funds from the North Carolina Senate Majority Fund, a leadership PAC that supports Republican candidates, raised its total contributions to Steinburg to $1,166,000.

Judge also received another round of late funding from the state Democratic Party, which has put $1.6 million into the race.

Most of the money for both candidates has gone into a heavy rotation of ads in the Norfolk, Virginia, television market and an endless stream of mailers.

CNalysis is giving Judge the edge in the race, although Nuttycombe said it could still swing in either direction.

He said the call for Judge is based on fundraising and her performance in the 2018 state House race, which she lost to Republican Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, despite winning Dare County. Nuttycombe said the House district is far more GOP-friendly than the Senate district Judge is running in now.

“She’s a very strong candidate,” he said.

The rematch in New Hanover County between Democratic incumbent Sen. Harper Peterson and Republican former state Sen. Michael Lee, is listed as leaning in favor of Peterson. Peterson ousted Lee in 2018 in a race settled by 231 votes.

“I think Peterson is the slight favorite to win reelection,” he said. “I think he’ll beat his 2018 margin, but not by much. It’s still a single-digit race.”

For the first part of this year’s highly energized election, if you looked at turnout percentages along North Carolina’s coast, Hyde County was a laggard.

That all changed late Monday when the results from Ocracoke’s two days of early voting were uploaded to the State Board of Elections. The county, which was running well behind its neighbors with turnout percentages in the mid-teens, popped up to the middle of the pack once the island’s 356 early votes were added to the totals, doubling Hyde County’s running tally of 355 early votes.

Hyde County Elections Director Viola Williams, who crossed Pamlico Sound from Ocracoke on late Friday with the tallies, said the vote totals in the sparsely populated county should be a little more in line with percentages from the rest of the coast from here on.

“After we close out today those numbers will show up,” Williams said Monday. “That’s probably why we were running low.”

Ocracoke’s two-day early voting period is unique. The island, heavily damaged in last year’s Hurricane Dorian, was exempted from a state law passed last year requiring 17 days of early voting.

For Williams and her colleagues throughout the state, 2020’s turnout has been eye-popping.

This year, statewide mail-in absentee ballot requests are running roughly four times what they were in 2016. Over the weekend, a statewide surge of in-person early voting topped 2016’s totals with another week to go.

As of 5 a.m. Monday, 43.3% of the state’s registered voters had cast their ballots — 778,164 by mail and 2,393,054 in person. In 2016, statewide voter turnout totaled 69%.

With a week to go before Election Day, turnout in coastal North Carolina mirrors that of much of the rest of the state with early vote totals far beyond the last two presidential cycles.

Early voting and absentee ballot totals in a majority of the 20 coastal counties are above 40% of the number of registered voters in those counties. Some counties have already topped their 2016 early-vote tallies.

“We’ve bypassed that by a long shot,” Perquimans County Election Director Holly Director said Monday.

There were roughly 6,600 presidential ballots for the county in 2016, including early voting, mail-in and Election Day. Hunter said this year the county had already logged 4,500 ballots and counting. Like most places, Hunter said there were lines at the county’s three sites when early voting opened Oct.15, especially at the Board of Elections office in Hertford.

“It hasn’t been wrapped around the building like it was the first few days, but we’ve been pretty steady.” she said.

Turnout totals already exceed 40% in Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Duck, Hertford, New Hanover, Pamlico, Pender, Perquimans and Washington counties.

Other counties at lower turnout levels as of Monday were Currituck (29.1%), Gates (31.7%), Onslow (32.2%) and Tyrell (31.3%).

High-growth counties, especially along the southern coast, are on track to reach 50% turnout by midweek.

In Brunswick County, one the fastest-growing counties in the nation, more than 15,000 mail-in ballots have been cast, compared to about 2,400 total for 2016.

With a week to go in early voting, New Hanover County ballots have now topped its 2016 early vote and mail-in totals.

Along the northern coast, Dare County is also posting big numbers.

Dare County Elections Director Jackie Tillett said the three early voting sites in the county saw the same early surge as the rest of the state.

“The first day was pretty heavy everywhere and it has tapered off some,” Tillett said Monday. There are still some lines at the Kill Devil Hills Town Hall site, she said, but not as much traffic for sites in Manteo at the Dare County Administration Building and Buxton at the Cape Hatteras Secondary School.

Elections officials said they expected an increase, but not quite like this.

Concerns about COVID-19 and crowded polls on Election Day are likely driving some of the increase in the early turnout, but it’s unclear for now how much of a role it’s playing.

A recent analysis by Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College who tracks state voting trends, estimated that if the state’s 7.3 million registered turnout at 69% like they did in 2016, than the vote total would be roughly 5 million. If that’s the case, then early vote totals so far mean that almost two-thirds of the 2020 vote is already in.

Although early voting in most counties runs through next weekend, Tuesday is the last day to request a mail-in ballot. Election officials suggest returning mail-in ballots as soon as possible to avoid postal delays. Ballots can be dropped off at county elections offices and early voting sites.

Turnout percentages as of 5 a.m. Monday

• Beaufort — 40.7
• Bertie — 41.6
• Brunswick — 48.5
• Camden — 37.5
• Carteret — 45.9
• Chowan — 46
• Craven — 43.5
• Currituck — 29.1
• Dare — 42.5
• Gates — 31.7
• Hertford — 40.5
• Hyde — 16.6*
• New Hanover — 45.6
• Onslow — 32.3
• Pamlico — 43.2
• Pasquotank —38.8
• Pender — 44.6
• Perquimans — 46.1
• Tyrrell — 31.3
• Washington — 43.3

Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections

* Does not include Ocracoke votes

Access to grants for local governments, tools for better planning and more local participation and training are among the strategies in a multiagency push that’s the next step toward incorporating climate science and resiliency planning throughout North Carolina.

Thursday, the state Climate Change Interagency Council, which includes all cabinet-level agencies, wrapped up its review of the recently issued North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan. The report includes an in-depth, region-by-region look at the progression to a warmer, wetter climate and what that means for communities throughout the state.

The council also got a look at what’s ahead in implementing on a broad scale the resiliency called for in the report.

“Producing a plan is not as important as continuing to take action as we move forward,” Jessica Whitehead, the state’s chief resilience officer, told council members as she laid out the path ahead.

Whitehead, of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, said establishing guiding principles that could be applied in different areas and situations was key.

“We know it’s a challenge to define what climate resilience looks like from Murphy to Manteo, and so it’s stepping back and looking at what applies no matter what your place is, no matter what your agency is, no matter what your biggest climate vulnerabilities are,” she said.

The principles outlined in a path forward include acting quickly and decisively on most harmful threats as a long-term approach that includes collaboration on equitable, community-based decisions.

“We know and we’ve heard very strongly that we need to have resilience training for local communities. A lot of people have heard the word ‘resilience,’ but they don’t know what it means in the context of their everyday work,” Whitehead said.

Although the word is often associated with recent disasters, Whitehead said climate resiliency is not all about disaster response.

“Disasters are an important part of climate change, but they are not the only long-term climate hazards,” she said, adding that sea level rise, droughts and extreme heat will also have an impact on the way people live. “These are long-term issues that happen over decades, and we know they need long-term, equitable solutions.”

“There are very few consistent sources of funding for aspects of resilience that are not construction projects,” Martin said.

One state program that ties together planning and construction and that could become a template for others is the recently announced Resilient Coastal Communities Program, which will assist 20 local governments in the coastal region with vulnerability assessments, resilience planning, engineering and design for local projects.

The funding, $830,000 from state disaster assistance and a $1.1 million National Wildlife Foundation grant, won’t require a match and will be used to get at least one project shovel ready in each jurisdiction chosen.

Tancred Miller, policy and planning manager with the Division of Coastal Management, said the effort is aimed at finding local governments to work with that are at risk but don’t have the resources to launch a planning effort on their own.

“To help them find their way through the challenges, understanding the risks, understanding their options and then doing something to put themselves in a better position,” Miller said Thursday during the meeting, finding dedicated funding for local governments to plan on an ongoing basis is essential.

“Obviously, the coastal zone is on the front lines for a lot of these big events, these big storms and hurricanes. We see a lot of flooding from the events year after year, but we don’t want to be in a position of Band-Aiding at this point,” he said. “The decisions have to be made at the local level, so how can we provide the support, both on the technical side as well as the financial side?”

Miller said he expects the communities to be chosen early next year, with vulnerability assessments and project planning to run through the year.

Completed absentee ballots have started flowing back to the 20 county election offices along the North Carolina coast, and preparations are underway for early voting, which starts in a little less than a month on Oct. 15.

Although the final outcome in each race has yet to be decided and some may not be known for day or even weeks after Election Day, there is one certainty when it comes to the region’s representation in the North Carolina General Assembly: change.

This year, retirements, redistricting and electoral tides at the state and federal levels will align to alter the state’s legislative landscape. The only question is to what degree. At stake is nothing less than control of the General Assembly.

In 2018, a “blue moon” election year in which there were no statewide candidates, Democrats picked up 10 seats in the House and six in the Senate, enough to end six years of Republican supermajorities in both chambers.

A change in a handful of seats in either chamber would change the leadership altogether. In the Senate, the GOP holds a 29-21 majority. The GOP margin in the 120-seat House is an even thinner 65-55.

Since the 2018 election, some of those districts became even more competitive after a court-ordered redraw following a state Supreme Court ruling that found they were created through an unconstitutional partisan process.

Several coastal districts were altered in the redraw, as were congressional districts after a similar ruling in a separate political gerrymandering lawsuit.

The 2020 election is the last in the 10-year cycle that began after the 2010 Census, and the initial redistricting by the legislature, which flipped to GOP control in that year’s election.

Lawsuits over both racial and partisan gerrymandering led to the redrawing of dozens of districts since then, but a complete reordering of district lines happens in 2021, making this year’s outcome pivotal to the legislature’s direction over the next decade.

While the old districts, even those redrawn last year, are by law based on the 2010 Census data, the new districts will better reflect the rapid growth and demographic shifts of the state.

As a result, the next set of coastal districts are likely to vary widely from the current set, particularly in the southern coastal counties, which have grown two or three times as fast as the central and northern coastal counties.

According to 2019 estimates, since 2010 New Hanover County has added more than 30,000 new residents, a jump of almost 16%, and Brunswick County, among the fastest growing counties in the country, has grown by 33%, adding about 35,000 residents. By contrast, Carteret County grew at about 5% and Dare County by 9%.

Meet the candidates

Here’s a breakdown of the General Assembly races:

State Senate

The biggest change in the state Senate’s coastal delegation came early in the election cycle with the announcement last November by Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, that he would not seek a ninth term.

Brown, the Senate’s main budget chair, leaves a legacy of coastal legislation, including creation of a dedicated funding stream for inlet dredging and a new system for state funding for beach renourishment and storm damage mitigation.

The open race for Brown’s Senate District 6, which includes Jones and Onslow counties, is between Democrat Ike Johnson and Republican Michael A. Lazzara.

District 6 isn’t the only open state Senate seat on the coast. The sprawling District 3, which includes Beaufort, Bertie, Martin, Northampton, Vance and Warren counties, became an open-seat race when Sen. Erica Smith, D-Northampton, decided to seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. The District 3 race features Democrat Ernestine Byrd Bazemore and Republican Thomas S. Hester Jr.

Four Senate incumbents, three Republicans and one Democrat, are seeking reelection.

Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, faces Dare County Democrat Tess Judge in Senate District 1, which includes Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, Currituck, Camden, Perquimans, Gates, Hertford, Chowan, Pasquotank, Washington, the most counties represented by a single senator.

Four-term incumbent Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, is being challenged by Democrat Libbie Griffin and Libertarian Tim Harris in Senate District 2, which includes Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties.

Senate District 8, which includes Bladen, Brunswick, Pender and part of New Hanover counties, is a rematch of the 2018 race. Five-term incumbent Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, is again being challenged by Democrat David Sink and Libertarian Anthony Mascolo.

The other rematch is in Senate District 9, which was 2018’s closest Senate race. In that contest, Sen. Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, is being challenged by Republican former Sen. Michael Lee, who was ousted by Peterson in 2018 by 231 votes.

State House

The court-ordered redistricting led to changes in coastal districts in Pender, Brunswick and New Hanover counties. The redraw in New Hanover County put GOP incumbents Reps. Ted Davis and Holly Grange in the same district, but the two avoided a primary since Grange had already opted to run in the GOP’s gubernatorial primary.

Davis is running in new House District 20 in Wilmington against Democrat Adam Ericson.

In the Wilmington-based House District 18, incumbent Democrat Deb Butler is facing Republican Warren Kennedy.

In House District 19, which includes much of coastal Brunswick County and part of New Hanover County, Democrat Marcia Morgan of Carolina Beach, who ran against Davis in 2018, is facing Charlie Miller of Southport.

Running to represent the rest of Brunswick in House District 17 are incumbent GOP Rep. Frank Iler of Shallotte and Democrat Tom Simmons of Boiling Springs.

In the Pender County-based House District 16, incumbent Republican Carson Smith of Hampstead is facing Democrat Debbi Fintak of Surf City.

Longtime Jacksonville incumbents George Cleveland and Phil Shepard both won contested primaries. Cleveland now faces Democrat Marcy Wofford in House District 14 and Shepard squares off against Democrat Carolyn Gomaa in House District 15.

Four-term GOP incumbent Michael Speciale’s retirement leaves an open seat in the New Bern-based House District 3 where Republican Steve Tyson faces Democrat Dorothea Downing White (no campaign website found).

The House District 79 race, which includes part of Craven County along with Beaufort County, features first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Keith Kidwell and Democrat Nick Blount, both of Chocowinity.

Also on the central coast, seven-term incumbent Republican Rep. Pat McElraft faces Democrat Buck Bayliff in District 13, which includes Jones and Carteret counties.

Northern coastal races include a trio of incumbents running for reelection.

Three-term Democratic Rep. Howard Hunter is running against Republican Donald Kirkland, both of Ahoskie, in House District 5, which includes Pasquotank, Gates and Hertford counties.

First-term Republican Rep. Bobby Hanig is running for reelection against Democrat Tommy Fulcher in House District 6, which includes Dare, Currituck, Hyde and Pamlico counties.

First-term GOP Rep. Edward Goodwin is running against Democrat Emily Bunch Nicholson in House District 1, which includes Camden, Tyrrell, Perquimans, Chowan, Bertie and Washington counties.

RALEIGH — The North Carolina General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a new coronavirus relief package that also includes hurricane, tornado and earthquake assistance.

In a brief, two-day session, the legislature passed Thursday the 52-page bill by wide margins in both chambers, clearing the Senate first in a 44-5 vote and followed by the House, which approved the bill 104-10.

The bill includes $335 checks for families with children, a $50 per week boost in unemployment benefits and more funds for broadband expansion, health care supplies, food banks, schools and universities.

Also in the bill is $44.5 million in disaster relief, most of it state matches for federal aid for those affected by recent hurricanes, as well as $24 million in help for communities in Alleghany County damaged in the recent earthquake.

An additional $750,000 was set aside to be used for the state match for assistance to communities affected by the deadly tornado in Bertie County spawned by Hurricane Isaias.

“None of us have faced a health crisis quite like this,” Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, one of the bill’s main authors, said Thursday during floor debate. “Some have lost loved ones, others have been separated from family, others have lost jobs. Yet we are a state that has faced hardships before, from hurricanes, fires, droughts, earthquakes and tornadoes, and each time we come back even stronger. This time we will do it again, more determined and stronger than ever. We will not let this pandemic defeat us.”

Despite the lopsided vote, the way the bill was assembled drew a sharp rebuke from Democrats, who said they were cut out of negotiations in another opaque process that eliminated open hearings and limited public input.

The disaster funds in the bill include the following:

• $27,796,610 for the state match for Hurricane Florence federal disaster assistance programs.
• $13,203,390 state match for federal disaster assistance programs related to Hurricane Matthew.
• $2,779,661 for the state match for federal disaster assistance programs related to Hurricane Dorian.
• $3.5 million for the state match for federal disaster assistance programs related to Hurricane Isaias.
• $300,000 to provide a grant to Bladenboro for the town’s demolition, reconstruction and repair of public infrastructure and public buildings damaged in Hurricane Florence.

The bill also allows for $750,000 for direct state assistance to Bertie, Chowan, Halifax, Hertford, Martin, Northampton and Washington counties for help in recovery from the powerful tornado that struck near Windsor during Hurricane Isaias, killing two people, injuring dozens and damaging several homes.

Parks, aquariums get boost

The legislature also approved $19.7 million in state funds to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources for state parks and attractions and supporting nonprofits, with $2.1 million going for trail construction, increased trail maintenance and safety and health maintenance needs for trails and other park amenities that have been heavily used as North Carolinians took to the outdoors during the pandemic.

Funds for support organizations include the following:

• $1.5 million to the North Carolina Aquarium Society.
• $1 million to the North Carolina Museum of History Foundation to support the North Carolina Museum of History, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, the Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center, the Museum of the Albemarle, the Museum of the Cape Fear, the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort and the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Southport.
• $1 million to the Roanoke Island Historical Association.
• $1 million to the Tryon Palace Foundation.
• $300,000 to the Friends of the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences.

The General Assembly formally adjourned for the year Friday and legislators are not scheduled to return until a new legislature is sworn in Jan. 13, 2021.

The departure came with a caveat, however, since there is still a chance that Congress could approve additional federal coronavirus relief this year. Should that occur and require action by the General Assembly to allocate it, the state constitution allows the governor to call the legislature back into session.

Copublished with Carolina Public Press

RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday a spending plan for state government and an outline for using the state’s remaining federal coronavirus funding, but his roughly $1.5 billion proposal was quickly dismissed by General Assembly leaders ahead of next week’s legislative session.

Cooper wants to use roughly $560 million in state funds for a relief package that includes $200 million for local governments, $2,000 bonuses for educators, $86.5 million for disaster recovery and increases in unemployment benefits.

The disaster funds are to provide the state match for federal disaster funding, including $15 million for Hurricane Matthew, $40 million for Hurricane Florence, $3.5 million for Hurricane Dorian, $4 million for Hurricane Isaias and $24 million for recent earthquake damage in Allegheny County.

The governor also wants to raise the maximum weekly payout for state unemployment benefits to $500 and double the benefit period to 24 weeks.

He also included Medicaid expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act in his plan, last year’s main budget sticking point, citing the pandemic and a bleak outlook for further federal aid as further driving home the need for expansion, which has now been enacted in some form by 38 states.

Asked why his push for expansion wouldn’t just lead to another drawn-out budget fight, Cooper bristled.

“First, unlike last year, we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” he said, before launching into a defense of the plan.

Cooper said the failure to come up with a new plan in Washington makes Medicaid expansion even more important.

“I wish that Congress and the president hadn’t left Washington,” he said. “I wish they had stayed there until they came to some agreement on unemployment compensation, on helping states and local governments, on providing more money for health care and testing and personal protective equipment, but they didn’t.”

North Carolina, he said, is now in a position where it is fighting for every federal dollar.

Even before Wednesday’s announcement in Raleigh, legislative leaders had rejected the governor’s plan.

In a joint statement ahead of the governor’s press conference Senate budget writers, including Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, accused the governor of misrepresenting the state’s balance sheet and said they were pressing ahead with their own plan.

In an interview Wednesday with Spectrum News, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said the legislature was also developing its own plans to spend the remaining federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said the legislature’s spending plan is already in the works, but it’s unclear yet what the final package will look like.

“My understanding is that we will have some COVID-related bills and some spending bills for the CARES federal money,” McElraft said Thursday in a text message to Coastal Review Online, referring to the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

In early May, legislators agreed on a spending plan for $1.6 billion of the roughly $4 billion the state received from the CARES Act, passed by Congress in late March. About $481 million of the funds went directly to the state’s three largest counties, Wake, Guilford and Mecklenburg.

Plans for the rest of the money have been on hold awaiting further federal action, including additional aid and greater flexibility in how states can use the coronavirus relief funds. The legislature set aside $300 million in funds in its initial bill with the intent to fill a widening budget gap at the North Carolina Department of Transportation once the state is granted the flexibility to do so.

In announcing his plan, Cooper said with negotiations on another round of federal aid stalled for more than a month, it’s time to go ahead and allocate the remaining $552 million in CARES Act money.

His plan would combine that and reallocate some of the unspent funds in the initial round to raise the total available in federal aid to $978 million. By law, the state must allocate the funds by the end of the year or risk losing them.

Cooper’s plan also includes another $150 million in direct aid to counties, which will be disbursed on a per capita basis. In addition, another $50 million — $25 million for cities and towns and $25 million for counties — would be available to local governments through a competitive grant process to be managed by the North Carolina League of Municipalities and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

McElraft said the legislature already allocated $150 million in the first round of coronavirus relief funding and isn’t likely to approve additional help. She said counties are expected to share the first round of funds with their municipalities.

The governor is also proposing two bonds, a $4.3 billion education and infrastructure bond that would go before voters in November 2021 and a $998 million special indebtedness bond for health infrastructure investments, that would not require approval from the voters.

Cooper said Wednesday the health infrastructure bond could be quickly put in motion. Major spending proposals for it include $250 million for high-speed internet access for telehealth services and $275 million for vaccine and public health research.

The bond plan would also allocate $50 million for renovations and expansion of the Department of Environmental Quality’s main laboratories at its Reedy Creek complex, a key priority for the department.

The legislature is expected to resume Thursday at noon, but it’s as yet unclear how long legislators will remain in Raleigh.

A coalition of 17 environmental groups, including four from North Carolina, is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the implementation of changes to federal rules sought by the Trump administration they charge will gut environmental review.

Attorneys for Clean Air Carolina, MountainTrue, the Haw River Assembly and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, along with groups from Virginia, South Carolina and Alabama, filed a motion Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville asking for a preliminary injunction to stop a major rule rewrite for the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.

The coalition says the NEPA overhaul was rammed through without proper review under the Administrative Procedure Act and if allowed to take effect would erase major wetlands protections, ignore environmental justice concerns and eliminate consideration of cumulative impacts, including climate change.

Kym Hunter, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center and a lead counsel in the case, said the rule is being rushed into place and is written in a way that could affect both new projects and those that are already under review under the old rule.

“The rule will go into effect on September 14, 2020 and in addition to applying to new projects can apply to projects already in process,” Hunter said Wednesday in an email response to Coastal Review. “In many cases the changes will mean that a project is no longer subject to NEPA so we won’t even know what is happening.”

The motion cites several projects in North Carolina that are either under NEPA review or are soon to likely to be, including a port expansion and railroad realignment in Wilmington, the Mid-Currituck Bridge, N.C. 12 work, Chatham Parkway in a sensitive area of Chatham County and the Catawba Crossing Project in Gaston County.

A draft of the new NEPA rule, which includes 66 pages of changes, was proposed Jan. 10 by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In the 60-day comment period that followed, it drew more than 1 million comments. On July 15, four months after the close of the comment period, the council issued a new rule that very closely the mirrored the original.

Administration officials, including the president, have pushed for the changes.

In a Jan. 10 announcement in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Trump cited the Marc Basnight Bridge as an example of projects that took too long to build.

“We’ll not stop until our nation’s gleaming new infrastructure has made America the envy of the world again,” Trump said. “It used to be the envy of the world, and now we’re like a third-world country.  It’s really sad.”

At the same ceremony, Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Mary Neumayr insisted that the new rule wouldn’t hurt environmental protections.

“The proposed rule would provide for a faster process while ensuring that agencies analyze and consider the environmental impacts of proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to address significant impacts,” she said. “Nothing in the proposal would eliminate the protections that Congress has enacted to safeguard our environment and the American people.”

The conservation groups challenging the rule say it will do exactly that and more, asserting that what is being billed as streamlining and “cutting red tape” in reality excuses agencies from considering long-term effects and cumulative effects, including those around climate change.

According to a brief in support of the injunction also filed Tuesday, “The elimination of the requirement to study indirect and cumulative effects will also lead to a host of other impacts being ignored, such as how multiple individually small impacts to wildlife habitat may force a species closer to the brink of extinction, how the cumulative combination of air pollution sources can exacerbate health problems in already-burdened low income communities, and how the indirect impacts of new development that results from the access created by a new highway may lead to air and water pollution, wetland degradation, increased traffic congestion, and more flooding.”

The challenge also warns that the new rule will lead to less public transparency and public input since the public relies on the NEPA process for information and updates on projects.

NEPA studies begin for rail project

Wilmington announced this week that the NEPA process had formally begun for a proposed route for a new freight line and crossing over the Cape Fear River near the state port. The plan is designed to eliminate the rail loop route through the city and improve rail service at the port.

Aubrey Parsley, director of the rail realignment project, said the Federal Railroad Administration, the lead agency for the project review, had yet to issue guidance on the new rule. Parsley said he did not expect it to change community outreach and review.

“The proposed rule changes have not affected our community outreach efforts yet. Public outreach has been a cornerstone of this project since the very beginning and it will continue to be. That said, we’re still learning about the proposed rule changes and are awaiting some further guidance from our lead agency, the FRA,” Parsley said, adding screening criteria for the project is still being developed.

Hunter said there will broad consequences of rushing the rule through.

“The rules apply to over one hundred federal agencies and implementation is going to be utter chaos,” she said. “Because we believe the rules will ultimately be declared illegal we think it is important the rules be enjoined before they start.”

Among the consequences is that the rule ultimately will lead to more delays and legal challenges.

“The Rule dislodges forty years of stable, established legal precedent,” according to the brief.

With tighter budgets ahead and a pandemic shutdown affecting operations and cutting revenue, planners at the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources are working on how to best maintain aquariums, parks and attractions and still move ahead with expansion and repair projects already in the pipeline.

The department’s budget office estimates that lost revenue for the first half of fiscal year 2021, which started July 1, to be $3.75 million for parks and $5.33 million for the state’s aquariums.

DNCR spokesperson Michele Walker cautioned that in the current environment, estimates are difficult to pin down.

“Keep in mind that this is only an estimate; there are a lot of unknowns in this equation so these numbers could end up looking different by the end of the year,” Walker said in an email exchange with Coastal Review Online.

So far, she said, both the parks and aquariums have been able to retain permanent full-time staff and some temporary staff have been hired on at busy parks.

Walker said the park system has played an important role during the pandemic. “State parks have been hugely popular and are providing a place of respite for NC residents during this time.”

But the state’s three aquariums are a different story. They’ve remained closed since March 17, when tighter, statewide stay-at-home orders took effect.

Walker said that’s meant a delay for a planned expansion at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher and a shift of priorities for the aquarium staff from in-person activities inside to improving outdoor experiences and online programming, such as virtual day camps. Inside, Walker said the priorities for the aquariums and Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head are to care for the aquariums’ creatures, continue assistance for stranded marine animals and maintain the tanks, exhibits and facilities for when the crowds return.

Leaning on bonds

The scope of future budget cuts is tied both to the course of the coronavirus pandemic and the extent of federal aid, but departments throughout state government are looking at priorities and how and where to find savings.

While it is delaying the Fort Fisher aquarium expansion, DNCR is one of several departments that will be able to keep some of its key projects funded and moving forward through the Connect NC bond program, a 10-year, $2 billion infrastructure funding program approved by the voters in 2016. This fall, the state will sell a $400 million tranche of bonds.

More than half of the Connect NC money is aimed at University of North Carolina system projects, with the rest distributed for state and local parks, the North Carolina Zoo, National Guard facilities, community colleges, state building repairs and water and sewer projects.

Legislation tied to the referendum sets aside 5% of the money for the zoo and the state parks system. Of the $100 million, it earmarks $25 million for the zoo and $75 million for 45 parks projects around the state.

A recent update by the State Office of Management and Budget shows that of the $971.5 million allocated so far, about 3% has gone to parks projects. Going forward, that pace will pick up with 6% of the allocations from the anticipated sale of the $400 million in bonds in October set aside for parks.

Coastal projects budgeted in the bond program include the following:

• Dismal Swamp State Park — $990,750 for land acquisition; $8,850 spent so far.
• Mountains-to-Sea State Trail — $4.5 million for land acquisition; $2,300,988 spent so far.
• Carolina Beach State Park — $855,000 for campground improvements; $273,622 spent so far.
• Goose Creek State Park — $1,477,500 for campground improvements; fully funded.
• Merchants Millpond State Park — $870,750 for campground improvements; none spent so far.
• Fort Fisher State Recreation Area — $1,125,000 for bathroom building improvements; revised to $456,775 and fully funded.
• Jockeys Ridge State Park — $751,500 for visitor center and exhibit hall improvements; $164,150 spent so far.
• Pettigrew State Park — $2,830,500 for visitors center and museum; $94,022 spent so far.
• Fort Macon State Park — $135,000, for cannon project; fully funded.
• Hammocks Beach State Park — $1,125,000 for mainland development project; 1, $51,311 spent so far.

Conservation fund concerns

Walker said there is concern going forward about the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, or CWMTF, and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF, the state’s two main conservation funds.

Although the Connect NC bond includes projects in both areas, demand for grants from the funds from local governments remains high, and in some cases the funds are being used in conjunction with the bond funds and could prove a drag on those projects if not available.

Walker said CWMTF currently has 144 pending applications requesting $82 million in grants. PARTF has 66 eligible local government applications pending this year with a total of $20.5 million requested.

Annual allocations for both funds have been reduced to cover past budget gaps. Walker said a similar move during the pandemic would come at the wrong time.

“The General Assembly has worked with us in recent years to maintain or increase the amounts in both trust funds and has continued to find money to invest in them. We believe they understand the importance and significance of these programs for North Carolina,” Walker said. “We are concerned about potential future reductions because PARTF funds are essential for ongoing maintenance of heavily used park facilities, and for completion of projects already underway with ConnectNC bond funding.”

Both funds have assisted in building the trails and greenways that are proving so valuable in the pandemic, she said. “These local resources have been critical for citizens during COVID-19 who needed access for recreation, fresh air and for people to safely venture out. The need is stronger than ever.”

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, one of the chief  budget writers in the House and a longtime backer of the conservation funds, said he doubts that the funds will see any additional money allocated as happened in years past, but should be able to maintain their regular appropriations.

In last year’s budget plan, more than $20 million in nonrecurring money was budgeted for the two funds each year. The ongoing budget stalemate between Gov. Roy Cooper and legislative leaders put that plan on hold and now any additional funds except those needed to cover administrative expenses and ongoing grants obligations are unlikely.

“At this point, I have no expectations that either of the trust funds will get their usual additional nonrecurring funds. I also don’t think we’ll need to strip them of any recurring funds,” McGrady, who opted to not seek another term, said earlier this week.

McGrady said he also doesn’t see any other major parks or natural resources money coming when the legislature returns in early September for a session to make necessary budget adjustments. That session, he said, is likely to be brief and narrowly focused.

“The adjournment resolution is very restrictive,” McGrady said. “Assuming the governor calls us back into session, I see that session as being pretty short in light of the need for candidates, some of which are incumbents, to get out on the campaign trail.”

Copublished with Carolina Public Press

RALEIGH — To say that North Carolina’s state budget is complicated right now is a Category 5 understatement.

But after a multiyear battle over state spending that’s included a mix of mini-budgets and hurricane and coronavirus relief measures, officials are preparing to put the 2020-21 fiscal year on the books, affording a much clearer picture of where the state stands for the uncertain year ahead.

With the state looking at major shortfalls in revenue, additional COVID-19 expenses and a pressing need for additional help for local governments, budget cuts and project delays across state government are inevitable.

The extent of those cuts will depend on the level of federal aid and the rules around it, but some have already started. In early June, departments were instructed to cut travel and training costs, keep unfilled positions open and hold off on raises, typical early steps that portend more to come.

Among the state agencies likely to take a hit in the belt-tightening to come is the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, whose budget has been entangled in disagreements over priorities between the state House and Senate and the executive branch for more than a decade as its dealt with a host of high-profile crises like coal ash, GenX in public drinking water supplies and hurricanes.

A budget deal between the House and Senate last year would have given the agency funds for a long-sought renovation of its main Reedy Creek laboratories in Raleigh as well as additional personnel for testing for emerging contaminants such as GenX.

But that deal along with the rest of the state budget was nixed in late June of last year after the bill was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper and the legislature and the executive branch subsequently failed to reach an alternative agreement. On July 1 of last year, an automatic budget law kicked in, funding state agencies at the previous year’s level.

As the budget standoff dragged on, the legislature sent Cooper a series of mini-budgets to fund parts of state government along with hurricane relief bills following Hurricane Dorian.

Although there were some funds for DEQ in the bills to assist with storm expenses, the department has for the most part operated under the state’s 2018-19 budget and without further changes will do so into next summer.

DEQ officials declined last week to discuss the impacts of operating under the older spending plan or how programs and initiatives might be affected by potential cuts.

“We continue to monitor the situation but it’s too early to report anything or provide an outlook,” Sharon Martin, spokesperson for the department, said in an email response to Coastal Review Online. “As you know, DEQ is no stranger to limited funding, so we continue to achieve our mission with limited resources as we always have.”

‘It gets really complicated’

Robin Smith, an environmental lawyer and consultant who served during the Great Recession as assistant secretary for Environment at the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, DEQ’s predecessor, said the department is now faced with a far more difficult situation.

“I think this situation is worse than anything we saw previously. You’re already talking about a limited budget based on 2018-19, and now at some point the need for cuts in response to the pandemic and the loss of revenue is really going to hit,” Smith said last week.

Smith said when the budget numbers are finalized later this month there will be a clearer picture of the details, including things like permit fees, which are a major revenue source for the department.

Although DENR, which included the state park system, was larger in size and scope than DEQ, the process of winnowing the budget would likely be similar, Smith said. The added burden now, she said, is that it comes after years of meager funding.

“Inside the department what you would be looking at would be, where can we take that cut whatever it needs to be without doing any more damage than we need to?” she said. “At this point the real problem is that with the prior-year budget cut, they’re already operating on fumes and it becomes harder and harder when you have cut after to cut to do it without doing real harm.”

The different funding streams and federal grant requirements also make the process difficult. If the legislature or the governor calls for an across-the-board cut or a reduction in state appropriations, that will have different impacts across the department.

One example, Smith said, is that the budget for the state’s Air Quality Division is based entirely on fee revenue, so in that division there’s no appropriation to cut.

In addition, department programs for drinking water, water quality and air quality have to maintain funding and personnel levels because of required state matches for federal grants.

All that serves to concentrate the cuts within DEQ.

“Across-the-board cuts might sound like a good idea but are really not possible,” she said. “It gets really complicated. The bottom line is that it gets more and more difficult the more years you are taking cuts, because you are having to concentrate the next round of cuts in the same areas because those are the programs that have appropriated funds and can potentially take the cuts without putting a federal grant at risk. So, it’s not evenly distributed across the department and it’s not necessarily based on which program can afford to give up money, because it depends on which pot that money is in.”

Next steps

In the coming weeks, even though the legislature has not passed a formal budget bill as it usually does, the State Budget Office will certify the spending levels for the coming year.

Marcia Evans, communications specialist with the Office of State Budget and Management, said the goal is to be finished in the second week of August, but that this year is a little more challenging than usual.

“Given the multitude of bills involved in certification this year, it is significantly more complex certification process, and some agencies may take a bit longer than is typical to ensure all entries are accurate,” Evans said.

For now, what happens with the state budget is largely in the hands of the federal government and the next coronavirus relief bill. Negotiations over a new plan, which stalled this week, are continuing.

State Budget Director Charles Perusse said last month in an email response to Coastal Review Online that once the federal plan is in place, the administration will start work to have a comprehensive budget ready for when legislators return in early September.

For North Carolina, key aspects of any new plan directly influencing the state budget will be whether the plan includes additional flexibility over how funds in an earlier round of coronavirus relief can be spent and whether a new plan includes additional direct aid to state and local governments.

If a new federal package includes flexibility allowing the state to use the funds under the previous Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act to replace lost revenue, in what’s referred to as a “backfill” provision. Then the state can devote some of remaining $1.5 billion it has yet to spend to cover revenue shortfalls significantly easing the severity of state cuts.

Updated 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to include 24 bills Cooper signed into law 

Although the focus for the end of the short session was the ongoing fight between Gov. Roy Cooper and the legislative leadership over the state’s coronavirus response, several environmental and coastal provisions cleared the North Carolina General Assembly last week.

They include the final go-ahead for the Ocracoke-Hatteras passenger ferry, flood resiliency planning for eastern North Carolina and dredging, beach renourishment and shoreline funds, all bills that saw broad support.

The legislature adjourned last week without passing a new budget, despite the end of the state’s fiscal year Tuesday, instead passing smaller, targeted spending bills and relying on an automatic spending law until lawmakers return Sept. 3. Both spending and policy shifts were scattered in a series of omnibus bills hammered out at the end of the session.

One major shift in policy expands the use of the state Department of Environmental Quality Ecosystem Restoration Fund to include more projects designed to increase the amount of floodwater storage.

The provision sets up an inventory of natural and working lands that could become part of a new flood-control network. It creates additional incentives for private landowners to do stream restoration and wetlands enhancement to build flood stage capacity.

Speaking in support on the floor of the House June 25, Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, said the idea is to use that additional capacity to take pressure off rivers and streams by temporarily flooding fields and natural lands to protect roads and buildings.

In a statement after the bill’s passage, Will McDow, resilient landscapes director with the Environmental Defense Fund, said natural solutions are often a faster, more cost-effective way to build capacity than levees or other hardened structures and could be helpful, particularly in cash-strapped communities hit by repeated flooding.

“This program expansion comes at a time when flood-prone communities across the state need increased assistance, especially those communities that have been marginalized and disadvantaged for too long,” McDow said.

The flood-control provision was tacked onto the end of legislation to address an increasing number of failing public wastewater systems.

The legislation, spurred by a special committee last year led by McGrady and Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabbarus, sets up a carrot-and-stick approach for dozens of failing water systems, many of which are located in eastern North Carolina.

Under the new law, the state would be able to assume management of failing systems and work with local governments to restructure and repair the systems. It would also facilitate mergers and consolidations along with creation of more regional water authorities. More than two dozen systems are on a state watch list. The state took over two failed wastewater systems in the past year and with the new law and additional funding in place, takeovers are likely to accelerate.

Also added at the end of the water system bill was $15 million from the state’s shallow draft dredging fund to the state Division of Water Resources as the state match for roughly $90 million in federal funds. Projects include Morehead City and Wilmington harbor work and beach and shoreline projects in Kure Beach, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, Ocean Isle, Bogue Banks and Surf City, along with shoreline protection for North Topsail Beach.

Late-session rules push

Although much of the end-of-session legislation was stripped of more controversial sections, a few last-minute provisions did draw opposition, including proposed changes to oversight of executive branch rulemaking authority.

One provision gives more time for legislative challenges to new agency rules and another grants far broader authority over state policy making to administrative law judges.

That provision, stripped from a conference report after last-minute objections, would have given administrative law judges the power to “Determine that a policy, guideline, or other interpretive statement that a State agency has sought to implement or enforce is unenforceable,” if they determine it should have gone through a formal rulemaking process. The judge could then suspend the policy, order a refund of any fees collected and require the challenged agency to cover plaintiffs’ legal costs.

Derb Carter, director of the Chapel Hill office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the provision, which was pulled after objections from lawmakers, environmental organizations and the governor’s office, was an attempt to substantially expand the power of administrative law judges and give regulated industries another vehicle for slowing down or removing rules they don’t like.

“It raises another avenue to attack agency decisions,” he said. The legislature, he said, already has ample ability to undo those decisions. “At any time, if the legislature thinks that they ought to repeal or override a rule, they can just write a law.”

Another provision in the same bill rewrites the timeline whereby legislators can file bills to strike down specific agency rules. Under current law, just filing a bill stops a new rule from taking effect, a process that in recent years has been used to challenge or at least slow dozens of environmental rules. The new provision gives legislators more time by shifting the schedule for filing objections to an annual basis rather than only when the legislature is in session.

Carter said the change, an outgrowth of the legislature’s slow creep toward a year-round schedule, adds to the amount of legislative intrusion of an executive branch function.

“This is just an intrusion into what should be the authority of the governor to execute the laws in the interest of the people of the state,” he said. “The legislature is doing nothing but trying to impede this.”

The rule provision remained in the final version of the bill. Cooper has not announced whether he would sign the bill.

Cooper signs numerous bills

Cooper signed the following 24 bills into law:

• House Bill 1023: Coronavirus Relief Fund/ Additions & Revisions
• House Bill 1087: Water/ Wastewater Public Enterprise Reform
• Senate Bill 681: Agency Policy Directives/ 2019-2020
• Senate Bill 212: Capital Appropriations/ R&R/ Cybersec
• House Bill 1163: Guilford Funds/Cabarrus Land/Brunswick Shellfish
• Senate Bill 816: Community College Funds/Cooperative Innovative HS Funds/Coronavirus Relief Funds
• House Bill 32: Collaborative Law
• Senate Bill 733: UNC Capital Projects
• Senate Bill 817: Funds for UNC Enrollment Growth/ FY 2020-21
• House Bill 885: Only Allow Courts to Charge FTA Fee Once
• House Bill 1072: GSC Technical Corrections 2020
• House Bill 1064: GSC Clarifying Bingo License Statute
• House Bill 694: Designate Legacy Airports
• Senate Bill 739: Personal Delivery Device/PDD/Delivery Robots
• Senate Bill 208: COVID-19 Immunity/IHEs 
• Senate Bill 217: UI/Precinct Workers/2020 General Election
• House Bill 308: Regulatory Reform Act of 2020
• Senate Bill 364: NC Commercial Receivership Act Revisions 
• Senate Bill 813: UNC Building Reserve/ Certain Project/ FY 20-21
• Senate Bill 488: DMV/ MV Changes
• Senate Bill 361: Healthy NC
• House Bill 593: JCPC/ Detention/ CAA and Other Fees  
• House Bill 471: Exempt Direct Primary Care from DOI Regs
• Senate Bill 782: Merchandise Sales Limit/ Meck Dist Ct

After a slow-moving, late-night session that stretched from 10 a.m. Thursday to 3 a.m. Friday, the North Carolina General Assembly adjourned with plans to come back in early September.

The legislative marathon included lengthy deliberations over bills that challenged Gov. Roy Cooper’s coronavirus response, last-minute fixes and several pieces of legislation in the works since last year’s contentious budget fight.

Among them are rescue funds for dozens of failing public water systems, state matches for federally funded coastal projects, requirements for hurricane-related flooding and resiliency planning, and steps for dealing with abandoned and derelict vessels.

As work wrapped up, the legislature avoided a last-minute fight over this year’s version in the series of large, multi-provision regulatory bills.

House appropriations co-chair Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, who is leaving the legislature after five terms, said items flagged by Cooper were pulled from the bill. As a result, the Regulatory Reform Act of 2020, passed unanimously.

The bill allows the Division of Coastal Management to begin accepting electronic payments and gives the Department of Environmental Quality broader authority to establish emergency procedures for solid waste handling during a hurricane or other disasters.

State matching funds for federal coastal projects that are usually included in the comprehensive budget bill were added to another last-day omnibus. They include Morehead City and Wilmington harbor work and coastal storm mitigation projects for Kure Beach, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, Ocean Isle, Bogue Banks and Surf City, along with shoreline protection for North Topsail Beach.

That legislation, House Bill 1087, also includes a new initiative on flood storage capacity that would create basinwide inventories of areas than can temporarily hold water to reduce the impacts of severe flooding.

Budget delayed until fall

Not among the items completed was budget legislation, that’s the usual mission of the second year of the biennial, the so-called short session.

The legislature did pass some budget bills aimed at shoring up the Department of Transportation, which has put some construction projects on hold due to lack of funds, as well as targeted funding and policy changes for Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Public Instruction. But a larger budget bill is likely on hold until the legislature returns on Sept. 3.

Throughout the nine-week session, the senate’s main budget negotiator, Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, cautioned against developing a spending plan until rules on federal coronavirus relief are clearer and legislators have a better idea of revenue.

Brown, who is stepping down after eight terms, gave his farewell speech to the Senate a little after 2 a.m. Friday, imploring his colleagues to lift up the state’s poor counties. “There are two North Carolinas,” he reminded them.

The state followed the federal government in delaying its tax filing deadline to July 15, after the start of a new fiscal year. Since no budget was passed, for parts of the government not specifically funded in the short session, an automatic continuation budget law kicks in, funding departments and agencies at previous year levels.

Although work has been completed for now and an adjournment resolution passed, the General Assembly will spend the next week holding skeleton sessions in the event leaders want to call members back for a veto-override vote.

Cooper has said he would veto the legislature’s bills to reopen various businesses because they would “tie the hands” of public health officials.

Among the final round of bills, several sought to rewrite the use of emergency powers by the governor, including legislation requiring the governor to get approval of the Council of State.

This story was updated June 25.

RALEIGH — Legislation  to restart passenger ferry service for the Hatteras-Ocracoke crossing has cleared the North Carolina General Assembly and been presented for Gov. Roy Cooper’s signature.

On Wednesday, June 24, the Senate passed in a 44-0 vote Senate Bill 750, which the House approved last week.

The measure started as a supplemental funding bill introduced in May by Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, that included money for a new chiller plant and HVAC system for buildings at Elizabeth City State University.

Earlier this month the state Senate added a provision to the bill directing the North Carolina Department of Transportation to restart the passenger ferry run through Sept. 10. The bill directs NCDOT to set aside $1,146,179 of contingency funds appropriated last year for the lease.

The route is to be started once the route for the ferry has been verified.

Before passing the bill, the House modified a portion of the Senate’s language on funding and the legislation will go back to the Senate for a concurrence vote on the changes.

“We are following the legislation and will be ready to implement it if it becomes law,” NCDOT Assistant Director of Communications Jamie Kritzer said Friday.

This is the sixth installment in a continuing series on climate change and the North Carolina coast that is part of the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative.

RALEIGH — It was not the kind of Earth Day that North Carolina State Climatologist Kathie Dello had imagined.

On April 20, Dello opened a weeklong series of events at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, but instead of an in-person talk with the giant Earth at the museum’s entrance as a fitting backdrop, she joined via teleconference from her Raleigh home.

For the better part of an hour, Dello, on the job since last July, led a virtual walk-through of the findings in the state’s new climate report, an extensive, first-ever compilation of the science, impacts and unknowns about climate change in the state.

The major takeaways from the 236-page report are familiar: a warmer, wetter North Carolina with coastal areas threatened by rising seas and more frequent heavy downpours, along with increased flooding in all parts of the state.

Dello’s job that day and every day is to put that kind of data into context.

“North Carolina is warming and we’re expecting warming unlike anything we’ve seen in our past,” she explained to museum viewers.

Dello is the state’s fifth climatologist and the first woman to lead the State Climate Office, based at North Carolina State University. Before taking the job, she served as the associate director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and the deputy director of the Oregon Climate Service.

In her talk illustrating the details in the new report, Dello pointed to effects seen around the state, breaking down the impact of warmer nights on public health and agriculture and how more intense rain events spell more frequent urban flooding. Stone fruits, like peaches, and other crops won’t do well without cool nights, she explained. Farmworkers and other outdoor laborers will experience more heat stress during the day, while warmer nights mean no chance to cool down.

It’s important, she said, to recognize that climate change is in our present as well as our future and has to be addressed accordingly.

“We’re feeling climate change now so, we don’t get to the luxury of talking about this as a future problem anymore,” she said. “It’s here in North Carolina. It’s here in our backyard and we’re seeing it through the sea level rise and extreme downpours.”

In getting to know the state, Dello said she’s been struck with its diversity, in ecological terms and the human communities within its borders.

For Dello a big part of the job of state climatologist is communicating science in a meaningful way, bringing home to people what a changing climate means. She helped author a “plain language” summary of the North Carolina Climate Science Report, which is aimed at making the science more accessible and useful for the public as well as planners and policy makers.

Creating the complex climate models, the math, is the easy part, she told viewers on Earth Day.

“I’m not being flip, that really is the easy part. The most difficult part is the human component, us, how we’re going to behave, how we’re going to react.”

In plain language

In climate science circles, North Carolina is known both for the intensity of storms and the debate here over climate science. Dello said that when she got here, only one was apparent.

“When I got the job, people were shocked that I would leave the West Coast, which seems to be a friendlier place to talk about climate,” she said in an interview with Coastal Review Online. “But I found the opposite here.”

Dello said she saw much more resistance and organized opposition in Oregon.

“I don’t know if it’s just Southern hospitality or that people are a little bit nicer, but I find that people are ready and willing to talk about climate change here,” she said. “In some cases, they haven’t been engaged at all and are grateful that someone is willing to approach the subject with them.”

Recent storms here likely played a role in that, she said. “I’m finding that folks are open and willing to have the conversation and certainly the weather and the climate over the past few years has probably helped that out.”

“I don’t know if it’s just Southern hospitality or that people are a little bit nicer, but I find that people are ready and willing to talk about climate change here.”

To understand what the future of our climate holds, Dello said it’s important to recognize that we are already seeing what climate change looks like.

“We’re in for more of it. We’re in for worse,” she said. “It’s hotter, it’s wetter, the ocean communities are dealing with sunny-day, nuisance flooding and coastal erosion.”

“Flooding is going to impact the entire state,” Dello said. There’ll be more frequent heavy rain events and more large-scale urban floods, especially when there’s a combination of events, such as a big storm after leaves have just fallen.

“The mechanism might be different — it’s not going to be high tide in Raleigh — but it may be something else.”

What that means for hurricanes is unclear, in terms of where the storms might travel, she said, but wherever they go, more intense wind and rain and more damage are likely.

“We don’t necessarily know where hurricanes make landfall. Climate models don’t reconcile that very well but we’re stacking the deck with more conducive conditions for dangerous hurricanes.”

That outlook is daunting for policy makers, and Dello said the state will have to confront repeated devastation to vulnerable communities and the disparate impact on people who work outside or can’t afford to cool their homes when heat indexes rise.

“I think this is going to take a really close look at some of our inequities across our state,” she said. “The communities that going to be hit the hardest, that have been hit the hardest are just going to keep getting hit. I think we have some tough questions to ask of ourselves.”

She said the coronavirus pandemic is reminder that it is pointless to talk about a “new normal” as if there will be a point where things plateau.

“We talk about a new normal and we were talking about a new normal before all this other stuff started happening,” she said. “But that’s not a great classification, because we’ll check in at a new normal and then there’ll be another new normal and another new normal.”

NC’s opportunity to lead

The new state climate report and its focus on the impact of climate change is one part of a state resilience and mitigation strategy put in place by Gov. Roy Cooper. The climate change report is integral to the next step in the process, a statewide resiliency plan that is due out this month.

“I think North Carolina has a really unique advantage in that we are seeing climate change loud and clear here in this state and we’re recognizing that we need to do something about it.”

Cooper’s strategy represents a considerable shift from his predecessor, Gov. Pat McCrory, who advocated for offshore drilling and inland fracking. But Cooper has been limited mostly to executive action. Following the recent series of devastating storms, the state’s legislature has been willing to back resiliency efforts, but as yet is still unwilling to enact major policy changes, such as carbon reduction goals.

Dello said that often the resistance to changes at the state level is based on the contention that it won’t make a difference.

“What people who don’t want to take action on climate use as an argument is that one individual state can’t do enough on its own. I don’t think the point is that North Carolina is trying to do this on its own. North Carolina is saying, ‘Hey, we contribute to this problem,’” she said. “Sure it’s global, but recognizing our contribution to it and knowing that the atmosphere doesn’t stop at our borders, we’re going to look closely at what we can do.”

Given its reputation, she said, North Carolina has an opportunity to show other states a way forward.

“We’ve seen with policy change in the past in the U.S., it’s the states that make the federal government act,” Dello said. In environmental policy usually those state changes come from places like California and New York.

“I think North Carolina has a really unique advantage in that we are seeing climate change loud and clear here in this state and we’re recognizing that we need to do something about it. The politics may have changed a little bit, but folks don’t see us as the most progressive state around the country. I think that North Carolina can be a leader in showing other states you can do this.”

Lessons from lockdown

“I think one of the things I keep reminding myself is that climate change isn’t stopping because of any of this,” Dello said. “This break in emissions isn’t doing very much for us.”

Still, the early reaction to the coronavirus pandemic in which most people were willing to pitch in and take the stay-at-home order seriously gives her some hope that people are willing to adapt for a common cause.

“I’m seeing folk ask questions of themselves — I’m doing it too — Why do I travel so much? Why do I go to conferences all over when really I could have them online?”

Some of those changes will carry forward, she said, but they’re only a small part of what’s needed and there’s the worry that once things return to some sense of normalcy the collective spirit will fade.

“The problem we have on our hands is really, really big, and watching people struggle with this one, I don’t know” Dello said. “I bounce back and forth between optimism and pessimism.”

RALEIGH — Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, and about three dozen cosponsors, have introduced a series of bills intended to demonstrate the range of steps the state could take in regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

Harrison acknowledged Tuesday that none are likely to pass in their current form, but she was disappointed that after years of work the legislature has been unable to move on further PFAS regulation.

“It’s frustrating to know that our citizens are getting poisoned all across the state,” she said. “Known carcinogens, known neurotoxicants, and we don’t do anything about it. It’s extraordinarily frustrating to me.”

Last year, Harrison worked with industry representatives to try and find some middle ground, but an attempt to regulate firefighting foam containing PFAS stalled over industry objections. Further PFAS studies and additional PFAS funding for the state Department of Environmental Quality got tangled up in the battle over the state budget and never emerged in any of the mini-budgets approved during the impasse.

Now, funds will be even tighter, Harrison said, adding that big policy moves aren’t likely, considering the need to focus on the state’s COVID-19 response. But by putting the options and strategies out in bill form, Harrison said she hoped to lay the groundwork for when the legislature does start working on a strategy.

Grady McCallie, policy director for the North Carolina Conservation Network, said the three bills offer a “comprehensive statement” of the complexity of setting up a regulatory system for PFAS.

“This suite of bills basically says, ‘This is a complicated problem and we have to push it in several different directions,’” McCallie said. “It’s not just one strategy.”

It also broadens the discussion beyond reaction to the GenX contamination in the lower Cape Fear River.

DEQ has done a good job dealing with Chemours and reducing GenX discharges from its Fayetteville Works facility, McCallie said. What’s lacking, he said, is the recognition that there are many more PFAS substances and sources to deal with.

“What North Carolina has not done yet is deal with the broader problem of other dischargers upstream who are putting in a variety of contaminating chemicals that are also toxic,” he said.

What the bills do

The three bills offer three approaches to PFAS regulation.

House Bill 1109 is essentially an outright comprehensive ban on the manufacture and use of PFAS in the state. It would ban the manufacture of PFAS compounds or the production of any product using them except as authorized under federal law. Violations could result in civil penalties.

Harrison said she didn’t expect it to become law, but she wanted to put the industry on notice that there needs to be an active hunt for alternatives to PFAS.

House Bill 1108, PFAS Containment Mitigation Measures, requires the state’s Environmental Management Commission to begin to set standards for PFAS compounds and DEQ to develop a framework for regulation and enforcement of PFAS in discharges, runoff from biosolids and landfill leachate.

Harrison said the bill underlines DEQ’s authority to regulate discharge of PFAS under the Clean Water Act and requires industrial customers of wastewater treatment permit holders to disclose their presence and remove them from the waste stream. It would hold both the permit holders, often municipal- or county-owned sewage treatment operators, ultimately liable for PFAS discharges into state waters.

The argument that the state already has the authority under federal law mirrors a filing last year by the Southern Environmental Law Center that the Haw River Assembly intends to sue Burlington for Clean Water Act violations over PFAS and other industrial waste discharges into the Haw River from the city’s wastewater treatment plants and biosolids application sites. City officials said earlier this year they were working with industrial customers to identify and eliminate sources.

The third bill in the trilogy, House Bill 1110, would allocate about $600,000 for a series of studies, including ecological assessments of the Cape Fear River Basin and financial and budget impacts of PFAS across state government. It also requires DEQ to create an inventory of all ongoing direct and indirect PFAS discharges and emissions in the state.

Harrison said that continuing research is vital and that she wanted to see the legislature’s Environmental Review Commission take up the work started by the House Select Committee on River Quality, which was set up in 2017 after revelations about GenX contamination of the Cape Fear River.

This year’s debate will hopefully lay the groundwork for further PFAS regulation next year, she said. It’s important to remember that concerns about the health risks of their presence in the environment goes beyond what’s in the Cape Fear River.

“They’re found all over the state and all over the country,” Harrison said. “The health risks are significant and if it weren’t for this pandemic, I would say they’re the biggest public health risk facing our state.”

PFAS filters for New Hanover County schools

Under another new bill, New Hanover County schools would get state funding to install reverse osmosis water filters in schools that use water drawn from the Cape Fear River.

Sen. Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, filed Senate Bill 749 Monday. The bill would move $600,000 in unspent Department of Public Instruction funds from this year to New Hanover County Schools for reverse osmosis water filtration systems.

The bill would allow the school system to decide how many would go in each school, but it would limit the total number the state will pay for in any one school to 10.

The New Hanover County school system is working on a plan to install at least one filtration system per school, and a pilot project is underway in Brunswick County to tests systems for schools there.

Co-published with Carolina Public Press

The legislature resumes its 2020 short session next week with plans to take up another round of coronavirus response measures, but the path forward for its usual even-year work in Raleigh, adjusting the state budget, is unusually unclear.

Driving the uncertainty is not just a question of the course of COVID-19 in the state and nation and its impact on the economy. For the people trying to come up with a state budget also heavily weighted in the equation is how the next round of federal relief plays out.

Now, with the U.S. House set to vote on its latest proposal Friday, there is at least movement toward further federal legislation. But that plan is far different than what leaders in the U.S. Senate have proposed, leaving state and local officials facing end-of-fiscal-year deadlines on June 30 to press ahead with major parts of the budget still an unknown.

In an interview earlier this week 4^th District Congressman David Price, who chairs the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, said the next round of legislation will be more difficult than the last.

“Each one gets more controversial given our politics,” he said. “I don’t think there will be any more just shouted through.”

Price said top priorities are more funding for states and local communities and an adjustment to the earlier federal coronavirus relief act to give states more flexibility on spending the money, including backfilling revenue holes in state finances.

Last month, the North Carolina General Assembly set aside $300 million of federal relief funds for Department of Transportation projects in its coronavirus relief bill. The funds are intended to offset a steep decline in gas taxes, but the state can’t spend the money unless Congress changes the provisions known as backfilling rules.

“That is major unfinished business,” Price said.

Also at the top of the list, he said, is further direct aid to local governments that reaches smaller cities and towns.

“Both things need to happen,” he said.

Whether they do or not and to what extent depends on cutting a deal with senators who have so far been skeptical about a bigger state aid package.

Uncharted territory, again

At this point in most even-year legislative sessions, budget committees in both chambers would be holding regular meetings and receiving briefings from departments and agencies. By now, the governor would have already delivered his annual ask and lobbyists and legislative liaisons would be stalking the halls, gathering votes.

But this is far from an ordinary year on Jones Street. Although leadership staff and some members are in their Raleigh offices, the halls are mostly empty. There are no school kids, no big constituent meetups and no groups holding annual lobby days. The building has been closed to the public since April 20 and anyone entering, including staff and legislators, has had to have their temperature checked first.

House and Senate leaders announced Wednesday that next week the legislature would be open to visitors and lobbyists, but under tight restrictions and a 50% reduction in capacity.

This year follows an often confusing 2019 session that featured fights over the budget and a half-year stalemate over Medicaid expansion. Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the House and Senate plan passed in late June still stands, and much of state government is funded through an automatic continuation budget law put in place after a similar standoff with Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2015.

Throughout the impasse, Cooper and the legislature found enough common ground on funding parts of the government to pass several “mini-budgets,” as well as relief bills following Hurricane Dorian in September 2019. The legislature ended the 2019 long session in 2020, the first time it’s run that long. It adjourned after reconvening Jan. 14 for one day without a deal, an override vote or much hope things would change. Before leaving the chamber that day, a clearly frustrated Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said that given the standoff and the lack of progress he didn’t see the point of trying to draw up a budget in 2020.

Six weeks later, North Carolina announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19 and everything began to change.

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, one of the chief budget writers for the House, said he expects COVID-19 to influence nearly everything about this year’s work.

When asked in an email if anything this year will resemble a normal short session, he responded: “Not much about the session is likely to be ‘normal.’ First, we’ll still be dealing with COVID-19-related issues, including the appropriation of additional federal monies. It is likely that state funding will be necessary to fill some holes too. Second, we don’t have a complete budget for next year. The House is committed to moving a budget for FY2020-21, but the Senate has not committed to passing a budget.”

On top of that, he said, it’s an election year and there will pressure to keep the session brief.

The budget challenges, McGrady said, include not just the uncertainty of the fiscal effects of the pandemic, but things like shifting the tax filing date from April 15 to July 15, two weeks after the state starts its new fiscal year.

Estimates of the hole blown in the state budget range between $4 and $6 billion.

“I’m not sure how to fill the hole until I know how big the hole is,” McGrady said. A tax increase, he added, is not an option given the unemployment rate.

Across the rotunda, Senate leaders are now exploring a budget plan for this year. A lot has changed since Berger expressed his reluctance over another prolonged standoff with the governor in January. He said so plainly when the session opened in late April by announcing that the Senate would no longer seek to overturn Cooper’s veto of the biennial budget.

“Our state’s financial outlook is in a vastly different place than it was before this pandemic hit,” Berger said in a statement.

This week, Berger’s spokesman Pat Ryan said senators want to see a budget this year and are currently in talks with their House counterparts on how to approach it. The reason for the change is evident, he said. “We’re in a completely different world now.”

He did not say whether a plan would come in the form of one omnibus bill or a piecemeal approach like last year. Right now, he said, the decisions in Washington, D.C., on a new round of state aid and whether the state will be able to use parts of its initial $4 billion in funding to fill revenue gaps loom large.

Cooper administration spokeswoman Sadie Weiner said the governor is working on a budget request for this year, but he has not set a time for an announcement.

State budget officials have been compiling an analysis of the impacts throughout state government from loss of revenues to falling receipts and fees.

Estimates provided by the Office of State Management and Budget show the impact on receipts at the state aquariums estimated at $4.4 million and another $4.4 million for the state parks. The North Carolina Zoo impact is at $4.8 million and the State Ports Authority’s losses are estimated at $6.5 million.

Although the budget impasse may now be moot, the decisions last year still reverberate.

McGrady said there are parts of the budget that the governor and legislators couldn’t reach agreement on from last year, including large sections of the Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources section of the budget, which includes funding for both the Department of Environmental Quality and the state’s two major conservation trust funds, which McGrady, now in his final term, has helped to rebuild since their funding was slashed in the first year of McCrory’s term.

The budget hole caused by COVID-19 is likely to sweep up extra money for the trust funds he hoped to pass as well other environmental initiatives. It’s also likely to make it harder to pass other initiatives like redistricting reforms he and other proponents had hoped to push this year, he said.

“The best thing for those who care about protecting the environment might be getting nonpartisan redistricting,” he said, “but that too may fail to be taken up because all the oxygen has been sucked out of public policy debates by the pandemic.”

RALEIGH — Although COVID-19 response is expected to continue to dominate the agenda of this year’s North Carolina General Assembly session, legislators are pressing ahead with changes developed well before the pandemic took hold.

Over the past year, the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division has proposed changes to the makeup of state ports, the structure of the Division of Marine Fisheries and a more businesslike approach for the Department of Environmental Quality’s permitting reforms.

Bills filed in the early days of this year’s session follow through on those recommendations and are among the first slate of bills filed in this year’s short session.

This year’s bill deadlines are fast approaching. Legislators have until Wednesday to file bills recommended by study commissions. Budget bills and bills affecting state or local retirement systems are due by Thursday and all local bills must be filed by May 19.

Ports bill focuses on Morehead City

Senate Bill 707, State Ports Efficiency & Effectiveness, would require measures to address port utilization, throughput, gate times and ship-turnaround times at the Morehead City port and assess the service quality at both the North Carolina Ports of Wilmington and Morehead City in the State Ports Authority’s strategic plan.

The bill eliminates a legal requirement that the state provide cranes and container service at both ports, and gives the authority the discretion to decide on whether to add container service at Morehead City.

It also requires annual updates be provided to the General Assembly on environmental management plans at the ports.

Last year, a Program Evaluation Division study gave the authority good marks for general effectiveness and efficiency but citied declining performance at Morehead City. It also found that the authority does not have an adequate system to assess its customer service.

DEQ business plan

Also part of the package of changes proposed by the program evaluation committee is a requirement that the state Department of Environmental Quality adopt a business plan and “return on investment” analysis for its initiatives to reduce permitting backlogs and speed up turnaround times.

The bill would require DEQ to create formal benchmarks and performance assessments, and a data management system for its Permitting Transformation Project to assess the effectiveness and performance of the system.

The legislation also requires DEQ to review a Program Evaluation Division, or PED, study last year that found too many layers in the organizational structure for five of the department’s offices and divisions including Marine Fisheries, Mitigations Services and the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs. The new legislation would require the department to review the study and report whether potential streamlining efforts and other proposed changes are feasible.

Both the structure report and the permitting program change proposals are due February 2021, near the beginning of next year’s regular session.

Another bill filed this month would change the local match requirements for Parks and Recreation Trust Fund projects, a requirement currently set at a dollar-for-dollar match.

The new system would lower the local government match for land acquisition and park or recreation site improvements, allow for local, in-kind donations to count as part of a match and reduce the match percentage for counties with greater economic distress.

Emergency relief for fishermen

The legislature is still studying how to put together its next round of COVID-19 funding, but legislators are already putting down markers for what they’d like to see in the next relief package.

Rep. Billy Richardson, D-Cumberland, who wanted to introduce help for fishing operations in the first relief package, has put his proposal to help the state’s fishing businesses into standalone legislation. It sets up a $10 million grant fund to be administered by the Division of Marine Fisheries.

The money would be made available to commercial and for-hire fishing operations. Each for-hire or commercial fishing license holder would be eligible for a one-time, $2,500 grant.

Bonds are back

Meanwhile, county and municipal officials charged with putting together funding for beach renourishment and parks are breathing a collective sigh of relief now that the state’s special obligation bond authority is back on the books.

Last year, legislators inadvertently repealed the statute that authorized municipalities to use the bonds for parks, beach renourishment, downtown improvements and other public infrastructure projects. The repeal was discovered this spring when Wilmington officials were informed that they couldn’t use the bonds for a downtown improvement project because the authority was no longer part of state law.

The repeal could have also affected the timing of bids for a handful of beach renourishment projects in Dare County and elsewhere that intended to issue bonds to finance the work.

The provision reinstating the special obligation bond authority was considered a high enough priority that it was added into the pandemic relief package passed last week.

RALEIGH — New laws in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were signed into law Monday, clearing the way for more than $1.5 billion in aid and shaping an all out response to the virus and its damage to the economy.

At a briefing along with legislative leaders, Gov. Roy Cooper signed the COVID-19 Recovery Act and Pandemic Response Act around noon Monday. Both the governor and legislative leaders promised that more help would be on the way.

The legislature returned last Tuesday to take up the bills, and passed them passed unanimously in both chambers on Saturday afternoon.

Spending in the legislation includes $50 million to build supplies of masks, gowns and other person protection equipment; $150 million for relief to counties and municipalities not eligible for direct aid under the federal CARES Act; $25 million for testing and contact tracing; $25 million in supported for assisted living facilities; a $65 million backstop for rural hospitals; $70 million for response operations and $20 million for loss of fees and receipts for state agencies; $30 million for computers and other devices for schools; $75 million for school nutrition programs; $12 million for improving internet connectivity; roughly $100 million for public education programs and to cover lost revenue; $85 million for public and private university research; $69 million for state universities and community colleges for online learning; a $125 million small business loan program; and $5 million for tourism industry support.

Policy provisions in the bill include dozens of waivers for school requirements for this year and planning requirements for next year. It sets the school opening date at Aug. 17.

The legislation allows agencies across state government to extend due dates and includes a five-month extension for all Division of Motor Vehicle-issued credentials.

It also fixes an error in legislation last year that inadvertently eliminated of state special obligation bond authority for local governments, a common financing vehicle for parks and beach renourishment.

The legislation sets up a special Coronavirus Relief Reserve Fund and creates a temporary Pandemic Recovery Office to administer the funds and the complicated stipulations for federal aid.

The state is still waiting on a decision on the extent to which transportation and public education costs will be covered. State schools are facing an expensive conversion of facilities and upgrades to online learning. Meanwhile, the free fall in fuel tax revenues means a sudden deficit in funding for road construction and maintenance. The legislation sets aside $300 million in state funds in the event federal aid is unavailable.

During bill discussions last week, Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, the Senate’s chief budget writer, noted N.C. Department of Transportation funding problems were already on the legislature’s agenda prior to the pandemic.

At Monday’s briefing, House Speaker Tim Moore said the state could see a shortfall in the next fiscal year of between $4.5 billion to $5 billion.

The legislature will spend the next two weeks in skeleton sessions and is expected to return on May 18 for the rest of this year’s short session.

Moore said working groups with the House Select Committee on COVID-19 will continue to meet during that time to begin developing the next round of legislation.

Learn more

• Senate Bill 704
• House Bill 1043

Copublished with Carolina Public Press

The North Carolina General Assembly returns this week with a focus on pressing needs like protective supplies for medical workers and more aid to deal with coronavirus testing and infections, but also with an eye on the future amid a rapidly heating debate over when and how to phase out business shutdowns and stay-at-home requirements.

Last week, Gov. Roy Cooper announced an extension of his main stay-at-home requirement until May 8, along with what he called a “roadmap” on easing restrictions later in May and June, should certain health goals be met.

“North Carolina cannot stay at home indefinitely,” Cooper said at a Thursday press briefing, but he said any decision to ease restrictions would have to be based on sound science. On Friday, he also announced that schools would remain closed for the remainder of the school year.

“North Carolina cannot stay at home indefinitely.”

Gov. Roy Cooper

At the same briefing, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said the state appears to be flattening the curve in terms of slowing the increase in cases, but that the current restrictions are still needed. She outlined a testing, tracing and trends plan to more than double the amount of testing each day and the number of people doing contract tracing. The trends the state will track focus on cases and hospitalizations and capacity of the state’s health care providers, including protective gear, to stay ahead of the curve, she said.

Thanks to the response to closures and social distancing efforts “North Carolina is in a very good place,” Cohen said. “We have flattened the curve, but we’re not there yet.”

“We’re staring down a multi-billion-dollar revenue shortfall, which negatively impacts our ability to fund the vetoed budget.”

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger

The governor’s announcement sets the stage for a session that is likely to feature strong approval for relief bills along with a substantial airing of disagreements with the administration over when to and what should reopen.

What it won’t feature is a replay of tensions from last year over Cooper’s budget veto, an area of vehement disagreement between the governor and legislative leaders.

On Friday, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, announced the session would focus on the relief legislation and that the long-running battle over the budget had been effectively ended by the pandemic.

“Our state’s financial outlook is in a vastly different place than it was before this pandemic hit. Because of that, we will not be reconsidering the veto of the state budget this year,” Berger said. “We’re staring down a multi-billion-dollar revenue shortfall, which negatively impacts our ability to fund the vetoed budget.”

Tourism questions raised

While the governor has received mostly broad support on his handling of the crisis from legislators, going into this week’s session some who represent areas of the state dependent on tourism said they’re worried that the administration is being overly cautious and should be willing to loosen restrictions in areas where infection rates are low.

In a Monday morning teleconference on the upcoming session sponsored by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, called on the governor to give some areas flexibility in opening back up.

“I’d really like to see the governor give consideration to opening up those who have very few positives.”

Rep. Pat McElraft

McElraft said she understands keeping restrictions in place in areas where there are a lot of positive tests like Mecklenburg, Wake and Guilford counties, but she would like to see some leeway in making decisions to open back up for counties with fewer cases.

“I’d really like to see the governor give consideration to opening up those who have very few positives,” she said.

On the other end of the state, Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, said reopening bars and restaurants is a critical part of serving the tourist trade. Downtowns in his district are “ghost towns,” he said, and many businesses won’t survive a prolonged shutdown.

Edwards said the governor’s plan is too vague and that businesses need greater certainty about when they could reopen.

“It’s unfortunate to say that they’re going to be businesses that are not going to make it, but let’s be real. This is a devastating crisis and some folks are not going to survive.”

Slate of bills being readied

An array of bills developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be read in Tuesday morning and fast-tracked to passage as early as Wednesday.

The legislature already scheduled a return to Raleigh this week for the even-year short session, which is typically set up to make second-year adjustments in the state’s biennial budget cycle. This year, however, is far from typical and the legislature is likely to deal with only a handful of bills before adjourning again to a date later in the summer.

During the brief session, the legislative complex will be closed to the public. Only staff, legislators and credentialed media will be allowed in and everyone will have their temperature checked at the door. The legislature will also have a video livestream available for most committee meetings and the House floor sessions.

Instead of the usual hearings ahead of the short session, a House Select Committee on COVID-19 held two months of meetings via teleconference to develop legislation in the areas of health care, education, economic support and state government operations. Working groups in the four subject areas have developed legislation to deal with policy changes as well as technical changes and workarounds to requirements in state law.

The legislature is also working on an overall spending plan to deal with the impact to both the public and private sector. Part of that plan is how to direct an estimated $2.2 billion in aid sent to the state in the initial federal response. Other sources will be $1.8 billion in the state’s rainy day fund and about $2 billion unspent from last year’s budget.

Cooper released his spending request last week, asking for about $1.4 billion in appropriations

Among the items on the governor’s list are $243 million for school equipment and to get ready for the next school year; $300 million for local governments; and $40 million to cover lost revenue at state cultural sites and aquariums and to cover positions at the Department of Environmental Quality that are paid for with regulatory fees.

The state budget office expects fee collections to slow down considerably until the economy recovers.

It will be one of the many budget sinkholes state and local governments will have to deal with going forward, everything from plunging gas taxes, which fund state transportation projects, to occupancy and meals taxes that pay for local parks, stadiums and beaches.

Further complicating the revenue picture is federal tax extension, which automatically moved the state’s April 15 tax deadline to July 15. The result shifts as much as $2 billion in revenue into the next year fiscal year. Among the policy changes Cooper is requesting the authority to use the rainy day fund for short term funds for cash-strapped parts of state government.

Coastal officials said a legislative error last year eliminated a key funding mechanism for beach renourishment and other public projects, which if not fixed could have a big impact on future plans.

Last June, in a unanimous vote in both chambers, the North Carolina General Assembly passed Senate Bill 381, Reconstitute and Clarify Boards and Commissions, a rewrite of laws for a handful of state boards and commissions affected by a successful executive branch legal challenge to having boards with a majority of legislative appointments.

Tucked into the 14-page bill was a one-sentence repeal of Chapter 159I of the state’s general statutes. The repeal eliminated as intended an obsolete board that was in part of the chapter law, but it also deleted authorization for municipalities to use special obligation bonds to finance projects in several categories, including beach renourishment, landfills, transportation, water and wastewater projects, and downtown improvements.

Recent plans by Wilmington officials to use $36 million in special obligation bonds to finance a downtown parking deck had to be rewritten after the city was told the authorization to issue the bonds had been removed from state law.

Farther north in Dare County, where special obligation bonds have been used to finance beach renourishment projects, word of the repeal began to spread late last month.

Nags Head Town Manager Cliff Ogburn said he first heard about the repeal two weeks ago.

“From what we understand this was an error, that it wasn’t the intent and it’ll be fixed,” Ogburn said. “It’s just a matter of when it will be fixed.”

Ogburn said it appeared that the repeal doesn’t affect current bonds, so Nags Head is fine for now. The town has two special obligation bonds totaling $27,613,837 for its current beach project, which started last year. Other nearby towns that have yet to put their projects out to bid may not be so lucky, he said.

Duck Town Manager Chris Layton said he’s also heard that legislature plans to fix the repeal error, so he’s hopeful it shouldn’t affect the financing for a beach project planned for 2022.

“If for some reason it doesn’t go back into place, we’re confident that we can still manage to finance the project with other sources,” he said. “It’s just that special obligation bonds are well-suited for this type of project,” he said.

The bonds are an easier process than other public financing, he said, and don’t require a special referendum. The town used a roughly $3 million special obligation bond to finance its last beach project.

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said the special obligation bonds are a key part of how the county and towns work together on local beach projects.

“For our beach nourishment projects, the way we leverage our money is we use the special obligation bonds to do really short-term borrowing, four or five years for the life of a project, so that we don’t have to have all the money saved up in one go. We can stretch it out over about five years, the usual life of a project,” he said. “So, it allows us to leverage our beach nourishment fund and get more sand on our beaches.”

If there’s a $20 million project, he said, it gets paid off over five years at $4 million a year rather than having to write a $20 million check upfront. “That way if we had $20 million in cash, we could do five projects at the same time.”

Another lending source wouldn’t allow that kind of leveraging, Outten said, and some would require collateral that most small towns don’t have.

Outten said he also expected the legislature to reinstate the bond authority. He hopes that happens soon.

The projects in Duck and elsewhere will need to go out to bid. “You have to have your funding source in place in order to bid the projects,” Outten said. “That’s coming, and whether we bid them in the fall or the spring depends on how quickly the legislature acts.”

At least one sponsor of last year’s bill said he will work on a fix when the legislature returns at the end of the month for its short session.

“The repeal of special obligation bonds was not my intent in sponsoring S381 last year,” Mike Woodard, D-Durham, wrote in an email to Coastal Review Online. “I will work with our local governments to fix this situation when the short session begins.”

A legislative staff reply to Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, who asked about the change, also said the change appeared to have been “inadvertent and unintended,” according to an email from McGrady.

Scott Mooneyham, director of political communications and coordination for the North Carolina League of Municipalities, said a fix should happen soon.

“Given that the repeal appears inadvertent, we would hope that the General Assembly restores the authority as soon as possible,” he said. “This financing is critical when it comes to large capital projects like beach renourishment and solid waste facilities.”

With vacation rentals shuttered and restaurants closed or open for takeout only, local governments in tourism-dependent coastal areas are bracing for bleak options as they begin to draft new budgets.

By law, North Carolina counties and municipalities are required to adopt new budgets by July 1, the beginning of a new fiscal year. None is allowed to run deficits, and borrowing is limited under a system put in place after a wave of local government failures during the 1930s.

That system and the ability for public sector spending to prop up teetering economies and deal with widespread unemployment will be tested in ways they haven’t been since.

In Raleigh, legislative hearings on the impact of the coronavirus have featured a litany of losses across all sectors of the economy, but none as quickly or deeply felt than in the areas of food service, hospitality and travel.

On Tuesday, members of the Economic Support Working Group of the House Select Committee on COVID-19, heard pleas for immediate state action from industry representatives.

“The biggest business challenge that I am hearing from restaurants and hotels is that they are cash strapped today,” Lynn Minges, president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, told working group members during a teleconference Tuesday. Some businesses have resorted to making payroll using credit cards, she said, and all are faced with ongoing bills, leases and debt service. Adding to the urgency, she said, is that many small businesses are finding that there are pandemic riders on business interruption insurance.

Minges said help is coming from recently passed federal relief bills, but that will take time to arrive.

“The application process is long and cumbersome and we’re still waiting on guidance from the federal government. There are loan programs these folks can apply for, but they need cash in their pockets today. They cannot make their payments today. They cannot make their payroll today. They are really struggling.”

The association estimates that 350,000 of the state’s roughly 500,000 restaurant jobs and 23,000 of the 80,000 hotel jobs have been lost so far. It’s calling for a $100 million state emergency grant for hospitality businesses that would provide one-time grants up to $25,000 for smaller restaurants and $50,000 for larger restaurants and hotels to temporarily cover rent, utilities, payrolls and vendors. The association is also asking for the state to delay sales tax collections and other tax payments.

That would especially help restaurants trying to stay open on a limited basis to make payrolls and keep vendors paid, Minges said.

At Floyd’s 1921 Restaurant & Catering in downtown Morehead City, a dining room and patio that can hold up to 250 patrons is quiet, although the kitchen remains open.

Since the statewide ban on dine-in service began March 17, a small staff assembles there six days a week to prepare dozens of meals for carryout customers.

Restaurant manager Jason Eure said the special takeout menu was already in the works when the statewide order was announced. Even though they had a head start, he said, Floyd’s had to quickly adapt from being a dinner destination to a carryout food service.

“Eating is more of a necessity than a luxury at this point in time,” he said. The restaurant has always focused on local customers and wanted keep serving, but from a business perspective, Eure said it was like going from being a full-service restaurant to operating a food truck.

“The bills are still coming, as far as the mortgage, the power, all that kind of stuff, but you’re not able to utilize the basic square footage.”

Eure said it’s not all doom and gloom. The community has been supportive, he said, and there’s enough business to keep a skeleton staff of 10 employed.

But the front-of-house staff, which can grow to around 60 employees at the height of the summer season, is idle and those employees have started collecting unemployment. There’s also a lot of uncertainty about what’s ahead, especially how it will affect the typically busy summer season.

“We’ve all come to the reality that it’s going to go longer than we want it to,” Eure said. “We’re on the cusp of summer basically. Even if all is golden at the end of April, the public is going to still be gun shy about going out.”

Preparing for an economic hit

At Tuesday’s hearings, legislators also received warnings about how business closures and precipitous drops in sales and occupancy tax revenues would affect the bottom line for the hundreds of communities in the state that rely on travel and tourism.

Erin Wynia, chief legislative counsel for the North Carolina League of Municipalities, told members of the select committee working on the impact to state and local government that the hit to small businesses would have a big effect on local government.

Wynia said sales tax distributions, which typically make up nearly a quarter of the municipal revenue stream, are expected to drop considerably. Occupancy taxes, which take in roughly $300 million for the 63 local governments that have them in place, will take an even bigger hit. Those funds usually go to support tourism advertising and marketing but are also used for beach renourishment and dune repairs and facilities such as convention centers and stadiums.

“Nearly all of those funds will dry up for the time that the economic crisis is happening,” Wynia said.

Any major drop in commercial and industrial water use, which accounts for almost half of water system revenues, is also putting pressure on local governments, she said.

“Those revenues are sharply declining along with economic activity and that will be something to reckon with in the future.”

With the bulk of municipal budgets dedicated to public safety and transportation, Wynia said, cuts in those areas are more likely.

“If revenues decline to where we fear they might, this is where the cuts will take place,” she said. “There’s not a lot of bloat in these budgets already and it will be very difficult for local governments to continue providing services they’ve been providing through the crisis.”

Wynia said that since sales tax distributions lag collections, the loses in March will start showing up in lower distribution payments in June.

Washington Mayor Mac Hodges said he’s expecting to see revenues fall when the sales tax numbers are reported, but the Beaufort County city is in good enough financial shape to ride out the crisis.

“It just depends on how this thing drags out,” Hodges said in an interview Wednesday. “If it’s two or three more weeks, we’ll probably survive it OK.”

A month or more would be difficult, he said, but with a growing tax base and a built-up fund balance, the city budget should be OK in the long run. “Ours can take a beating,” he said. “Others may not be able to.”

The worry, he said, is if the shutdown extends further into summer and affects summer camps, which usually bring a lot of visitors to the area.

In the meantime, Hodges said the city took advantage of the shutdown to move ahead with infrastructure upgrades.

Since most of the businesses along Main Street were forced to close, Hodges said it made sense to go ahead and start tearing up pavement for a major streetscape project.

Local and state leaders must be able to be flexible given how fast things are changing, he said.

“What seems like a good idea today might not be so hot next week,” he said. “That’s just the way this thing is.”

Government response to the impacts of COVID-19 moved forward Wednesday with a federal disaster declaration and the approval by the U.S. Senate of a $2 trillion aid package, while state legislators gathered via teleconference to open hearings on the size and scope of a state response.

The federal aid package, which includes money for businesses and individuals, passed the Senate late Wednesday evening after days of negotiations. It follows on two prior responses to health care needs as well as job losses and business closures driven by social distancing controls put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The House is expected to approve the measure Friday.

Also late Wednesday, President Trump approved  a major disaster declaration for North Carolina, setting up for federal disaster funding for all areas affected by COVID-19 at a federal cost share of 75%.

Earlier in the day in Raleigh, members of the Economic Support Working Group of the House Select Committee on COVID-19 opened hearings on legislation that will be needed to mesh state law with new federal changes in tax law, small business loans and the state’s unemployment system.

Lockhart Taylor, assistant secretary of the Division of Employment Security, told legislators that the wave of unemployment filing is hard to put in perspective.

Taylor said that as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, the state had received 166,000 unemployment applications over the past week, with the number of those citing COVID-19 as the cause at running at between 85% and 90%.

To put that in perspective, he said that in 2008 at the height of the impact of the Great Recession, the state was taking in about 100,000 applications per month.

At the opening of the meeting, which took place as the state announced its first COVID-19 deaths, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said the fact that the legislature had to find a digital workaround to conduct business was a sobering reminder of the impact of the virus.

Moore said he named both Republican and Democrats as co-chairs to committees emphasize the need to come together on solutions.

“There are times that situations like this remind us that we are first of all Americans and North Carolinians and at those times we need to put aside what differences we have on other things and focus on what we need to do to help the folks that sent us here,” Moore said.

Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and minority leader Dan Blue, R-Wake, put out a joint statement Wednesday that echoed the same theme and said senators are being asked to gather requests and comments from their districts ahead of discussions with the House and Gov. Roy Cooper on a path forward.

In this unprecedented time, the #NCGA is working to collect ideas from all corners of the state so we can recover from this crisis. For now, we are stronger apart than we are together. #ncpol #COVID19 #InThisTogetherhttps://t.co/k1sDYYQc00

— Senator Phil Berger (@SenatorBerger) March 25, 2020

Coastal concerns

Coastal legislators on the working group said they’d like to see assistance for travel and tourism and commercial fishing businesses.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said federal legislation such as forgivable small business loans and disaster unemployment benefits for self-employed people will be helpful. Additional state support could also follow, she said.

“It’s early but I’m hopeful,” she said Wednesday. “The federal dollars can be supplemented with state dollars.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, Rep. Phil Shepard, R-Onslow, said he wants to make sure fishing operations can qualify for Small Business Administration help and tap into a new $15 million rapid recovery loan program announced this week by the state’s Golden LEAF Foundation.

In an interview Wednesday, Steve Murphey, director of the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries said that right now it’s difficult to fully assess the effect on the industry.

“Time will tell what the overall impact is, but we really don’t have a good bead on it right now,” he said. “What we’re seeing across the coast, not just in North Carolina, is that some of the bigger markets quit buying.”

Some major markets are starting to buy again and frozen seafood products appear to be moving again, he said, but much of the North Carolina market relies on sales to restaurants, which are now operating as take-out only, as well as many nearby states.

“A lot of North Carolina seafood sales are fresh sales, so those fresh markets with the closures of restaurants have been reduced,” he said.

Murphey said he expects some support for the industry will come from federal and state sources, but how much and how that will work are unclear right now.

After Hurricane Florence, the state set up a special program to assist commercial fishing operations, using trip tickets to log the amount of losses.

Meanwhile, like other state agencies, DMF is adapting. Murphey said much of the division’s workforce is teleworking from home and the offices are staffed with skeleton crews and closed to the public. License sales are still going on but are done by appointment only.

On Monday, DMF announced the cancellation of three public hearings on proposed shellfish leases scheduled for April in Pender and Carteret counties. Most of its other meetings are moving online or through conference calls.

“We’re continuing business as usual the best that we can in the situation that we have,” Murphey said.

In addition to immediate fixes, the Economic Support Working Group along with three other working groups in education, health care and continuity of state operations. The working groups are meeting online and audio is available on the North Carolina General Assembly website.

The committee’s main page has presentations, documents and proposed legislation.

And a public comment portal, which already has 30 pages of comments logged, has been set up.

Legislative leaders suspended previously scheduled meetings earlier this month. The General Assembly is due to return April 24 for its short session, but could be called into session earlier.

Although North Carolina joined dozens of other states mid-March in closing schools and restricting public gatherings, the state has not issued blanket stay-at-home orders. In an update Wednesday afternoon, Cooper said he expects to issue further restrictions and recommendations, but he did not say when. Both the city of Durham and Wake County issued stay-at-home orders Wednesday.

Southeastern coastal residents outpace the rest of the state in calling for action on climate change, but not by much, as the issue remains a priority throughout the state, according to a poll released last week.

The poll, which was conducted by Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling for the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, found broad support for stepped-up efforts to combat climate change and increase the use of renewable energy, with 56% of respondents saying that a major mobilization akin to the coronavirus response is needed to ward off the worst public health and economic impacts of climate change in communities.

A geographical breakdown, based on the state’s major media markets in Wilmington, Raleigh, Asheville, Greenville, Greensboro and Charlotte, put respondents in the Wilmington area as having the highest level of conviction of the need to take action on climate change. Fifty-nine percent of Wilmington region respondents saying that recent storms and sea level rise are very convincing reasons compared to a statewide average of 49%. Respondents in the Raleigh region followed with 56% and the Greenville area registered the lowest at 39%.

PPP director Tom Jensen said that throughout the poll, large majorities favor taking action on climate change and said they would favor candidates who supported stronger measures. He said the effect of the pandemic and the need to be better prepared appears to be driving greater urgency in getting ahead of impacts of climate change. It found that 61% believe leaders need to act urgently to protect communities from the worst impacts.

The poll was conducted March 13-14, as school closings were announced and the first major round of aggressive social distancing controls took effect in the state.

State and local officials imposed further rounds of restrictions in an attempt to head off the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Tuesday that bans dine-in service at bars and restaurants and includes a plan to streamline unemployment applications for affected workers.

“We did not come to this decision easily. But North Carolina must keep fighting this pandemic with the right weapons,” said Cooper in a news release Tuesday evening from his office. “During this time of uncertainty, I will keep working to protect the health and safety of North Carolinians and keep our state’s economy afloat.”

The order directs restaurants as of 5 p.m. Tuesday to close sit-down service and are restricted to take-out or delivery orders. Onsite consumption in outside seating areas that follow social distancing guidelines of patrons at least 6 feet apart and crowds of fewer than 100 persons are permitted. The restrictions will remain in place until March 31 or until the order is rescinded or replaced.

Grocery stores, gas stations and convenience stores are exempt and will remain open, though they may not serve sit-down food, according to his office.

Additionally, the order waives the one-week wait time for applications for unemployment benefits and an in-person meeting. Recipients can apply online or over the phone and won’t be required to prove they are looking for work, which Cooper said doesn’t make sense given the amount of widespread job losses.

Cooper and members of his coronavirus task force held a media briefing Tuesday afternoon to give an update.

“You have my personal commitment and the commitment of my administration to work tirelessly and make the very best decisions that we can,” Cooper began. Cooper continued that some things are going to have to change for a while. This will be a long and difficult road for us to travel but we are North Carolinians and we are resilient. And even as some things change, who we are will not.”

Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said during the press conference the new strategies are necessary to slow the virus’ spread.

“Our goal is to slow the spread of the infection so fewer people get sick at the same time and we don’t overwhelm our medical system resources,” she said.

Cohen said that, as of Tuesday morning, the state had 40 positive cases in 16 counties and that testing was ramping up at both state and local laboratories. Three coastal counties, Brunswick, Craven and Onslow, have each reported one case of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Outer Banks officials opted for a storm-like response, closing access to Dare County for all visitors.

The decision by Dare County Tuesday to close to visitors came after backlash against businesses touting Outer Banks getaways for the pandemic.

In a Facebook post over the weekend, Nags Head Mayor Ben Cahoon said that, for the most part, town residents and businesses had adapted to the changes, but he criticized businesses trying to drum up more guests.

“Church services are being modified or canceled, businesses are adapting, people are refraining from close contact. Bravo!,” he wrote. “But a few businesses are attempting to capitalize on out-of-state school cancellations and remote-work options and are inviting vacationers. This is absolutely contrary to the spirit of the guidelines and common sense. I would urge them to reconsider.”

On Ocracoke Island, which continues to struggle in its recovery from Hurricane Dorian’s devastation in September 2019, residents and business owners were anxious about their health and the health of the village’s economy, said Peter Vankevich, co-publisher of the Ocracoke Observer.

Some businesses only recently reopened, and now some have voluntarily closed to protect their employees’ health and that of other island residents.

Vankevich called the ordeal a “double whammy” of anxiety. “The stress factor over here is absolutely huge,” he said.

The latest actions follow a major shift in the state’s response last weekend over concerns about an impending acceleration in cases in North Carolina of the highly infectious virus.

Cooper and state health officials announced Saturday that schools would close statewide Monday through at least March 27 and a prohibition on public gatherings of more than 100 people.

Under the governor’s March 14 executive order, the ban on gatherings of more than 100 people in spaces such as auditoriums, theaters, stadiums and meeting halls. Parades, fairs, festivals and other events in confined indoor or outdoor spaces is also under the ban. It did not apply to airports, bus and train stations, medical facilities, libraries, shopping malls, retail stores, factories, offices and grocery stores.

In addition to an extended break for the schools, the order also set up a state task force to develop ways to provide meals and other services for students during the closure period.

Cooper said he expected businesses and individuals throughout the state to take an economic hit over the shutdowns. In addition to the changes to unemployment rules, Cooper said he expected further state and federal aid.

Cooper requested Friday a Small Businesses Administration disaster declaration and State Emergency Management officials announced Friday that they were reviewing rules on an initial round of federal aid.

Last week, all three branches of state government announced delays and cancellations. North Carolina General Assembly committees preparing for the upcoming short session set for the end of April suspended work through the end of the month and staff members were encouraged to work from home. House Speaker Tim Moore announced that the earliest the legislature would restart committee work would be April 1.

The Department of Environmental Quality also postponed several hearings, including an update in Hope Mills on GenX and per- and polyfluorinated substances, or PFAS, and a public hearing in Wilmington on methyl bromide and log fumigation.

The state Coastal Resources Commission canceled its April meeting in Manteo and announced it would move all items on the agenda to its June 10-11 meeting.

Federal guidelines announced Monday also emphasized social distancing, limiting gatherings to 10 persons, avoiding visits to nursing homes, retirement and long-term care facilities and limiting discretionary travel, shopping and social visits.

On Monday, the state Ferry Division asked passengers to stay in their vehicles when possible during crossings and if using facilities to limit contact with surfaces, keep 6 feet away from other passengers and crew and wash their hands.

In New Hanover County, public libraries and the Cape Fear Museum will be closed starting Wednesday and remain so until further notice. The county’s parks and gardens, including Airlie Gardens and the Arboretum, will remain open for visitors, but the education centers and enclosed areas at the county’s parks and gardens will be closed.

New Hanover County’s Health and Human Services Department remains open, but residents are asked to call ahead at 910-798-3500 to determine if services can be conducted over the phone prior to coming to the building.

The Onslow County Health Department announced Tuesday it would not be accepting walk-in appointments and would be limiting some services.

For more information on the virus, visit the CDC’s website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus and NCDHHS’ website at www.ncdhhs.gov/coronavirus, which includes daily updates on positive COVID-19 test results in North Carolina.

Coastal Review Online Editor Mark Hibbs and Assistant Editor Jennifer Allen contributed to this report.

Ferry service employees had to work quickly after Hurricane Dorian to adapt in order to keep the response moving to a devastated Ocracoke Village, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials told a legislative panel last week.

The House Transportation Oversight Committee met Thursday to hear an update on the NCDOT Ferry Division’s hurricane response as part of an overall departmental review going into this year’s short session of the legislature.

Although damage was not as widespread as that from hurricanes Michael and Florence nearly two years ago, the financial hit to the ferry system from Hurricane Dorian was more than twice the $1.7 million cost of those storms combined.

As of Feb. 16, spending on Dorian preparation and recovery and repairs to damaged facilities had topped $4 million, according to the division’s latest estimates.

The bulk of the cost highlighted the role the division played in recovery for Ocracoke Island, where ferry service provides the only transportation link.

Immediately after the storm, ferry crews worked with the Coast Guard to test routes and reestablish service to the island. Limited service was restored Sept. 7, the day after Hurricane Dorian swamped the village, to move emergency supplies and personnel from the National Guard and Red Cross.

But Ferry Division Deputy Director Jed Dixon said that given the scope of the impact in the village and the extensive repairs needed to reopen N.C. 12, division officials decided to open a direct run between Hatteras and Silver Lake using a Pamlico Sound route similar to the one transited by division’s passenger ferry service, which started last summer.

With the larger, sound class vessels being used for the runs from Cedar Island and Swan Quarter, smaller vessels that are usually restricted to more protected river and sound crossings were employed.

“There was an urgency,” Dixon said. “These runs were challenging for us. We were only able to make those runs when weather permitted.”

Crews also had to work with ramps that were designed for larger ferries and were too steep to use for some vehicles.

Dixon said the extra run helped in the recovery at a critical time and provided additional ferry space for removing the massive amount of debris that followed the storm.

The division estimates it hauled off 26,861 stoves, refrigerators and other white goods and 6,780 tons of debris.

Dixon said the additional ferry runs were also important after a major setback on work to fully reopen N.C. 12 from South Dock to Ocracoke Village in November when a nor’easter struck the island.

“We had our challenges along the way. It seemed like at times Mother Nature just wouldn’t let up,” Dixon said, adding that fortunately NCDOT crews were positioned to move back into the work zone quickly.

“As soon as the weather subsided, we were right back at it. We had sandbags going in and were working to restore that road. Once the road was repaired, that took a lot of pressure off our sound routes to supply some more service.”

Work to repair damage to the stacking lanes for the South Dock station continues, Dixon said, including a shoreline stabilization project on areas that have seen repeated damage. He said that work is expected to be completed before the summer visitor season starts.

Costs tallied

Repairs made up $577,000 of the Ferry Division’s Dorian costs, so far, most of it on work to Ocracoke Island dorms and other infrastructure, which were flooded at the height of the storm.

Most repairs for the system are expected to be completed by May, except for work on the heavily damaged Ocracoke living quarters for crew and terminal, which could take 18 to 24 months to complete.

Major damage estimates include the following:

• $125,000 for Hatteras crew dorms.
• $30,000 for Hatteras grounds repair.
• $25,000 for Mann’s Harbor shipyard.
• $1.4 million for Ocracoke dorm rebuild.
• $175,000 for Ocracoke terminal.
• $75,000 for Ocracoke ticket booth.
• $50,000 Ocracoke grounds.
• $30,000 for Cedar Island terminal repairs.

Damage to employee dorms affects operations

Catherine Peele, planning and development manager for the division, said the damage to the dorms on Ocracoke and the lack of available housing after the storm made it more difficult to keep service operating.

She said it finally took a combination of hotel rooms and Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers to be able to keep ferry crews on the island.

“The main concern for the residents is that they wanted an early departure from Ocracoke to Swan Quarter so they could get over to the mainland and back in the same day,” Peele told legislators. “So being able to house those employees on Ocracoke, we were able to make that early morning run.”

The department purchased four FEMA trailers for employees and is seeking funds for another six. Peele said the trailers are not a long-term solution and once repairs to the dorms are completed, the division plans to keep some for temporary housing and disaster response in future emergencies.

Peele said the storm also had an impact on maintenance to the sound class vessels, but previously scheduled work was completed this winter.

She had some good news to report on tram service on the island. The original trams put into service last year with the debut of the passenger ferry were destroyed, along with most of the other vehicles on the island when floodwater swept across parking areas that usually remain high and dry during storms.

Peele said that Hyde County was able to obtain a grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation to replace the trams and that three trams will be available when passenger ferry service resumes this summer, with two more shortly after.

Coastal legislators in both parties survived primary challenges in a Super Tuesday dominated by headlines at the top of the ticket.

Unofficial results from the State Board of Elections show incumbent Reps. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, Howard Hunter III, D-Hertford, and Phil Shepard, R-Onslow, all survived primary challenges by wide margins.

In legislative races for open seats, former Craven County commissioner Steve Tyson won the Republican primary for state House District 3 in Craven County, taking 52.57% of the vote in a four-way race to replace Rep. Michael Speciale.

Taking 82% of the vote, Marcia Morgan, who lost a close race in the 2018 general election against Davis, won the Democratic primary for the new House District 19 that includes parts of New Hanover and Brunswick counties. She’ll face Republican Charlie Miller, a member of the Brunswick County Board of Education, who won 62.4% of the vote.

Jacksonville City Council member Michael Lazzara won the Republican primary with 63% of the vote to replace eight-term Sen. Harry Brown in Senate District 6, which includes Jones and Onslow counties. He’ll face Ike Johnson, chair of the Onslow County Democratic Party, in the fall.

In other state races, both Gov. Roy Cooper and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest won their primaries by wide margins and will face off in the fall race for governor.

Forest’s replacement will be decided in a matchup between Republican Mark Robinson and Democrat Yvonne Holley.

National Races

The vote count Tuesday night yielded decisive victories in the presidential race with Donald Trump, who faced nominal opposition, taking 93.5% of the Republican vote and former Vice-President Joe Biden winning roughly 43% of the Democratic votes.

Biden’s closest challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., won 24% of the vote in a race that saw a jump in turnout compared to the 2016 primary. The two will divide up the state’s 110 delegates. No other Democrat reached 15%, the threshold required to win a share of the delegates.

Biden won decisively in all 20 coastal counties and the rest of the state, taking all but four western counties. Sanders strongest showing was in New Hanover County where he picked up 27% of the vote.

Former mayor of New York Mike Bloomberg, who dropped out of the race Wednesday after a dismal Super Tuesday showing, came in second in Brunswick, Craven, Pamlico and Tyrell counties but only topped 20% of the vote in Brunswick.

In other national races, three-term incumbent state Sen. Erica Smith, D-Northampton, who represents Beaufort, Bertie and four other northeastern counties, lost her bid for the U.S. Senate to Cal Cunningham who took 57% of the vote to Smith’s 34.75%. Cunningham will face incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who walked away with 78% of the vote.

Smith was one of two legislators who opted to run statewide rather than seek reelection. State Rep. Holly Grange, R-New Hanover, lost her bid in the primary for governor to Forest. Her district was among those redrawn by the legislature last year after a successful court challenge in state court over partisan gerrymandering.

In the Democratic primary for the sprawling 7th District, which stretches from Brunswick and New Hanover counties to just south of Raleigh, Christopher Ward of Tabor City won with 46.37%. He will face three-term Republican David Rouzer of Wilmington, who did not face a challenge in the primary.

The district, redrawn last year after a court challenge over partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, covers Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties on the coast along with five inland counties.

There was no primary opposition for the 3rd Congressional District, which covers the rest of coastal North Carolina. Incumbent Greg Murphy, R-Pitt, who won a special election last year after the death Rep. Walter Jones Jr., will be facing Democrat Daryl Farrow of Trenton.

Schools in New Hanover and Brunswick counties are installing new water filling stations and special filters in reaction to continuing concerns about levels of industrial contaminants found in drinking water systems.

The move to reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, comes after a nationwide report again highlighted high levels of the compounds in water supplies, with Brunswick County registering the highest levels in the country and the Wilmington region listed as the fifth highest.

The new filtration systems use reverse osmosis, or RO, the method that’s been determined to be most effective in reducing levels of the compounds. Initial plans call for one RO station at each school.

Last week, the Brunswick County Board of Education reviewed a plan for a pilot project to test reverse osmosis stations at Lincoln Elementary and Belville Elementary, both in Leland, and a third-party testing lab to monitor before-and-after results.

Earlier this month, the New Hanover County School Board agreed to move $142,582 in its capital projects fund to begin a similar project.

New Hanover County School Board member Stefanie Adams said the approved funding will go to start engineering studies of how and where to put in RO filters in the county’s 30 affected schools, but it won’t cover the total cost of the program. Moving ahead with the program is essential, she said, especially considering that the installation of new filtration systems at Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s Sweeney Treatment Plant is expected to take about three years to complete.

“There’s definitely the interest to move forward and make sure we are providing safe water in all of our schools,” Adams said. “It’s a crisis and it’s absolutely imperative that we quickly and expediently get these services available to our children and our school staff.”

Adams said worries about the safety of schools’ drinking water remain high throughout the community.

“I know this as a parent,” she said. “I have a son who is 8 years old, and I lived here when I was pregnant, and I drank the water from the tap. When he was an infant, if I made formula, I made it from the tap.”

She said her family’s reaction was to contract with a water service for regular deliveries of bottled water, but that option isn’t available to everyone.

“I think people are very angry and they are frustrated,” Adams said. “For those that have the means to be able to put an RO filter in their home or order bottled water, that’s great, but what about those in our community that can’t. What are we doing for them?”

Emily Donovan is a co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, an environmental advocacy group that has focused on PFAS issues. Donovan said RO stations are an important step, but she would also like to see the number of water stations expanded.

“We’d like to see three filling stations at each school,” Donovan said in an interview with Coastal Review Online.

She said that after an Environmental Working Group report on PFAS in drinking water came out last fall, volunteers collected more than 2,000 signatures asking for an alternative water source for students in both school systems.

The group gathered quotes from reverse osmosis system providers that put the cost of installing three stations in each of the 30 affected schools in the New Hanover County system at roughly $350,000. The estimate also included a three-year maintenance agreement.

Legislation proposed

Last week, actor Mark Ruffalo, who starred in “Dark Waters,” a film about the fight over PFAS contamination in West Virginia, visited both Wilmington and Pittsboro to draw attention to contamination in both areas.

During a press conference at the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, Ruffalo, community members from the Cape Fear River watershed and legislators called on stronger action from the state General Assembly to address the problem.

“How did we come to a place in America when we are afraid to drink the water out of our tap?” Ruffalo asked.

Also during the press conference, Sen. Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, said he would introduce a local bill when the legislature returns in April to help fund three RO systems in each New Hanover County school and potentially in other systems.

“I hope the other counties also impacted by the contamination will follow suit,” he said.

Peterson said he also supports a move, as called for in a New Hanover County School Board resolution approved earlier this month, to allow affected school systems to collect some of the fines imposed on Chemours Co., whose manufacturing facility near Fayetteville was identified as the source of high levels of the PFAS compound GenX detected in the Cape Fear River.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, who introduced several measures last session to address PFAS contamination, said the state is not doing enough, especially with an ongoing reluctance of federal officials to take more aggressive action.

“It’s everywhere and its ubiquitous and it has significant health problems associated with it,” she said. “We have limited federal oversight and a weak federal regulatory structure … We have limited state regulatory protections in place and the state agencies have also been constrained by recent actions in the General Assembly that have limited in their ability to be aggressively proactive with this.”

Last year, legislative leaders delayed action on new PFAS bills, saying they wanted to wait for results from statewide testing by a consortium of state and private universities. A request by Gov. Roy Cooper for additional funds and personnel was pared down considerably in the legislature’s spending plan but has since been caught up the ongoing budget standoff between the governor and the legislature. So far, legislators have not included the PFAS funding in any of the handful of mini-budgets passed to work around the standoff.

Harrison said that ultimately the state should adopt tighter regulations and a precautionary approach to the thousands of PFAS chemicals and other contaminants that would prevent them from being discharged into public waters without proof that they are not harmful.

February is traditionally downtime for beach towns, but each year the shoreline along some stretches of North Carolina’s central and southern coast is anything but quiet as crews work around the clock to pump millions of cubic yards of sand in a never-ending fight against erosion.

Early last week, bulldozers and pipe haulers began crawling along the swash line where Atlantic Beach meets Pine Knoll Shores, dragging hundreds of feet of metal pipe under the DoubleTree hotel pier to connect with an underwater pipeline that’s tethered a few hundred yards offshore.

That’s where the Liberty Island, a 325-foot trailing suction hopper dredge, has begun pumping tons of sand-laden slurry sucked up from a borrow site 3 miles away onto the hurricane-damaged beaches of Bogue Banks.

This year’s beach renourishment project is the most ambitious in the history of the banks and represents a growing trend in how local governments in North Carolina and elsewhere plan and pay for beach repair.

Greg “Rudi” Rudolph, Carteret County’s shore protection manager, who has been coordinating the effort, said developing a plan to renourish nearly all of the 25-mile strand meant overcoming decades of leaving beach projects up to local governments.

“It was a town-by-town effort before that. One town one year, another town the next, and all with different funding sources,” Rudolph said.

Recognizing that the area needed a comprehensive approach, Rudolph started working on a master plan that would incorporate all four municipalities on Bogue Banks and Carteret County under one unified approach.

Last year, crews with contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. put 1 million cubic yards of sand over 5.2 miles on beaches in eastern Emerald Isle and adjacent Indian Beach.

This year, the plan is to move 2 million cubic yards onto 9.5 miles of beach, working from western Atlantic Beach to Pine Knoll Shores and Salter Path and then a western section of Emerald Isle.

Next year, the final phase of the plan finishes out the rest of Emerald Isle. In all, beaches along 23 miles of the 25 miles of Bogue Banks are to be renourished.

“It’s a 24/7 operation.”

Greg Rudolph, Manager, Carteret County Shore Protection

So far, Rudolph said, the weather seems to be cooperating, but because renourishment projects have to be completed during the so-called “turtle window” from November to April to prevent conflicts with nesting sea turtles, there’s no room for downtime.

“It’s a 24/7 operation,” Rudolph said. Since the banks’ beaches are south-facing there is not same threat of nor’easters disrupting operations, but the size and scale of the project is massive.

The Liberty Island will be joined by the 480-foot, 15,000-cubic-yard capacity Ellis Island, the largest hopper dredge in the U.S., around mid-March. Depending on progress at that point, Rudolph said the two dredges could work a week or two in tandem, alternating runs to the Morehead City deposit area in Onslow Bay, where sand dredged from harbor has been dumped since the 1930s.

Rudolph said the main goal of the project is to rebuild the secondary line of dunes closest to the shore that were nearly all wiped out during Hurricane Florence.

“Part of our design is to put those baby dunes back,” he said. “They’ll contour the beach to mimic that.”

Planting vegetation on those new dunes also incorporates the new strategy.

“In the past, the dune-planting component has been a town-by-town or property-owner-by-property-owner decision. This year, it’s part of the dredging contract,” Rudolph said.

The Bogue Banks renourishment did not come cheap, but it did come at the right time. Although funding for the first phases of the project came from a mix of local and state funds, part of the cost going forward will be covered by North Carolina’s share of an emergency disaster appropriation that followed Hurricane Florence. The project had just received its permits when Florence hit in mid-September 2018, Rudolph said.

“We had everything in place to go.”

A question of priorities

For Rob Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, a collaborative effort by Duke University and Western Carolina University based at the latter’s Cullowhee campus, the surge in federal money in North Carolina is another example of a troubling shift in how beach renourishment projects are now funded.

For years, coastal communities and the state were coming to grips with a dwindling flow of federal dollars into beach projects because of tight budgets and the end of earmarks that allowed many of the projects to retain their funding. North Carolina set up a special fund in 2017 for coastal storm damage work to help fill the increasing gap between costs and federal dollars.

That changed with Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the massive influx of money that followed, which the Army Corps of Engineers used to fund scores of projects along the Eastern Seaboard. A similar scenario of renourished beaches followed in areas hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Young said post-disaster appropriations are rapidly becoming one of the main funding sources for beach projects, especially since the Federal Emergency Management Agency changed rules to allow communities to classify their beaches as infrastructure.

Young said local planners like Rudolph are doing their jobs to leverage resources and develop projects, but at the federal level, there is no oversight and no overall plan to set priorities. “It’s all off-budget,” Young said. “It’s a complete abdication of congressional oversight.

“It’s not like Congress is taking a look at all these beach renourishment projects and deciding which ones they want to fund and where the federal interest is. That’s not how it works. There’s a huge federal contribution and no national plan or vision for how or why this should be happening.”

Young said he’s not opposed to renourishment projects, but that they have to be better prioritized.

“There’s a huge federal contribution and no national plan or vision for how or why this should be happening.”

Rob Young, Director, Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines

The newly approved Topsail Island project, with a price tag at around $230 million, is a prime example of misplaced priorities, he said. “It’s a temporary resilience project by making a temporary beach out in front of what are largely investment homes on Topsail Island.”

It’s understandable, he said, that the locals are supportive, but if they had to shoulder the cost they probably would reconsider.

“If coastal communities had to pay 100% of the cost then they would do some very serious thinking about how they’re investing their money, but as long as the federal taxpayers are picking up the entire tab or most of the tab, you’re just going to take that money. Why would you not?”

The trade-off, he said, means less focus and incentives on elevating structures, moving them or buyouts, such as the one Young and his colleagues proposed last year for North Topsail Beach. The $30 million plan was roundly rejected by local officials.

“You should be spending money on long-term solutions, not be spending that money in ways that will encourage investment in places that are demonstrably at risk and especially in places where we’re not talking about people in their primary residences,” he said.

Young said there are also long-running concerns over the cumulative environmental effect of constant beach renourishment. There’s been little research on the carbon footprint of the massive projects and there are environmental impacts in both the borrow areas and the intertidal areas from where the sand is pumped.

“When you do it every four years and you do it everywhere, there are cumulative environmental impacts that we have never added up. We should be assessing those environmental impacts,” he said. “We don’t do it and we don’t really know the degree to which massive beach nourishment everywhere from Maine to Texas is slowly but surely diminishing shorebird populations and near-shore fisheries.”

Bogue Banks project studied

Pine Knoll Shores Town Manager Brian Kramer said he’s heard some environmental concern about the impact from residents, but assured those folks that the Bogue Banks project had gone through numerous environmental studies before winning approval, even having to pass muster with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. That’s because the offshore borrow site straddles state and federal waters.

Kramer said that replacing the “baby dunes” is important. Without them, he said, storms would start eroding and more properties would be threatened. Such losses could wipe out a town like Pine Knoll Shores where nearly half of its roughly $1 billion tax base is along that first row facing the Atlantic.

“It’s no secret that the major portion of the tax base is just that oceanfront stand,” he said.

The money goes for schools, services and infrastructure, he said, and protecting the front row is essential.

“This isn’t just in Pine Knolls Shores. The entire town and by extension the whole county benefits from having that tax base.”

“That healthy beach is the economic driver of the area.”

Brian Kramer, Town Manager, Pine Knoll Shores

He said the perception is that the renourishment only benefits the oceanfront property owners, but the entire local economy depends on a healthy beach.

“That healthy beach is the economic driver of the area,” he said.

Kramer was an avid backer of the banks renourishment plan and more so after Hurricane Florence, which showed that areas with flat, renourished beaches fared far better.

“That kind of says it all,” he said. “I think it’s a win from every angle.”

Young said federal funds and sand are flowing for now, but local governments not planning for a changing climate and a change in federal priorities are delaying the inevitable. The federal cost of dealing with rising seas in places like Miami, Charleston and New York City will dwarf what’s available now.

“When we have to spend money for major cities, the money for small resort communities is going to be gone,” Young said.

Eventually, the beaches will become harder and harder to maintain, he said. What has been happening in Folly Beach, South Carolina, where a steepening offshore contour is making it difficult to keep sand in place, is part of that future.

“Someday, we’re not going to hold everything in place by pumping sand,” he said. “If communities are not thinking about that day, then eventually it’s all going to come crashing down on them.”

Published in partnership with Carolina Public Press

RALEIGH — A North Carolina research group is putting the final touches on a state climate report — described as the first of its kind — that details an array of major changes through the end of the century, including the dynamics of rising seas, wetter storms and more frequent flooding, according to a preview of the findings presented last week in Raleigh.

The Asheville-based North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, a team of North Carolina State University experts who work closely with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientists and provide technical work for NOAA in its quadrennial National Climate Assessment, presented the preliminary findings during the state Climate Change Interagency Council’s meeting Jan. 22 in Raleigh. The council is to use the report as part of a state risk and resiliency plan due in March.

The report draws on the work of in-state experts as well as science used in the national assessment. The researchers developed sets of predictions for changes through 2100, including regional predictions for the state’s coast, Piedmont and mountain regions.

The report looks at the impacts from both a low range of greenhouse gasses that implies further efforts to lower emissions and a high range that represents current projections if left unchecked. Confidence in the predictions are then broken down into four categories: “low confidence” for predictions in which there is not enough information to determine the impact in North Carolina, along with “likely,” “very likely” and “virtually certain.”

NOAA scientist David Easterling, who works on national assessment, said during the presentation that the categories are more than words, they’re intended to convey the science behind the prediction.

“We actually have calibrated language in there,” Easterling said, “so that if we say something is ‘likely’ it actually has a probability attached to it of 66 to 90%, ‘very likely’ is 90% or greater and the ‘virtually certain’ designation starts at 99%.”

The overarching finding of the report is that “Large changes in North Carolina’s climate — much larger than any time in the state’s history — are very likely by the end of this century under both the lower and higher scenarios.”

The report comes as records are falling almost year by year. The state begins the new decade after its warmest 10-year period on record and after 2019 is now officially the warmest year recorded.

Major changes on the coast

While much of the state will feel the impact of those changes, the most dramatic changes ahead will be along the coastline, sounds and rivers.

Kenneth Kunkel, a senior scientist and lead scientist for assessments with the institute, said last week that continued sea level rise is among the predictions about which there is virtual certainty. Kunkel and Easterling are leading the report project.

Kunkel said the prediction is tied to global sea level rise, which is a virtual certainty.

The report sets the projected sea level rise by 2100 under the lower greenhouse levels a 1.7 to 3.9 feet at Duck and 1.2 to 3.3 feet at Wilmington, taking into account that subsidence is causing sea levels to rise about twice as fast in the northeastern part of the state.

Kunkel said the report authors turned to NOAA experts to study how that will drive an increase in high tide flooding and found a major jump in the frequency.

“Under the high-emission scenario, by 2080 we’re getting it every day of the year, virtually, and that’s because sea level rise has risen to where it is always above that current high tide flooding threshold,” Kunkel said.

Researchers are also certain that North Carolina is among the areas threatened by the prospect of stronger, wetter tropical storms and hurricanes, but Kunkel said that just how that will play out is harder to say.

While warmer oceans mean more water vapor to fuel storms, there are also other factors that dictate what that means for North Carolina.

“There’s high confidence in this for global changes, but if you drill down to any specific region there could be other things that change that,” he said. “We have different levels of confidence for different aspects.”

One aspect that is highly likely to increase, according to the findings, is the amount of precipitation and freshwater flooding from tropical systems that pass over or near the state.

Use in Policy & Planning

The report’s team of authors and advisers are working through about 500 comments gathered last fall and winter during a peer-review process and are expected to finish the report in late February.

From there the report becomes part of an overall risk and resilience strategy document required under Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 80, the extensive climate change and energy efficiency initiative launched last year.

Tancred Miller, coastal and ocean policy manager with the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, said the new report is much in line with previous assessments on sea level rise by the state Coastal Resources Commission’s Science Panel. What jumps out about the new report is the high tide flooding, he said in an email response to Coastal Review Online.

“From what I’ve seen, the preliminary sea level rise findings appear to be consistent with the CRC Science Panel’s 2010 and 2015 reports,” he said. “The new message that has not been covered in-depth in the Science Panel’s reports is the high tide flooding forecast — a nearly daily occurrence by 2100.”

Other predictions for increases in storm frequency, intensity and rainfall contain “the bad news that none of us wants to hear,” said Miller.

Miller said the report will assist agencies as part of the Executive Order 80 mission to lessen the effects of climate change and develop policies that take climate change into consideration.

“The report is meant to be used as a basis to help cabinet agencies evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on our programs, assets and operations, so that we can take the necessary steps to mitigate those impacts,” he said.

Preliminary Key Findings

In the current draft of the report, key findings for North Carolina include the following:

Temperature

• Very likely that temperatures in North Carolina will increase in all seasons.
• A very likely increase in the number of warm nights.
• A likely decrease in the number of cold days.
• A likely increase in the number of hot days.

Precipitation

• Likely that annual total precipitation will increase.
• Virtually certain that atmospheric water vapor content will rise.
• Very likely that extreme precipitation frequency and intensity will increase.

Sea Level Rise

• Virtually certain that the sea level will continue to rise along North Carolina coast.
• Projected sea level rise by 2100 under lower greenhouse levels is 1.7 to 3.9 feet at Duck and 1.2 to 3.3 feet at Wilmington.
• Due to climate and geological changes such as subsidence, sea level is rising about twice as fast along the northeastern coast compared to the southeastern coast.
• High tide flooding is projected to become a nearly daily occurrence by 2100.

Hurricanes

• Intensity of the strongest hurricanes likely to increase.
• High confidence for global changes, but lower confidence for regional predictions.
• Heavy precipitation accompanying hurricanes passing near or over the state is very likely to increase.
• Low confidence concerning future changes in the number of landfalling hurricanes in North Carolina.

Floods & Storms

• Virtually certain that the rising sea level and the increasing intensity of coastal storms, especially hurricanes, will lead to increases in coastal storm-surge flooding.
• Likely that the frequency of severe thunderstorms will increase.
• Likely that increases in extreme precipitation will lead to increases in inland flooding.
• Likely that total snowfall and the number of heavy snowstorms will decrease due to increasing winter temperatures.
• Low confidence concerning future changes in number of winter coastal storms and ice storms.

Compound events & impacts

• Likely that severe droughts will be more intense in the future.
• As a result, likely increase in the frequency of climate conditions conducive to wildfires.
• Likely that urban growth will increase the magnitude of the urban heat island effect, resulting in stronger warming in urban centers.

On the first Saturday afternoon in September, crews were cutting their way through broken pines and restringing the electric lines leading to Dare County Regional Airport on the northern end of Roanoke Island.

Doors and windows were wide open at the small aviation terminal to draw in some kind of breeze while a handful of local officials and reporters waited in the heat for the return of both electricity and the governor, who had landed on Ocracoke Island a few hours prior to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Dorian that hit Sept. 6.

Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, who had been inspecting repairs to the power grid earlier in the day, said as more information gets out from Ocracoke, the assessments just seemed to get worse. Asked about the contrast of what happened in his district and assessments that the state had somehow dodged a bullet, Hanig paused for a moment.

“This is how I try to explain it,” he said. “I say ‘everybody gets their turn’.”

Dorian was no Florence or Matthew, he said, but try telling that to the thousands of people in his district who lost it all.

Although a minor storm in terms of total damage, in context Dorian was another devastating event for a region that is still reeling physically, financially and emotionally from storms that changed not just lives and landscape in eastern North Carolina, but the way we think about and plan for storms to come.

Dorian underlined the risk that North Carolina faces from a changing climate that produces more frequent, wet and powerful storms at a time when the state was still grappling with the real world consequences of that risk.

For most of the spring and summer, Gov. Roy Cooper and legislators debated the extent of funding for transportation and water and sewer resiliency, as well as how best to prevent or mitigate damage from future floods.

The state’s capacity and competence in distributing a massive flow of federal recovery funds also was hotly debated while a new state agency, the Office of Recovery and Resiliency, took shape to oversee not just the distribution of aid, but to develop a new strategy that went beyond the storm-by-storm approach of the past.

In that way, the floods from the prior fall set the stage for much of what shaped 2019. The mounting toll from Hurricane Florence in September 2018 and the lingering effects from the fall of 2016’s Hurricane Matthew continued to pull down local economies throughout eastern North Carolina and challenged state, local and federal recovery officials to retool their approach to hurricane recovery.

The 2018 election also had a big effect on what happened this year. The vote reset the power balance in Raleigh and led to what would become a yearlong stalemate on where to focus policy and resources.

Both dynamics carry forward into the New Year, as does the worry that the state’s highly polarized partisan atmosphere will only get worse as the election year heats up.

The longest long session in modern legislative history is set to resume Jan. 14. Although the fiscal year ended June 30, the state is still without a full budget, funded instead by a continuation of spending at last year’s levels and a series of mini-budgets aimed at specific areas.

Still unsettled are a wide array of environmental policies and still without appropriations are several environmental initiatives and dozens of proposed infrastructure repairs and upgrades for small towns throughout the state.

Legislative leaders haven’t laid out plans for what will happen when they return or even if it will even be the last time the General Assembly convenes before the regular “short session” starts in May.

If the pattern established this year continues, then add another milestone for 2019: the year we switched to a year-round legislature.

Here’s what else happened in 2019:

January

• A new General Assembly was sworn in. The highly competitive and active 2018 cycle resulted in enough new seats for Democrats that although still in the majority, GOP leaders no longer hold supermajorities in both the state House and Senate.
• Former U.S. Housing and Urban Development official and congressional staffer Laura Hogshead was named the chief operating officer of the state’s new Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
• The Outer Banks Preservation Society asked visitors to respect national parks and areas along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore after a partial federal shutdown leaves them unattended.
• The Salmon Creek property in Bertie County, which is believed to be tied to the Lost Colony, was transferred by the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust to the state Division of Parks and Recreation.
• Roanoke Island sea turtle assistance and rehabilitation workers reported a surge in the number of cold-stunned turtles for the month.
• The state’s Coastal Resources Commission announced a new of dune rules.
• Cleanups took place at national park facilities after the end of partial government shutdown.

February

• The state mailed out $11.6 million in checks to commercial fishing operations for losses due to Hurricane Florence, the first round of payments under a new assistance program.
• The state Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board toured the Wilmington area including Sutton Lake coal ash ponds and Superfund sites around Navassa.
• Conservation groups filed together a motion in federal court to stop seismic surveys while a lawsuit challenging the testing moved forward.
• Work continued on a state-funded marine debris cleanup program that employed commercial fishing crews to clean up marshes and islands.
• The Coastal Resources Commission advanced a new set of inlet hazard maps and rules, the first major revision proposed since 1981.
• Twelve-term Congressman Walter B. Jones Jr., whose district included coastal counties from Currituck to Onslow, died on his 76th birthday.
• Cooper testified before the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on the impact of climate change in North Carolina.
• Sunset Beach Mayor Greg Weiss, elected in October 2018, abruptly resigned.
• At 12:20 p.m. Feb. 25 the new bridge over Oregon Inlet opened to traffic. The day before, residents were invited to walk across the spans, which reach as high as 90 feet above the inlet.
• A dead humpback whale washed up on the beach near Corolla, the seventh winter stranding on Outer Banks beaches.

March

• Mysterious booms, similar to so-called Seneca Guns, were heard along the coast.
• In another indication of deteriorating water quality at Lake Mattamuskeet, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service posted signs warning the public about harmful algae blooms.
• Dare County Commissioners approved plans for the Shallowbag Bay dredging project to help move the 16th-century replica vessel Elizabeth II that’s been stranded near the Manteo waterfront.
• Cooper issued budget plans that included funds for improvements for DEQ’s Reedy Creek labs, storm resiliency, PFAS monitoring and research and clean water infrastructure.
• North Carolina joined eight other states in a legal fight to stop seismic testing.
• Topsail Island towns began selecting restoration projects for heavily damage beaches through a grant program managed by Resource Institute, a Winston-Salem based nonprofit that was granted funding for the project.
• DOT officials announced that a passenger-only ferry between Ocracoke and Hatteras won’t be ready in time for tourist season.
• The state DOT board approved naming the new bridge over Oregon Inlet for former state Senate President and Manteo native Marc Basnight.
• The New Hanover County planning board approves a special use permit for a proposed sand mine adjacent to a toxic groundwater site.
• At the annual Oyster Summit, coastal legislators announce new oyster legislation signaling a deal on how to handle new leasing programs and conflicts with other users of public trust waters.
• Dare County officials reviewed the continuing deterioration of navigation channels around Oregon Inlet, making it difficult to move equipment in to demolish the old Bonner Bridge.
• Federal officials approved next steps for planning the Mid-Currituck bridge project.

April

• Officials held an opening ceremony of the Marc Basnight Bridge April 2 amid a nor’easter that Cooper described as a symbol of Outer Banks residents’ resilience and dedication.
• EPA announced plans to open up 100 acres, about half of the Navassa Superfund site, to development saying that part of the site does not pose a threat to public health.
• Work wrapped up on a $20 million post-Florence beach renourishment project at Bogue Banks.
• State officials approved a streamlined permitting process for the use of marsh sills and other living shoreline techniques for erosion controls.
• A coalition of environmental groups announced plans to take legal action to stop the Mid-Currituck bridge project.
• The CRC granted a variance to the State Ports Authority after officials appealed the denial of a permit to expand the Wilmington port turning basin.
• The Oak Island Bridge, closed for six months during repairs, reopened to traffic.
• DOT announced a lease for a new passenger-only ferry for the Ocracoke to Hatteras route.
• Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced that the administration is putting on hold drilling plans for the Atlantic pending appeals of a court order blocking offshore drilling in the Arctic.

May

• DEQ ordered testing of public water systems throughout the Cape Fear River watershed for PFAS and other emerging contaminants.
• The state House introduced its version of the budget, which included significant funding for disaster recovery and resilience.
• More than a dozen coastal mayors met with DEQ Secretary Michael Regan in Manteo to sign a statement in opposition of offshore drilling.
• Offshore drilling and seismic testing opponents linked up on North Carolina beaches for Hands Across the Sands events.
• Sen. Harry Brown announced that he is seeking to revive legislation aimed at limiting wind energy projects in eastern North Carolina.
• Jessica Whitehead, a longtime specialist in coastal community hazards adaptation with North Carolina Sea Grant, was named the state’s first Chief Resiliency Officer in the new Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
• After a series of early season drownings, coastal rescue officials emphasized warnings about rip currents, a theme which continued throughout the season.
• State Senate released its version of the budget that offered no funds for DEQ work on PFAS and reduced the department’s overall funding.
• Duke University scientists released studies of Sutton Lake that show a long-term process of unreported and unmonitored coal ash spills.
• The PFAST Network, a group of public and private universities involved in emerging contaminant research, held in Wilmington a widely attended public forum on its work.
• Debate over Duck’s beach access policies heated up after a confrontation that led to a trespassing arrest.
• Algae blooms started forming in the Perquimans, Pasquotank and Chowan rivers.
• Division of Water Resources staff and other state officials investigated a fish kill in the lower portion of the Neuse River near Havelock in the areas of Flanners Beach and Carolina Pines.

June

• New shellfish legislation was signed into law. The bill created rules for leases and established new shellfish enterprise zones, set up a pilot program in Pamlico Sound for three large-scale leases and expanded areas allowed for growing seed oysters in floating upweller platforms, known in the trade as a FLUPSY.
• A state study called for more laws to help local governments deal with derelict vessels.
• North Topsail Beach officials bristled over an analysis by the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University that a buyout of vulnerable properties would be far cheaper than the money spent saving them.
• House and Senate leaders reached a budget deal and passed a new, two-year spending plan, but the margin included only a handful of Democrats. Cooper quickly vetoed the bill.
• Avangrid Renewables began to study the seabed and subsurface conditions using high-resolution geophysical surveys of the Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind Lease Area about 24 miles off the North Carolina and Virginia coasts.
• Cape Lookout National Seashore officials temporarily closed 19 miles out of 47 miles to motor vehicles to protect record numbers of nesting shorebirds and sea turtles.
• Hunting ended on Carrot Island after a new law putting the protected land in the town of Beaufort corporate limits took effect.

July

• The Swan Island Oyster Reef in Pamlico Sound, part of the Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network, was completed.
• WesternGeco, a seismic testing company, filed an appeal after North Carolina denied it a permit to start testing.
• After EPA officials rejected the change, the state Environmental Management Commission formally dropped the controversial swamp water classification for the lower Cape Fear River basin.
• DOT received approval for sandbags to protect the loop at the north end ferry landing on Ocracoke Island.
• A $5 million state grant to nonprofit Resource Institute for beach renourishment and restoration work was redirected by the legislature to North Topsail Beach, Surf City and Topsail Beach after concerns were raised about the firm’s lack of experience with coastal work.
• State health officials issued more warnings about algae blooms around Albemarle Sound.
• Testifying in a redistricting trial, Sen. Harry Brown said a bill limiting wind energy projects was dead for the session.
• Beaufort artist Craig Gurganus, known for using recycling surfboards to create colorful fish sculptures and a longtime supporter of coastal protection, died at 66.
• Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials announced Tuesday that for the third time in five years, a sea turtle nesting record has been broken, with the discovery of the 326th nest.
• The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island announced that Molly, the North American river otter that delighted visitors for nearly 18 years, was euthanized after having a seizure.

August

• A national real estate industry study showed that North Carolina ranks second among states with the highest number of new homes in the 10-year flood risk zone.
• The CRC’s Science Advisory Panel announced that a new update of the state’s seal level rise report would extend beyond the 30-year limit of the last report.
• State officials approved a new plan for water quality improvements for Lake Mattamuskeet.
• The Southport-Fort Fisher ferry route was shut down after a mechanical failure in the ramp system at the Southport terminal.
• A 110-acre tract on the southern tip of Topsail Island was put on the market, prompting concerns about over development.
• State Marine Fisheries Commission approved new southern flounder limits.
• Ferry Division officials reported that the Ocracoke Express passenger ferry was expected to have transported 30,000 passengers between Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Village between when it launched in May and Labor Day Weekend.

September

• Over Labor Day weekend, Cooper declared a state of emergency in all 100 counties as forecasters said Hurricane Dorian, stalled over Grand Bahama Island, could speed up and reach the North Carolina coast within days. Curfews began in several coastal towns and counties.
• Hurricane Dorian grazed the North Carolina coast along the Outer Banks. Its winds downed power lines dozens of miles inland, drove the waters of Pamlico Sound into soundside communities on Hatteras Island and caused extensive flooding and damage on Ocracoke Island.
• Multiple tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Dorian caused damage in several coastal counties, including the destruction of more than 30 homes at a mobile home park in Carteret County.
• Helicopters, small planes and emergency ferries ran supplies to Ocracoke where residents reported that a tsunami-like wave of water destroyed homes and businesses and put nearly every vehicle on the island out of commission. No deaths or severe injuries were reported.
• The House approved a disaster relief mini-budget that included funding for resiliency planning, housing buyouts, Bogue Sound conservation and repairs at UNC-Wilmington. The Senate passed a much more stripped down plan that only covered required matching funds for federal grants.
• The Clean Water Management Trust Fund awarded Cedar Point a $1 million grant to help pay for a 56-acre park on the White Oak River.
• Dominion Energy announced plans to build the largest offshore wind development in the country in federal waters 27 miles off Virginia Beach. Economic development officials in northeastern North Carolina said the project would boost the economy in the region.
• After more than a monthlong shutdown, ferry service resumed between Southport and Fort Fisher.

October

• After months with little progress on budget negotiations with the governor, legislative leaders announced they would spend the month moving a final set of bills, including the last round of mini-budgets, to fund various agencies and departments.
• Ferry system officials reversed a decision to shut down ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke Village citing widespread demand.
• President Trump approved North Carolina’s request for a major disaster declaration for counties hit by Hurricane Dorian, allowing FEMA Public Assistance programs to cover debris removal and repairs to public infrastructure.
• A new analysis found levels of PFAS far higher than previously reported around the Wilmington intake at Lock and Dam No. 1 in samples collected between 2014 and 2016.
• An archaeologist with the state’s Underwater Archeology Branch said a recently exposed wreck across from the Wreck Tiki Bar and Food in Hatteras Village could be the Dulcimer, English bark stranded in February 1883.
• Legislators approved a transportation mini-budget that included $11 million to raise power lines over the Cape Fear River near the Port of Wilmington, $1 million to cover the cost of leasing a passenger ferry for the Hatteras to Ocracoke Village run, and money for repairs and renovations for hurricane damaged facilities.
• The Coastal Federation reported to the Coastal Resources Commission that commercial fishing crews collected about 200 tons of marine debris through a Hurricane Florence recovery project.
• The Division of Water Resources started work on a dredge spoils project to identify areas in state waters where sand from nonfederal dredging projects can be deposited.
• Legislators approved a wide-ranging environmental bill that freed up additional matching funds for beach repair and renourishment and financially distressed water and sewer systems and required and a new statewide inventory of firefighting foam.
• FEMA rejected a state request for individual assistance, which provides direct assistance to homeowners, saying damage thresholds had not been met. Cooper and other officials said the state would step in with additional help.
• At a public meeting, Navassa residents questioned an EPA proposal on developing a portion of the area’s Superfund site deemed safe.

November

• House and Senate negotiators settled on a $180 million disaster recovery bill that covers the state match for federal aid for hurricanes Matthew, Florence and Dorian, and Tropical Storm Michael; $1.7 million for Ocracoke School repairs; money for flood control at Lake Mattamuskeet; and stream debris removal. The bill also included $15 million for the Office of Recovery and Resiliency for local government support and hazard mitigation planning.
• Hurricane-weary residents braced for more high winds and water and road overwash as a powerful storm packing sustained winds between 30 and 50 mph roared across the Outer Banks. Sand and standing water on N.C. 12 blocked passage on Pea Island and Hatteras Island and set back efforts to reopen Ocracoke Island, still closed due to Hurricane Dorian damage.
• The state took ownership of 35 acres at Sunset Beach that will be added to the Bird Island Coastal Reserve, ending a long legal fight over a proposed development for the area.
• Southport halted planning work on a new wastewater treatment plant near Sunny Point after residents in the area objected. Town officials agreed to not build their own plant and instead would coordinate expansion needs with Brunswick County.
• NOAA announced plans to phase out paper nautical charts.
• Officials with the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund announced a scaled back set of grants after the state budget impasse caused its funding to drop this year by $7 million. Audubon North Carolina said a similar, $8 million cut to the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund could delay plans for the Lea Island Natural Area, an undeveloped barrier island between Topsail Island and Figure Eight Island that’s a critical nesting habitat for birds and sea turtles.
• Coast Guard crews said a company responsible for a damaged tugboat that collided with Bonner Bridge deployed spill containment equipment after the vessel began leaking fuel.
• Hyde County Commissioners signed off on a $600,000 state grant for Hurricane Dorian survivors to pay for 35 travel trailers for temporary housing and rental assistance for residents forced to temporarily relocate.

December

• Ocracoke Island, off limits to the public since the first week of September, reopened Dec. 2. Three days later, DOT officials reopened all sections of N.C. 12 on the island. In addition to overwash and damaged dunes, more than 1,000 feet of pavement was destroyed in the storm.
• Just as candidate filing for 2020 elections opened, a panel of judges reviewing a congressional redistricting lawsuit accepts newly redrawn districts. The changes are likely to yield a two-seat pickup for Democrats, shifting the partisan makeup of the congressional delegation from 10 Republicans to eight and three Democrats to five.
• A new study by Environment North Carolina detailed risks from leaks and accidents at onshore facilities required to support offshore drilling operations.
• Eight-term Sen. Brown, R-Onslow, the Senate Majority Leader and the chamber’s top budget writer, announced he would not run again in 2020.
• Coast Guard crews began work to remove the 88-foot Sea Angels that ran aground near a restricted part of Browns Inlet in Onslow County. The area has been used for military live fire training since World War II.
• A massive sewer overflow in Wilmington sent about 2.44 million gallons of untreated wastewater to Smith Creek.

Rematches in state Senate races in districts along the Cape Fear River and key departures from the North Carolina General Assembly have set the stage for the 2020 elections now that candidate filing has closed.

North Carolina’s primaries are synced with Super Tuesday in presidential election cycles, so the 2020 primary falls on March 3. Absentee ballots can be requested as early as Jan. 13 and in-person early voting starts Feb. 13.

This year continues the competitiveness seen in 2018, when all 120 state House seats and 50 state Senate seats were contested. This year, only one House race is uncontested.

Some of the state’s House and Senate districts that represent all or part of the state’s 20 coastal counties were redrawn this year after a successful lawsuit struck down most of the state’s legislative districts as the result of unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering.

It was part of a wave of changes for the delegation, including the retirement of Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, who announced he would not run in 2020. Brown, one of the chief Senate budget writers, is a key conduit for coastal funding and succeeded in creating two permanent state trust funds, one for inlet dredging and another for coastal storm damage mitigation.

At the same time, he often squared off against environmental groups, most famously for his attempt to halt wind energy projects, which he said would harm North Carolina’s odds at keeping its military bases because of potential flight path conflicts.

Brown’s departure creates an open seat in the central coastal region.

Brown’s will not be the only open Senate seat in a coastal district. Incumbent Sen. Erica Smith, D-Hertford, whose district includes Beaufort and Washington counties, has opted to run for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

Rematches

The 2020 races also include a rematch in two of 2018’s closest Senate races, both in districts that include the Cape Fear River, and driven by concerns about Gen X and other emerging contaminants.

Squaring off in Senate District 9 are incumbent Sen. Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, and former GOP Sen. Michael Lee, who lost in 2018 to Peterson by 231 votes out of roughly 87,000 cast. Neither has a primary opponent.

Upriver in Cumberland County, former GOP Sen. Wesley Meredith has filed for a rematch in District 19 against incumbent Democrat Kirk DeViere, who won by 433 votes in a race with 60,000 votes cast.

In another potentially close race for District 1, GOP incumbent Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, faces Dare County Democrat Tess Judge, who lost a state House bid against Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, in 2018.

Not running

On the House side, Rep. Holly Grange, R-New Hanover, made official her previously announced run for governor. She faces Lt. Gov. Dan Forest in the primary. Grange first indicated earlier this year that she would run for governor. During the court-ordered redrawing of districts around Wilmington, Grange and incumbent Rep. Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, were put in the same House district.

Also not running this year is four-term incumbent Michael Speciale, R-Craven. Four Republicans and a Democrat are vying for the chance to replace him.

Numerous House challenges

Unlike the Senate, where the only primary is in the Libertarian race for the southernmost district, state House races in March will include numerous challenges to incumbents.

Davis faces businessman Justin LaNasa, who owns a tattoo parlor and the Museum of the Bizarre in downtown Wilmington.

Hanig, of Currituck County, faces fellow Republican Rob Rollason of Kill Devil Hills in House District 6.

Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, faces former Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Chairman Cindy Edwards.

Phil Shephard, R-Onslow, faces Mark Price of Jacksonville.

Incumbent Rep. Howard Hunter, D-Hertford, is also facing a primary challenge for District 5 from Keith Rivers of Elizabeth City.

Primaries will also decide the candidates in both parties for the new House District 21, which stretches along the coast and parts of inland Brunswick County from the southern end of Masonboro Island to Holden Beach.

Marsha Morgan of Carolina Beach faces James Dawkins Jr. of Southport in the Democratic primary, and in the Republican primary, David Perry of Wilmington faces Charlie Miller of Southport.

Congressional changes

The western edges of the state’s two congressional districts that represent the coast shifted this year as well, when the legislature redrew congressional districts at the urging of the court after a challenge on similar grounds to the legislative district.

The consensus analysis for the new maps yield a two-seat pick up for Democrats from the current 10-3 GOP majority to an 8-5 split. The legislature elected next year will be tasked with drawing new maps again after the 2020 census for use in the 2020 election cycle.

The major change for coastal congressional districts this election cycle is the shift of most of Greenville from the 3^rd District to the 1^st District.

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-Pitt, who won a special election earlier this year to replace the late Rep. Walter Jones, Jr., filed for reelection in the 3^rd District. He will not face primary opposition.

Democratic candidate Daryl Farrow of Trenton, also will not face opposition in the primary.

Incumbent 7^th District Rep. David Rouzer, R-New Hanover, also will not face opposition in his bid for reelection. His opponent in the fall will be the winner of a three-way Democratic Party primary between Mark Judson of Apex, Christopher Ward of Tarrboro and Robert Colon of Wilmington.

RALEIGH — As legislators departed last month there was a finality, at least in rhetoric, when it came to the lengthy budget standoff between the legislative and executive branches.

With Gov. Roy Cooper’s late-June veto of the roughly $2.4 billion budget bill still standing, legislative leaders declared a victory of sorts. A press release from Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger’s office at the close of business on Oct. 31 noted that 98.5% of the legislature’s budget had been passed, a combination of the continuation of last year’s budget and a series of mini budgets funding new spending for several departments and programs, disaster aid and other consensus spending.

The flip side of the 98.5% spend tells a different story: what’s unspent. Simply calculated, that total is somewhere in the ballpark of $365 million. State budgets, however, are never that simple. They include a complex set of interlocking funds and revenue streams. Combing through what was proposed, what was included in the mini-budgets or funded through other means, however, spotlights a significant number of initiatives and long-sought environmental priorities that for now at least are on hold.

That much of what was left unfunded in state government includes a number of environmental priorities should be no surprise. Environmental policies and spending, especially the Department of Environmental Quality, have been a long-running area of disagreement, not just between the governor and the legislature but also between the House and Senate and even within the party caucuses in each chamber.

For DEQ, the immediate impact of working with just a continuation budget — one that’s based on last year’s funding levels — is the continuation of an untenable balancing act between permitting and environmental oversight driven in no small part by an explosion of work in areas of keen public interest such as coal ash, emerging contaminants and the effects of development, industry and agriculture on public waters.

Even before this year’s budget process began, DEQ officials and the governor made a push for more technical staff and funding along with a $30 million rebuild of DEQ’s aging science labs at its Reedy Creek complex.

In a pitch to visiting legislators during a tour at Reedy Creek last year, DEQ Secretary Michael Regan, stressed that the labs are crowded and need major equipment changes to handle the increase in testing and monitoring for emerging contaminants and other challenges.

Since taking office, Regan has been lobbying for more help to clear permitting backlogs and reduce turnaround time, taking the case not just to legislators, but also to industry groups who have complained about the lengthy permitting process.

A recent review of the department by the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division said DEQ management had made strides in improving the flow of permits, but still needed to step up its efforts. In response, department officials pointed to repeated requests for more resources to the legislature that went unanswered.

This year, for instance, the administration requested $6 million for 37 new positions to handle growing demand for work on emerging contaminants, which would in turn free up staff who are juggling those demands with reviewing and processing permit applications.

The legislature’s budget dialed back that figure to $406,024 and rejected another $500,000 requested for more personnel to handle permit backlogs.

Cassie Gavin, director of government relations with the North Carolina Sierra Club, said that while the amount was a disappointment, it did give the department some additional resources to deal with the concerns in the growing number of communities that are dealing with contaminants in their drinking water.

“It was at least something,” she said. “Now it’s nothing.”

The long-running battles over DEQ have the agency often on its heels, trying to accommodate the legislature’s sometimes confusing direction. This year, based on the new study on permitting, legislators questioned whether the department was putting enough resources into its regional office. Three budget cycles ago, the legislature wanted to shut down some of the offices, cutting staff and forcing the department to complete an extensive review to justify keeping them open.

Last year, agency officials had to scramble to justify the existence of its Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service, which works with industry and local government to improve recycling programs and energy efficiency, after the Senate proposed eliminating it.

Gavin said along with the funding cuts, that’s the kind of thing that has made it harder and harder for the department to do its job. The long-term effect, she said, has been to make it generally harder for DEQ to get out in front of the state’s environmental quality challenges.

“You get a reactive agency instead of a preventative agency that’s constantly trying to put out fires like GenX, like coal ash,” she said. “If you had a well-funded and supported environmental enforcement agency, then perhaps we could have some preventative work and we wouldn’t see so many fires.”

Funding limbo

The emerging contaminants response wasn’t all that DEQ lost out on in the budget impasse. The legislature’s budget approved in June included additional money for about 20 categories and programs.

They range from the $30 million rebuild at Reedy Creek to $25,000 to support the Crystal Coast Oyster Festival. Major items include $1.5 million to replace the West Bay, an aging Division of Marine Fisheries vessel used to build reefs and oyster beds; $2 million that would go to the Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary program; and $9 million for each of the next two years to address dozens of failing water and sewer systems throughout the state.

In addition, coastal programs lost nearly all funds destined for the state’s ongoing efforts in shellfish mariculture, including money for a new aquaculture program at Carteret Community College.

What was funded

Although the main budget for DEQ has been held up in the impasse, some of the mini-budgets did provide money in targeted areas. Most of those funds went into the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, grant programs that are used to match federal dollars. Both were funded through mini-budgets and received an additional round of money in the most recent disaster aid package after more federal funds became available.

The two disaster aid packages passed this session also provided some money for DEQ, including $8 million in disaster funds for infrastructure repairs and cleanup, $11.5 million for the Coastal Storm Mitigation Fund for beach renourishment and berm and dune repair, $50,000 for further storm repair and cleanup at the state’s Coastal Reserve sites and $175,000 to the ferry-based water quality monitoring.

RALEIGH – Long-awaited state parks and clean water plans could be put on hold or even scrapped after the state’s two main conservation funds lost significant appropriations in the state budget standoff.

Combined, the state’s Park and Recreation Trust Fund and Clean Water Management Trust Fund were appropriated an additional $15 million in nonrecurring funds in a budget passed by the General Assembly in June. The state’s roughly $24 billion budget was quickly vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper, starting a monthslong impasse that ended, temporarily at least, when the legislature adjourned for the year in November.

So far, the conservation funds, like dozens of other additional nonrecurring appropriations, have not been restored through a series of mini-budgets passed this fall.

That’s worried advocates for the state’s conservation funds, who had seen a steady rebuild in appropriations following steep cuts earlier this decade.

Both trust funds did receive their regular, recurring appropriations thanks to an automatic budget law that kicks in if a new budget is not in place when the fiscal year ends June 30. The law funds government operations at current levels, but it leaves on the table $7 million for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and $8 million for Parks and Recreation Trust Fund in additional appropriations.

In recent years, both the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund have received a mix of recurring and nonrecurring funds. The recurring base budget for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund is roughly $13 million and $17 million for the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

Bill Holman, state director for environmental nonprofit, The Conservation Fund, said given the recent progress, the significant loss of funding this year was disappointing.

“Both the governor and the General Assembly have been supportive of the conservation trust funds. Gov. Cooper requested increased funding and the General Assembly’s  budget provides that,” he said. “Thanks to conservation funds over the years we’ve been making steady progress across the state in protecting water quality, increasing public access and protecting wildlife.”

Holman said there will be a push to try and get the funding restored when the General Assembly returns in mid-January.

Greg Andeck, Audubon North Carolina’s director of strategy and government relations, said members were encouraged earlier this year when there was an agreement to boost funding, including a project to purchase for conservation undeveloped Lea Island north of Wilmington, in which the organization has been a key player.

“We remain hopeful that the Governor and legislature can reach an agreement when lawmakers reconvene in January. If they are not able to reach agreement, it would be a real tragedy to see conservation funding levels decrease by 20% from last year given the broad base of bipartisan support that North Carolina’s trust funds enjoy,” he said.

Holman said the impact of losing $7 million for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund will be felt across the state as projects already in the grant application pipeline go unfunded. “That’s $7 million worth of land and water conservation that won’t occur,” he said.

The dropped Parks and Recreation Trust Fund appropriation was directed to seven projects, including three new trails and two major land purchases on either end of the state, $2 million for the initial land acquisition for the new Pisgah View state park in Buncombe and Haywood counties and $4 million for the Lea Island Natural Area, an undeveloped barrier island between Topsail Island and Figure Eight Island.

Land acquisition is often a long, painstaking process for state agencies and land conservation organizations, Holman said, and having funding delayed or fall through could have a big impact on the outcome on negotiations with landowners.

“There could easily be opportunities missed or landowners may decide they need more money because they’ve been waiting longer,” he said.

Michele Walker, spokesperson for the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, declined to speculate on what would happen when the legislature returns. The department plans to move ahead on the new western North Carolina park project, she said, but is seeking more information on Lea Island.

“Pisgah View has been approved by the Council of State and is moving forward as mandated by legislation. The Lea Island project is essentially on hold right now until we get further clarity through the budget process,” Walker said in an email to Coastal Review Online last week. Clean Water Management Trust Fund projects that have yet to be funded in the latest round of grants could be affected if the funding isn’t resolved, she said. “Both trust funds have already allocated their recurring grant funds. CWMTF in particular has many additional projects that applied for grants. Without the non-recurring funds, several good projects will unfortunately not receive grant funding and may be unable to move forward.”

Andeck said he hoped the legislature would follow through on the commitment shown earlier this year for the barrier island project, noting that biologists had documented the state’s largest-ever least tern colony on the island.

“Lea-Hutaff Island is one of the last remaining undeveloped barrier islands along the North Carolina coast, providing critical nesting habitat for birds and sea turtles and serving as a natural storm buffer for inland communities, he said. We’re encouraged that lawmakers recognize the importance of Lea-Hutaff and are hopeful they’ll reach an agreement soon.”

RALEIGH — Legislators want to see the Department of Environmental Quality further streamlined and turning around permits faster but were warned this week that both tasks will be difficult at current funding levels.

A deep dive into permitting turnaround times and the layers of bureaucracy at DEQ released Monday revealed both the complexities and challenges as the department’s mission has been altered in the past few years as the North Carolina General Assembly has removed major divisions from DEQ to other departments to make DEQ more strictly a regulatory agency.

The report from the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division analyzed DEQ’s permitting processes as well as a department-wide review of its management.

It found that five areas within the department including the Division of Marine Fisheries, one of its largest, have the fewest number of employees per managers and more institutional layers.

The report also looked at DEQ’s ongoing efforts to streamline its permitting process, and while it finds that DEQ has taken significant strides in improving the permitting process since the launch by Secretary Michael Regan of its Permitting Transformation Project, it still lacks an adequate permit performance management system and an overall business plan that tracks the results of changes.

In a review Monday of the report findings and potential legislation for next year’s short session, members of the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee noted that the department has made strides in the past two years, but pressed DEQ to push forward with the permit tracking program and the administrative changes to reduce organizational layers.

Joy Hicks, senior director for governmental affairs and policy for DEQ, told legislators that the department had made major structural changes since the state’s last major review in 2016.

“We’re not the same agency we were in 2016,” Hicks said.

She said efforts to change, particularly those to improve its permitting systems, have been hampered by a lack of funding.

DEQ has unsuccessfully sought funding from the legislature for additional personnel to help clear permit backlogs and improve service since 2017.

The department issues roughly 25,000 permits each year and reviews applications for more than 200 different kinds of permits.

This year, DEQ’s funding has been caught up in the ongoing budget impasse between the Cooper administration and the General Assembly and is not one of the departments included in a series of minibudgets passed before the legislature adjourned for the year. That’s frozen much of the department’s spending at last year’s levels.

The legislature has also consistently trimmed down recent requests by the department for additional funding to cover additional testing and studies on emerging contaminants such as GenX and related compounds.

Hicks said that’s had an impact the ability to process permits, especially in the Wilmington office, where the DEQ technical staff must balance ongoing permit applications with the need to keep up with issues around coal ash and Gen X.

“Right now, you have the same staff doing both,” she said. “Just in this last year, if you think about all the big environmental issues this agency has had to grapple with, it has all fallen back on the same staff.”

In a letter responding to the report, DEQ Assistant Secretary Sheila Holman responded to concerns about staffing levels, saying that in some cases the ratio of managers to employees is higher by necessity in many of DEQ’s technical operations.

“As an example, the report notes a larger staff and more organizational layers occur at the Manteo office – a factor reflective of the fishing and law enforcement activity for the area as well as the remoteness of the Outer Banks, both requiring more staff,” Holman wrote.

Holman said the issues brought up with the Division of Marine Fisheries, including the complexity of the Manteo office, would likely be resolved after some anticipated retirements and restructuring.

At Monday’s meeting, Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, said he wants to see the department spell out what it needs to improve the permit programs.

Sen. Andy Wells, R-Catawba, said he didn’t think the changes required should be that difficult to put in place because it only represents about a quarter of the agency, Wells demanded to know when he would see a report on changes proposed for the division.

“Getting that 25% in line shouldn’t be that much of a challenge,” he said.

When the Program Evaluation Division Oversight Committee returns in January, members will likely take up legislation aimed at DEQ’s permitting and management structure raised in the report.

A draft of the bill would require the department to conduct a management study of the Division of Marine Fisheries, the Division of Mitigation Services, the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs and its Financial Services and Human Resources units. It would also require development of a formal business plan for the permitting initiative and call for a department study of the issue to be filed with the legislature by May 1 of next year.

Hicks told legislators that given limited resources, the report requirement could delay implementation of what the legislature demands.

Sharon Martin, DEQ’s deputy secretary for public affairs, said the department is already working to meet the goals set out in the study.

“For years, DEQ has had to maximize efficiencies, to do more with less, due to budget cuts and staff reductions and is underfunded and understaffed, even as we try to meet the goals laid out by the Program Evaluation Division,” she said Thursday.

Ports legislation considered

Also on Monday, the committee approved legislation based on a recent evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the state ports at Wilmington and Morehead City.

The legislation that is likely to be introduced during the 2020 short session requires the State Ports Authority to include measures to address port utilization, throughput, gate times and ship turnaround times at Morehead City and revises current law requiring container services at both ports to give the authority the option to decide whether container services are provided.

Update: Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday signed into law House Bill 200.

Copublished with Carolina Public Press

RALEIGH — The state House and Senate approved Thursday $180 million in disaster recovery funding along with an array of policy changes as the General Assembly wrapped up work for the year.

The storm recovery bill was hammered out by House and Senate negotiators who dialed back some of what the House approved but left in place a significant boost to the state’s Dorian recovery efforts.

The two chambers initially agreed for the need for about $122 million in state funds needed to match federal disaster aid for Hurricanes Matthew, Florence, and Dorian and Tropical Storm Michael. Without the additional funds, accounts providing the 25% state share for debris removal, infrastructure repair and other work were expected to run dry by the end of the month.

Everything beyond that was part of an ongoing negotiation until a deal was locked down on Wednesday.

The final version of the bill, which passed both House and Senate with only one dissenting vote, includes $1.7 million for Ocracoke School repairs, money for flood control around Lake Mattamuskeet and additional state help for local governments to speed up Dorian recovery.

Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, said the bill marks an important step in the journey back from disaster.

“Ocracoke has a long road to recovery, and this will be instrumental in that recovery,” he said.

The bill’s passage came as a relief to Ocracoke residents as they prepare for yet another weekend of high winds and heavy swells.

Peter Vankevich, co-publisher of the Ocracoke Observer, said there’s relief the bill has passed but also an immediate worry that some of the progress on the island’s roads could be set back if the storm forecast for this weekend is bad enough. It could slow the final bit of progress needed to reopen N.C. 12.

“You get two days of 30-knot winds and a lot can happen here, he said.

Vankevich was one of several who greeted Ocracoke resident Kelley Shinn when she returned home Thursday after visiting Raleigh to take the island’s case directly to legislators. Shinn met with Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, and joined a group of other Ocracoke supporters outside the Legislative Building Wednesday to raise awareness about the island’s needs.

Shinn said she was glad to see the funding in the bill was similar to the higher House levels, compared to the Senate version, and included the key items for Ocracoke and Hyde County. Residents will want to dig into the details on the funding and what programs and services it will go for, she said.

“I think we are ever hopeful, but still cautious,” Shinn said. Transparency, she said, will be important at all levels.

Ninth-generation Ocracoke resident Trudy Austin agreed and said she was confident Gov. Roy Cooper, who visited the island shortly after the disaster, will sign the bill.

Austin said Shinn’s trip provided inspiration in that people are listening.

“The island’s pretty excited about what she did, going there and standing up for us,” Austin said.

Recovery on the island will continue to depend on a mix of state and federal aid. Last month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected the governor’s request for federal Individual Assistance, saying the disaster had not reached necessary damage thresholds. A program to provide state individual assistance grants to fill that gap is expected to begin soon, said Keith Acree, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety. Acree said individuals who did not qualify for help through a Small Business Administration grant program would be able to apply for the individual assistance grants.

The state is also in the process of finalizing a $600,000 grant to Hyde County. Half of the funds will go to rental assistance and for the purchase of 35 travel trailers for temporary housing. The other half will go for project management assistance for countywide recovery programs.

Resiliency planning

The bill contains some of the House version’s resiliency initiatives along with policy revisions clarifying the role and authority for the recently created state Office of Recovery and Resiliency.

It leaves out proposed funding aimed specifically at resiliency planning for the state’s 20 coastal counties. Also on hold is a $32 million update to the state’s topographic mapping program and a $5 million appropriation for  buyouts of hog farms in the 100-year floodplain.

Bill co-sponsor McGrady said he was surprised that Senate negotiators agreed to as much as they did, considering the Senate version focused almost solely on the needed matching funds. McGrady said he had been promised that the buyout funds and resiliency initiatives would be up for further discussion when the legislature returns in January to work on additional recovery legislation.

Other policy provisions in the bill include additional flexibility for local governments to allow them to combine costs and projects and reallocate funds from individual storms.

The bill also implements a legislative review panel’s recommendation for new state systems, responsibilities and oversight for disaster recovery under the Office of Recovery and Resiliency.

A provision in the bill giving the legislature explicit authority to determine the distribution of money from legal settlements drew a sharply worded statement from the governor’s office just before the vote on the bill that said the provision was an attempt to get around a court case regarding funds from the Volkswagen emissions testing fraud settlement.

The bill “uses disaster victims as political pawns,” Governor’s Office spokesperson Megan Thorpe said in the statement.

Sen. Bill Rabon, R-New Brunswick, responded in a statement that the governor had his facts wrong and the provision “simply re-affirms existing state law.”

The statement from the governor’s office did not contain an explicit veto threat and McGrady told House members that he understood that although the governor objected to the specific provision, he supported the recovery bill.

Also on Thursday, both chambers passed separate Department of Transportation funding and oversight bills covering recent outlays for disaster spending and funding some resiliency work and planning studies.

The spending includes $2 million for work expanding living shorelines around critical transportation infrastructure.

Funding highlights for House Bill 200 include the following:

• $70,812,336 to the Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Fund to provide state match for Florence federal disaster assistance programs.
• $11,197,013 for state match for Hurricane Matthew related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $4,176,245 for state match for Hurricane Matthew related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $17,800,000 for state match for Hurricane Dorian-related federal disaster assistance programs and similar state assistance that may supplement federal assistance or cover housing repairs and rehabilitation for those who do not qualify for federal assistance.
• $17,600,000 for the state match for additional federal funds for the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
• $5 million to replenish the state’s Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund for future storms.
• $5 million for expansion of flood-mitigation studies
• $4.8 million for water and breach level monitoring systems for 1,510 high- and intermediate-risk dams.
• $15 million to the state Office of Recovery and Resiliency, including $10 million for a bridge loan program for local governments affected by Matthew, Michael, Florence or Dorian to kickstart FEMA and Hazard Mitigation Grant projects and $5 million in grants to local governments for Dorian disaster recovery.
• $15 million for Golden LEAF grants for infrastructure repair.
• $5 million for stream debris removal.
• $5.2 million for repairs to storm damage at Elizabeth City State University.
• $1.7 million for repairs at the Ocracoke School.
• $1.8 million to Hyde County for a pump station at Lake Mattamuskeet.
• $50,000 for restoration work at Coastal Reserve sites damaged during Dorian.

RALEIGH – Disaster aid legislation is stalled in the North Carolina General Assembly as House and Senate negotiators work through differences in competing versions of the bill.

Among the top difference is the House’s inclusion of resiliency funding and a handful of significant policy shifts, initiatives Senate leaders say should wait until next year.

The Senate’s bill is aimed mainly at replenishing state matching funds for federal recovery programs.

Spending in the two bills differs considerably, with the House plan at $280,518,719 and the Senate’s at $130,812,336.

Also up in the air is how much the state will put into disaster aid for Ocracoke Island and mainland communities now that the state has been denied federal aid for individual assistance, a key source of housing repair and rehabilitation funds. Federal officials turned down the state’s request last month, saying it did not meet damage thresholds.

The state did receive approval for federal public assistance that will help cover debris removal and infrastructure repair costs.

The House bill includes flexibility to use some of the state disaster funds to help repair homes and businesses damaged during Hurricane Dorian in September, as well as $1.7 million for Ocracoke school repairs and elevation and $1.8 million for a pump station and flood-control infrastructure at Lake Mattamuskeet, items not included in the Senate legislation.

Both the House and Senate versions include a $30 million appropriation to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

In explaining the House bill to the chamber’s Appropriations Committee, co-sponsor Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, said the bill represents a shift in approach, moving the state from a storm-by-storm response to one that recognizes that major storms are bound to occur with far more frequency.

“This bill is in some ways a pivot from what we’ve done in the past because for the first time you’re seeing a large portion of the bill deals with resiliency or mitigation,” McGrady said. “When Hurricane Matthew hit us, we put in disaster relief to deal with the specific things that occurred. Then Florence hit us, then Michael hit us.”

The bill would add positions at the Office of Recovery and Resiliency, which was created earlier this year, to facilitate the flow of federal assistance and would accelerate resiliency planning throughout the state, including a targeted program through the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management for the state’s 20 coastal counties.

McGrady said the bill also makes it easier for state agencies and local governments to shift unspent funds from one storm to needs related to another.

As the House moved its plan, the Senate took a different approach, advancing a bill that included the needed matching funds and little else.

Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, said he and his colleagues wanted more time to work through parts of the bill that go beyond immediate needs for matching grants. Jackson said he preferred to wait until the legislature returns in mid-January to take up other portions of the bill.

“We wanted to stick with just the federal match,” he said in an interview last week. “I think we’ll revisit it all at that point in time and we’ll have a better handle on what actually went on with Dorian that we don’t have now, as far as the damage.”

Both chambers appointed conferees to work out a final version of the bill.

House appointees are McGrady, the House chair, Reps. John Bell, R-Wayne, Donny Lambeth, R- Forsyth, Billy Richardson, D-Cumberland, and Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin. Senate appointees are Jackson, the Senate chair, Sens. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, Kathy Harrington, R- Gaston, Danny Britt, R-Columbus, and Ralph Hise, R-Madison.

In an interview with Coastal Review Online, Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, said he was disappointed a deal couldn’t be struck on the additional aid, especially Hyde County’s needs for Ocracoke and the mainland.

Hanig said that until the final version of the legislation is worked out, it’s difficult to assess what it will mean for the heavily damaged areas in his district. He’s willing to wait to discuss the resiliency portions of the bill, but not state aid to the hurricane victims.

“I’m focused on the immediate recovery needs,” he said.   “Resilience is something we have to look for down the road, but we have immediate needs that need to be met. We can’t make people wait for that.”

Ocracoke faces a long recovery regardless, he said, given the difficulties of getting needed materials to the island and getting debris off it.

“The logistics are the most severe you could imagine to get things done there,” Hanig said. “You have construction workers on a ferry five hours a day just going to or from work because there’s no place for them to stay.”

The next steps for the bill are unclear, but the deadlines for sections of it are not. State matching funds are estimated to start running out before the end of the month and the legislators would need to pass at least that portion of the bill when they return to Raleigh on Nov. 13 to avoid a disruption of federal funds.

Any funding beyond that will be up to the conference committee.

Bell, the House majority leader, expressed confidence last week that some of the House priorities would make it into the final version of the bill.

Bell was part of a House negotiating team that insisted that conference reports, including the disaster legislation, be eligible for consideration when the legislature returns.

Whether the final product includes both the additional Dorian assistance and the resiliency efforts is still a question, however.

During a hearing last week, Bell told his colleagues that putting the funds into resilience was a step in the right direction in improving the state’s follow-through on storm response.

“We do a really good job before the storm, during the storm and immediately after the storm,” Bell said. “We have been, as has been mentioned, lacking on the long-term recovery side.”

Bell, who led a recent select House committee that looked into hitches in disaster aid, said he’s convinced the state is now moving in the right direction on long-term recovery and resiliency. The need for it is clear he told colleagues.

“Hopefully we’ll get a couple years of relief and no storms,” he said. “But we’ll probably get another storm and we need to be prepared.”

Bridget Munger, a spokesperson for the Office of Recovery and Resiliency, said the new office and the Department of Emergency Management are committed to getting help for hurricane survivors.

“Due to the impacts of four storms over the past three years, many communities have substantial unmet needs that must be addressed. We will continue our efforts to work with the legislature to meet those needs as quickly as possible,” she said.

Crunching the numbers

Here’s a breakdown of the two bills:

Senate Version of House Bill 200, The 2019 Storm Recovery Act

Totals $130,812,336 in spending, appropriates the following:

• $70,812,336 to the Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Fund to provide state match for Florence-related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $11,197,013 for state match for Hurricane Matthew-related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $4,176,245 for state match for Hurricane Matthew-related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $16,300,000 for state match for Hurricane Dorian-related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $30 million to the Department of Transportation for current and future Hurricane Dorian activities such as debris removal, highway and infrastructure repair.

Policy Provisions include the following:

• State universities and other nonstate entities that receive funds are required to seek private donations to help cover losses.
• No state funds are allowed for construction of new residences within the 100-year floodplain.
• $30 million nondisaster-related appropriation to the state Rural Health Care Stabilization Contingent Fund.

House Version — H1023, Storm Recovery Act of 2019

Totals $280,518,719 in spending, appropriates the following:

• $70,812,336 to the Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Fund to provide state match for Florence federal disaster assistance programs.
• $11,197,013 for state match for Hurricane Matthew-related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $4,176,245 for state match for Hurricane Matthew-related federal disaster assistance programs.
• $17,800,000 for state match for Hurricane Dorian-related federal disaster assistance programs and similar state assistance that may supplement federal assistance or cover housing repairs and rehabilitation for those who do not qualify for federal assistance.
• $5 million to replenish the state’s Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund for future storms.
• $40 million to the state Office of Recovery and Resiliency to cover a $20 million bridge loan program for distressed local governments impacted by hurricanes Matthew, Michael, Florence or Dorian; $10 million in grants to local governments for Dorian disaster recovery; and $10 million for assistance and staff support to help local governments and regional agencies to develop resilience implementation.
• $17,600,000 to the Department of Environmental Quality for the state match for additional federal funds for the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
• $1.3 million to DEQ for four temporary positions and funding for coastal resiliency planning for all 20 coastal counties.
• $50,000 to DEQ for repair, restoration and recovery at the state’s Coastal Reserve sites damaged during Dorian.
• $30,000 to the Wildlife Resources Commission for repair and restoration to boating access areas in Carteret and Currituck counties.
• $30 million to the Department of Transportation for current and future Hurricane Dorian-related activities such as debris removal, highway and infrastructure repair.
• $2 million to DOT for living shoreline projects near key transportation infrastructure.
• $2 million to DOT to expand the state’s flood inundation mapping alert network, or FINMAN.
• $2 million to DOT for flood risk assessment along highway major transportation routes.
• $5 million to the Division of Emergency Management for expansion of flood mitigation studies
• $4.8 million to DEM for water and breach level monitoring systems for 1,510 high- and intermediate-risk dams.
• $32.3 million to DEM for LiDAR topography updates, aimed in at improving flood and landslide mapping.
• $5.2 million for repairs to storm damage at Elizabeth City State University.
• $1.7 for a direct grant to Hyde County for repairs at the Ocracoke School.
• $15 million for Golden LEAF grants for infrastructure repair.
• $1.8 million to Hyde County for a pump station and watershed restoration infrastructure for Lake Mattamuskeet.
• $753,125 for funding of the 2-1-1 program and new positions to administer federal grants for the Department of Public Safety.
• $5 million to the Department of Agriculture for the state’s swine buyout program to cover buyouts of high-priority operations in the 100-year floodplain.
• $5 million for stream debris removal.

Policy Provisions include the following:

• Adds flexibility in reporting for local governments to allow them to combine costs and projects and reallocate funds from individual storms.
• Allows local governments to use prequalified contractors during emergencies and disaster recovery.
• Implements a legislative review panel’s recommendations for new state systems, responsibilities and oversight for disaster recovery under the Office of Recovery & Resiliency.
• Appropriates $2 million for the extension of a pilot program that assists low income households in obtaining flood insurance.
• Appropriates $1 million to the Wildlife Resources Commission and authorizes the WRC to remove and dispose of abandoned and derelict vessels.

RALEIGH – Legislation that would provide additional state disaster aid for Ocracoke Islanders and other communities damaged by Hurricane Dorian as well as replenish the pool of state money used to match hundreds of millions of dollars in federal disaster relief stalled this week in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session.

The state House and Senate each passed competing bills that will now have to be worked out by a conference committee.

On Wednesday night, the House passed a $280 million package that included additional state aid, state matching funds for federal assistance and what supporters called a policy “pivot” toward a more resilience-based approach. Representatives said the new approach was necessary in light of the recent string of major storms and the likelihood of that trend continuing.

On Thursday, the Senate responded with a completely different bill that stripped out the policy changes and additional state aid provisions. The Senate bill includes both the required state funds to match federal aid for past storms

Both the House and Senate bills include $30 million for matches required by the state Department of Transportation.

Both chambers appointed a conference committee to work out the differences before adjourning until Nov. 13, when the legislature is scheduled to return for a brief session to take up congressional redistricting. Under rules worked out for the November session, House and Senate leaders have a narrow set of criteria for taking up new legislation, but left open the option to take up conference reports to make sure they can move the disaster recovery package and any other must-pass legislation.

North Carolina Emergency Management officials have estimated that without legislative action the state could run out of matching funds for some storm recovery efforts before the end of November.

After the November session, legislators aren’t scheduled to return to Raleigh until Jan. 14, 2020.

Published in partnership with Carolina Public Press

Gov. Roy Cooper and members of the state’s congressional delegation say they will continue to press the case for assistance for individual victims of Hurricane Dorian after the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s recent decision to deny the state’s request.

State officials received a letter Tuesday saying the damage from Hurricane Dorian did not meet the threshold for the additional aid.

In a letter to Cooper announcing the decision on Tuesday, FEMA Associate Administrator for the Office of Response Jeff Byard said “the impact to the individuals and households from this event is not of such severity and magnitude to warrant the designation of Individual Assistance under FEMA-444-Dr.”

Individual Assistance is a form of disaster aid that provides financial help and services for people who are unable to meet their needs through other means. The funds are typically used for home repairs and making residences livable, with a $33,000 limit per residence per year. It can also cover the costs of temporary housing, medical needs, lost clothing and moving and storage expenses.

North Carolina’s request for Individual Assistance was sent to FEMA Sept. 21 and covered Hyde, Dare, Carteret and New Hanover counties where a state assessment showed damage exceeded thresholds for the additional assistance.

Tuesday’s decision doesn’t affect other FEMA assistance already in the pipeline.

Last week, President Trump signed off on the state’s prior request for Public Assistance, a category of disaster aid that covers public buildings, road and infrastructure cleanup and repair.

In all, 14 counties will receive some form of assistance. They include Brunswick, Carteret, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Hyde, Jones, New Hanover, Pamlico, Pender, Sampson, Tyrrell, and Washington counties. Cooper recently requested that 12 more counties — Beaufort, Camden, Columbus, Greene, Hoke, Lenoir, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson and Wayne — be added to the list. Additional counties could be added as damage assessments are completed.

On hard-hit Ocracoke Island, where hundreds of residents are contemplating a long fall and winter rebuilding homes and businesses, the news of FEMA’s decision spread quickly Tuesday over social media.

Tom Pahl, Ocracoke’s representative on the Hyde County Board of Commissioners, said he and other Hyde County officials spent much of Wednesday in meetings with state and federal officials to talk about next steps in the wake of the decision.

He said residents are disappointed and mystified over FEMA’s decision.

“You look around the village and you see how many people have been displaced and how many houses are damaged. It’s just hard for us to comprehend how FEMA could look at that and see it in any way similar to how we’re looking at it and determine that it wasn’t enough damage for individual assistance,” he said.

Pahl said the latest estimates are that about 400 of the roughly 1,000 residents on the island have been displaced by the storm. Their homes are either destroyed or the renovation and repair work so extensive that they have to move out until work is finished.

It doesn’t make sense that a village could have 40% its population displaced and yet not be damaged enough for Individual Assistance, Pahl said.

According to the governor’s request, an initial damage assessment listed 2,001 homes affected by the storm with 56 properties destroyed and 112 with major damage.

Although Hyde County tops the list for the most damaged homes, Carteret County, where a series of tornadoes spawned by the storm damaged structures, had 38 homes destroyed, the highest number of any county.

The state has 30 days to appeal FEMA’s decision.

Cooper spokesperson Ford Porter said Wednesday morning that the governor would continue to press for federal aid and would review state options as well.

“This is disappointing news for families who lost everything in Hurricane Dorian and still need help,” Porter said. “The Governor will continue to work with our federal and state partners and North Carolina’s congressional delegation to determine a path forward to deliver assistance to those who need it.”

Porter said the governor wants any solution to get aid to the communities quickly.

State Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry was in Washington, D.C., Wednesday reviewing recovery issues with the state’s congressional delegation.

A spokesperson for Sen. Richard Burr confirmed that Sprayberry met with  Burr’s staff on Wednesday. Sen. Thom Tillis did not respond to a request for comment.

Newly elected Congressman Greg Murphy, whose 3^rd District includes most of the affected counties, also said time is important.

“I am disappointed to hear that Individual Assistance for Hurricane Dorian has been denied under the requirements set forth in the 1987 Stafford Act,” Murphy said. “That said, we are committed to working with the Governor to explore all avenues, either appeal or seeking a state disaster declaration, that will provide relief to those in need as quickly as possible.”

While the options for federal assistance are reviewed, the prospect for additional assistance from the state could speed up as a result of the FEMA decision.

On Wednesday, Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, told OBX Today that he wants to see legislative action.

“I will be working at the state level to find funding to help the folks that are in need,” Hanig said.

The legislature typically waits until damage assessments are mostly complete before announcing a session aimed at disaster relief, but there are no hard and fast rules for the timing.

The 2016 special session after Hurricane Matthew took place Dec. 12 and the 2018 Hurricane Florence special session took place Oct. 2.

Last month, legislators said it was too soon after the event to develop legislation in response to the storm, but a recent disaster funding bill covering past hurricanes included an additional $5 million appropriation that could be applied toward Hurricane Dorian expenses.

RALEIGH – With a lengthy list of unresolved bills and a lingering stalemate over a final budget, North Carolina General Assembly leaders say they plan a monthlong push to finish up work in a long session that has certainly lived up to its name.

It has been 15 weeks since the legislature passed the state budget bill and saw Gov. Roy Cooper return it a day later bearing a veto stamp.

After more than two months, the House overrode the veto on Sept. 11 in a lopsided vote that Democrats said they were promised would not happen that day. The action sent the budget bill back to the Senate where a much stronger GOP majority only needs one Democrat’s vote for an override.

In a press conference Tuesday, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said the chamber’s rules require 24-hour notice before for a vote, so he didn’t expect any confusion about whether a vote is coming or not.

Berger said rather than an override, he would prefer to reach a compromise with Senate Democrats on areas in disagreement.

Berger said the Senate intends to adjourn by Oct. 31 and would continue to chip away at the impasse, passing agreed-upon items in the budget.

Earlier this month, both chambers started passing so-called “mini budgets” that were drawn almost verbatim from the vetoed budget bill.

The batch of mini budgets, which included an extensive section on disaster recovery spending, have passed with wide majorities and been signed into law by Cooper. But those bills avoided some of the thornier disagreements between the administration and the legislature as well as disagreements between the two chambers themselves.

Berger said the next round of bills would concentrate on numerous special provisions in the budget as well as department spending, starting with the Department of Transportation.

The major hitch continues to be Medicaid expansion, but the governor has outlined about a dozen areas where there’s disagreement. They include the level of additional spending to catch up water and sewer infrastructure backlogs and funding for the Department of Environmental Quality for personnel and equipment to improve water quality testing and regulation of emerging contaminants.

PFAS, beach funds, rate legislation moves

Coming back to work after a two-week break, this week the House passed a wide-ranging bill with provisions dealing with emerging contaminants, unsustainable water and sewer systems and spending flexibility for the coastal disaster mitigation fund.

The section of the bill dealing with the use of firefighting foam grew out of earlier legislation aimed at banning the use of firefighting foam containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

That legislation, sponsored by Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, hit a wall over objections from manufacturers and industrial users, as did companion legislation in the Senate and a proposal by Sen. Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, for a Cape Fear region task force to analyze PFAS and other emerging contaminants and increase alternative water system requirements in PFAS-contaminated areas.

The provision passed Wednesday mandates a study by the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory that would include a statewide inventory of firefighting foam and a way to determine if stockpiles are being stored correctly and, if stocks are out of date, how they can be collected and disposed of. The study is due April 1, 2020.

During floor debate, Harrison said she hoped the study would be the first step toward an eventual ban on the use of the foams that have caused contamination in several local water supplies around the state. Harrison said she would like to see the legislature take up the ban again in the short session.

“I do want to note that we’ve got documented firefighting foam contamination in many of the water supplies throughout this state, including Charlotte, Stanly County, Greensboro, Seymour Johnson and Goldsboro and Atlantic. This is a real problem, ” Harrison told her colleagues. “I do hope we can spend some serious time with this in the short session.”

The omnibus legislation also includes a provision giving DEQ greater flexibility over $18.5 million appropriated to the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund, which is being used for state matching funds for beach repair and renourishment projects started after Hurricane Florence.

The provisions would allow the funds to be used for damage from any major disaster after Jan. 1, 2016.

The scope of the projects is limited to the mitigation and remediation of storm damage to ocean beaches and dune systems. A staff analysis last month said that would rule out any use of the funds for terminal groin projects, which by law cannot be paid for with state money.

The legislation also allows DEQ to use some of the funds going to a beach and dredging needs assessment for developing a dredge materials management plan for disposal in state waters outside of the current federal disposal areas.

The omnibus bill also builds on prior legislation aimed at struggling water and wastewater systems. During this session, legislators have been fine tuning a carrot-and-stick approach that could require mergers or takeovers of small, unsustainable systems in exchange for state funding for repairs and upgrades.

The new legislation would allow the Local Government Commission to tap the state’s Wastewater Reserve or Drinking Water Reserve funds for emergency operating funds.

The LGC recently took over operations of a small water system in Rutherford County and the town of Eureka in Wayne County, which could no longer cover the costs of operating its wastewater system.

The LGC has identified dozens of struggling water and wastewater system statewide and, along with DEQ, is working with Eureka and its neighbors to develop a model for regionalization of smaller systems that can’t keep up with maintenance or have lost too many customers to remain viable.

Also this week, the Senate passed a new version of a bill backed by Duke Energy that includes a controversial provision to allow the state’s Utilities Commission to set electricity rates on a multi-year basis rather than the current year-to-year schedule.

NCDOT budget

On Thursday the Senate passed the first departmental spending plan of the budget impasse, sending the North Carolina Department of Transportation provisions to the House after a 44-0 vote.

The bill includes $11 million over the next two years to raise the power lines over the Cape Fear River near the North Carolina Port of Wilmington to accommodate larger vessels. The project would raise the lines by 41 feet to create an overall clearance of 212 feet.

The plan also includes $1 million to cover this year’s cost for leasing a passenger ferry for the Hatteras to Ocracoke Village crossing. A ferry was leased earlier this year to provide the service originally intended for a new state ferry that’s still being built in Swansboro and delayed by construction and safety inspection problems. The builder, U.S. Workboats, recently sued NCDOT alleging breach of contract and defamation.

NCDOT’s Ferry Division would also receive $833,000 for repairs and renovations to the Ocracoke Ferry Headquarters and an additional $3.5 million this year and $5 million next year for projected increases systemwide for operations and maintenance.

The legislation also requires the department to study the feasibility of raising ferry tolls for nonresidents, including an analysis of usage by residents and nonresidents of each route. The study, including any recommendations for legislation in the short session, is due March 1, 2020.

Two weeks out from storms and high water, the Ocracoke air is thick with mosquitoes and the sound of heavy trucks hauling the insides of homes to a collection point on National Park Service land just outside the village.

Tom Pahl, the Hyde County commissioner who represents Ocracoke, said there’s a mix of feelings on the island. As the loss sinks in, there are a lot of heavy hearts, but the tremendous outpouring of help that followed the storm has lifted spirits.

“No lives were lost and nobody was injured, but still, people don’t have homes, some of the homes are going to end up having to be torn down, a lot of mementos and prize possessions are lost and it’s heartbreaking for people and it’s very unsettling,” he said. “But at the same time, we’re feeling very good about the overwhelming generosity we’ve benefited from. It’s amazing how much support we’ve gotten from our friends and family off the island.”

Pahl said debris removal was in full swing. Local and state officials, working closely with Federal Emergency Management Agency coordinators, have been able to move forward with debris removal work and other projects in anticipation of reimbursement after the president signs off on a major disaster declaration.

Gov. Roy Cooper filed a preliminary compilation of damages and an official request for the declaration Sept. 13. That request covers damages in Brunswick, Carteret, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Hyde, New Hanover, Pamlico, Pender, Sampson, Tyrell and Washington counties. Each of those counties reached the federal threshold for a disaster declaration just based on damage to transportation and electricity distribution infrastructure alone.

The initial estimate also includes about $10 million in costs for Emergency Management, the National Guard, state Department of Transportation, the Department of Insurance, Department of Health and Human Services and the State Emergency Response Team.

On Saturday, Cooper added Jones County to the list based on updated damage reports and amended the request to include individual assistance for residents in Carteret, Dare, Hyde and New Hanover counties.

Both Cooper and the state’s congressional legislation have called for quick action on the major disaster declaration.

Congressman-elect Greg Murphy toured heavily damaged Ocracoke Village Saturday and Cooper is headed back to the island Monday as residents await word of the pending boost in federal assistance.

Murphy, elected Sept. 10 to fill out the term of the late Walter B. Jones Jr., visited flooded out homes in the village and toured damage along N.C. 12 with National Parks Superintendent Dave Hallac.

He told a gathering of residents and recovery workers at the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department that he would urge the White House and FEMA to move forward on the declaration and the Ocracoke Observer reported that before leaving the island Murphy said he had received word from the White House that President Trump had signed the public assistance declaration.

Pahl said the county has been able to press ahead with most recovery efforts despite the lack of a formal declaration and continues to coordinate with FEMA to make sure it’s following federal requirements. The county recently tweaked its debris removal contract at FEMA’s suggestion.

“I know FEMA’s involved and the state is involved and we’re going ahead with this work with full confidence that it’s FEMA-reimbursable, even if we don’t have the national-level declaration.”

In anticipation of further aid, county and state officials met Friday with small business owners on Ocracoke to discuss the disaster loan process and application requirements.

NCDOT will be awarding an emergency contract next week that aims to have hurricane-damaged NC12 open on Ocracoke Island by November 22: https://t.co/dUkOi4fpiO pic.twitter.com/BWsgw0OwTB

— NCDOT NC12 (@NCDOT_NC12) September 19, 2019

N.C. 12 repairs underway

NCDOT crews and contractors are reviewing bids for work along damaged portions of N.C. 12 on Ocracoke Island, including construction of a sandbag wall, the first step in the long process of shoring up the dunes around the heavily damaged road.

Jerry Jennings, NCDOT Division 1 chief engineer, said crews will start using sand on site to fill sandbags while the department’s Ferry Division dredge Manteo is set up to pump sand from the old Hatteras Inlet to the work zones.

The target date for opening the road is Nov. 22, the weekend before Thanksgiving. But the road project, which includes replacement of about 1,000 feet of pavement, won’t be completed until April 2020.

Jennings said the area around the South Dock ferry station, including part of the staging loop for vehicles, sustained less damage than expected and that a contractor already working to fix erosion damage in the area is back on the job.

Although regular ferry service is suspended until the road is reopened, contractors are able to use the route through Hatteras Inlet to transport construction supplies, Jennings said. Other sections of N.C. 12 on Hatteras Island, including the often-overwashed S-Curves at Mirlo Beach and the nearby construction site for the so-called “jug-handle” bridge over Pamlico Sound sustained less damage than expected.

Pahl credited the Ferry Division’s decision to open a direct navigation route from Hatteras to Silver Lake as a big help for recovery efforts. Ferry Division officials said the route, which was opened within days of the storm, takes roughly two hours and 15 to 30 minutes and has created a key transportation route for residents, crews and supplies.

Pahl said it would have been more difficult to ramp up recovery efforts using only the routes connecting Ocracoke to Swan Quarter and Cedar Island.

School moves

Secondary students at the heavily damaged Ocracoke School got some welcome news that they at least have a new temporary home.

The board of directors for the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching announced Friday that NCCAT’s Ocracoke campus would host the students through the end of the year.

NCCAT executive director M. Brock Womble said Hyde County Schools Superintendent Steve Basnight asked the center to help with a solution for the students.

In a statement Friday, Womble said the board voted unanimously to approve the plan. The organization has also set up a relief fund for its employees affected by the disaster.

“We feel like the most valuable thing NCCAT can do for Ocracoke School and Ocracoke Island is to be a resource to help them rebuild,” Womble said.

Plans continue for holding classes for younger students at other sites on the island.

About 75 Ocracoke middle and high school students got a much needed break on Friday, gathering at the ferry station for a ride across the sound to East Carteret High School and a weekend of events on the mainland hosted by the school and its booster club.

On Sunday, the group returned to the island with donated school supplies for all 175 students. Repairs on their school, damaged by 4 feet of storm surge, are expected to take more than a year.

Front page photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer

RALEIGH — Funds for buyouts and repairs, bridge loans for local governments, repairs at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, environmental cleanup and a major resiliency study are all part of a disaster recovery package that is expected to be considered this week by the North Carolina General Assembly.

The House was expected to take up the bill Wednesday. If approved, it would move on to the Senate.

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday reviewed the legislation, which duplicates language in the budget passed in July that Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed over concern about teacher pay, the lack of a Medicaid expansion provision and about 10 other areas of disagreement.

Although a veto-override vote has been on the legislative calendar since then, legislative leaders had yet to assemble enough votes for an override. Last month, they opted to start moving less controversial parts of the budget, breaking them out into “mini-budgets.”

The disaster recovery funding, a compromise worked out earlier this year between the House and Senate versions, is the latest in the series.

“They’re the same projects, the same money,” Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, a main House budget writer, told the committee Tuesday.

The bill includes more than $112.6 million in funding, mainly in response to Hurricane Florence and Tropical Storm Michael in 2018. It also contains rules on how grants from the state’s disaster recovery funds can be spent and extends expedited Coastal Area Management Act emergency permits through Oct. 21, 2020.

McGrady said the legislature would take up another round of disaster funding to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, but it’s too early to say when that would happen given that the storm was less than a week ago.

“It’s way too early to assess the damages that have occurred,” he said.

The legislature moved quickly after 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, convening to pass legislation more than a month after the storm, but at the time the full range of damage assessments wasn’t ready and follow-up legislation was required.

The new bill includes about $5 million in funding that the administration can use as needed to meet some of the costs incurred during Dorian recovery and any future disasters.

The legislation also earmarks $22.68 million for the Department of Environmental Quality, including $8 million for disaster-related infrastructure and cleanup needs. The total also includes water and wastewater infrastructure, coastal management planning and dam safety, and $11.5 million for the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund to finance beach and coastal infrastructure repairs.

DEQ would also receive $175,000 to continue the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences’ water quality program testing program that works in partnership with the state Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division.

The bill sets aside $27,868,000 for more than a dozen targeted appropriations from the state disaster recovery fund set up after the storms. They include the following:

• $68,000 to Morehead City for the renovation and dredging of Pelletier Creek.
• $300,000 to the Bladen County Kelly Dike District for engineering and planning for repairs to Kelly Dike, which spans both Bladen and Pender counties.
• $500,000 to Pender County to repair damage to the county courthouse caused by Hurricane Florence.
• $1 million to Elm City for disaster recovery projects.
• $3.3 million to Carteret County to support the Bogue Sound Project that involves 74 acres, 20 acres of which is undeveloped waterfront, that the Marine Corps had sought for more than 10 years to prevent residential development near its auxiliary airfield.

The UNC system would receive $10.16 million, including $8 million for repairs and renovations at UNC Wilmington; $2 million for UNC Chapel Hill’s North Carolina Policy Collaboratory to study flooding and storm resiliency; and $160,000 to expand the ModMon water quality monitoring program in sounds and rivers.

The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would get $1 million for stream debris removal and the Wildlife Resources Commission would get $1 million to “inspect, investigate, and remove” derelict vessels.

The bill also includes the first tranche of funds in a new state program to aid low-income homeowners in purchasing flood insurance and sets aside $5 million for mitigation, relocation, buyout assistance to local governments and infrastructure repairs and $8 million to help move families out of floodplains. Another $9 million would go for grants and loans to assist local governments that have need immediate cash flow assistance to cover recovery operations while federal funds are still being processed.

Residents and relief teams on Ocracoke and Hatteras islands have started the long road toward restoring communities battered by heavy winds and a soundside storm surge of historic proportions as Hurricane Dorian raked the North Carolina coast late last week.

Access to Ocracoke remained closed Sunday evening after storm surge estimated at around 7 feet inundated much of the village, rising in less than two hours as Hurricane Dorian passed over the island and up through the Outer Banks.

Brand new aerial imagery from @NOAA.

Many areas in the Outer Banks remain underwater after Hurricane Dorian.

This is in Ocracoke, NC. pic.twitter.com/f4K7WWd3DQ

— Dakota Smith (@weatherdak) September 8, 2019

Peter Vankevich, co-publisher of the Ocracoke Observer, said over the weekend that it’s likely that most of the vehicles on the island were destroyed, making recovery work and moving materials and supplies all the more difficult. He said supplies and recovery workers have been steadily arriving on the island, the first wave of them by all-weather helicopters early in the crisis.

“Right now it’s like a hub here,” Vankevich said from the Ocracoke Fire Station, which was also flooded during the storm, but has since been set up as a headquarters for the recovery teams. Some are going door to door to check on residents and survey damage.

Vankevich said residents were coming in to use the generators at the town radio station and the fire station to charge their phones.

Several homes and businesses on the island reported flooding for the first time, including the Variety Store on N.C. 12, which reported 2 feet of water.

After returning from a visit to the island to survey damage, Gov. Roy Cooper said many residents were still in a state of shock over how quickly the surge waters rose and swamped the island.

At a Saturday press conference in Manteo with State House Speaker Tim Moore, who accompanied the governor on the trip, Cooper said there was a great sense of relief that no one on the island was killed or seriously injured, but the damage there is widespread and the recovery will be long.

“There were a few people there who didn’t get water in their homes, but most of them did,” he said.

Cooper said the state is working on the final round of documentation necessary to apply for federal disaster funds.

Meanwhile the community is asking for supplies and volunteers. Residents have set up an email hotline at ocracokedisasterrelief@gmail.com for those wanting to help.

Ferry service, reentry

Ferry service from Swan Quarter resumed Saturday morning, but was initially limited to relief supplies and personnel.

Hyde County sped up the return process in order to allow residents to begin work on their homes as quickly as possible, according to a statement released on Saturday.

Hyde County began Monday allowing permanent Ocracoke residents to return. You must have a green reentry pass or a Hatteras priority boarding pass sticker on your vehicle to board the ferry.

Emergency personnel with red reentry passes and deliveries deemed critical to recovery and preauthorized by incident command staff will have boarding priority over residents. Be aware that you are not guaranteed a spot on the ferry.

Officials warned of limited resources on the island and homes that may not be habitable. There was no power Sunday evening and a boil water advisory was in effect. There were no shelters on the island for displaced residents.

The state Ferry Division plans to add an additional route to Ocracoke via the Hatteras ferry terminal that will come directly to Silver Lake. There are some restrictions on that route due to the type of ferry being used and the ramps available. The ferry division is advising that vehicles with low clearance will not be able to board this route.

The ferry schedule for Monday will be as follows:

• Hatteras to Ocracoke-Silver Lake: 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
• Ocracoke-Silver Lake to Hatteras: 10:30 a.m., 12:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Only high-clearance vehicles will be allowed on the Hatteras-Silver Lake route.

In addition, the Ferry Division’s Pamlico Sound routes will be on the following schedule:

• Swan Quarter to Ocracoke: 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
• Ocracoke to Swan Quarter: 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• Cedar Island to Ocracoke: 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
• Ocracoke to Cedar Island: 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

All fuel deliveries to Ocracoke should use the 9 a.m. Swan Quarter to Ocracoke departure.

Residents must have a green reentry pass or a Hatteras priority boarding sticker on their vehicle to board the ferry.

Hatteras Island reopening

Dare County officials announced Sunday night that access to areas south of Oregon Inlet is at Priority 3, which includes nonresident property owners and employees of noncritical businesses. The county plans to open unrestricted access to Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo at noon Tuesday allowing visitors to return.

The Salvation Army began operating mobile food kitchens on Sunday providing three daily meals at the Old PNC Bank in Buxton and Frisco Fire Department. Meal times are 8 a.m. noon and 6 p.m.

Individuals and businesses who want to contribute funds for relied can contact the Outer Banks Community Foundation at  www.obcf.org/disaster or www.obxdisaster.org.

Much of Hatteras Island experienced some of the same storm surge as Ocracoke as winds from the storm, by then a powerful Category 1, pushed water out of the northern end of Pamlico Sound driving it into Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras Village. Like other powerful storms that traced the Outer Banks, Dorian will be remembered for that eerie moment when the sound goes temporarily dry in places.

How high did the water rise in #Ocracoke? The Village Craftsmen have updated the marks on their building: #obx #Dorian #ncwx pic.twitter.com/sAKNL3lL0S

— Sam Walker OBX Today??? (@SamWalkerOBX) September 7, 2019

Sam Walker, new director of Beach 104FM and OBX today, said the tidal flats of the sound were visible for more than 100 years out during the storm an image that brings back memories of Hurricane Emily in 1993 and Irene and 2011. It’s a sight, he said, that makes everyone nervous.

“They all get concerned because they know the water is going to come back at some point,” Walker said of residents with vivid memories of those storm and the dry flats that preceded the storm surge.

This time the surge to the south did not return northward with the same force, but hurricane force winds bashed the power grid there as it did farther south and several places on the mainland.

Power being restored

Over the weekend power was slowly being restored as crews worked to replace damaged power infrastructure.

More than 10,000 residents and businesses in the area were without power after a Dominion Energy substation was taken out of commission by the storm. The company reported Sunday night that power has been restored to all but about 100 customers in Chowan, Currituck and Dare counties.

As of noon Sunday, Tideland Electric reported 1,389 outages on Ocracoke, 417 on the mainland in Hyde County, 651 in Dare County, 820 in Beaufort County, 232 in Pamlico County, 32 in Washington County and seven in Craven County.

At the height of the storm companies logged about 200,000 outages in eastern North Carolina.

N.C. 12

Transportation also remains difficult in places along N.C. 12 and secondary roads on the islands.

Jerry Jennings, chief engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s District 1, said crews were working to remove sand and continuing to assess damage to the roadway on the northern end of Ocracoke Island and on Pea Island, just south of Oregon Inlet.

Hyde County DSS and Trillium Health Resources will have disaster counseling available in Ocracoke on Monday, Sept. 9 from 2-5pm and Sept. 10th through Sept. 14th from 8am-5pm at the Lifesaving Church – Ocracoke Assembly of God on Lighthouse Rd.

— County of Hyde, NC (@HydeNC) September 8, 2019

Storm surge is likely to be Dorian’s most dangerous and destructive force as the hurricane passes near or over the North Carolina coast Thursday night and into Friday.

A storm the size and strength of Dorian pushes an enormous amount of water around and as it makes an expected curve to the northeast, the impacts of that surge will vary widely with exactly where the storm tracks.

“Track location makes a huge difference,” said Richard Luettich, director of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City and lead developer of predictive models of coastal storm surge that proved accurate in the last hurricane to hit North Carolina. One key, he said, is how the track interacts with Pamlico Sound, the largest lagoon on the East Coast.

“It’s a big shallow water body and shallow water is easier to pick up and lift onto the land,” Luettich said in an interview with Coastal Review Online. “It’s long, and long in the direction that the winds are going to be coming from.”

With hurricane-force winds extending 60 to 70 miles from the center of the storm, Dorian’s current track would create a powerful storm surge in the sound.

“What you’re going to see is an awful lot of water pushed from the northeastern part of Pamlico Sound into southwestern Pamlico Sound,” he said. “It’s likely to spill over into the land in Down East Carteret County and then push its way up the Neuse River as well.”

That means a high storm surge for towns along the lower Neuse River, including New Bern, which was heavily flooded during Hurricane Florence.

“New Bern kind of gets the brunt of it,” Luettich said. “As the river narrows down there’s kind of a funneling effect.”

Under the latest model runs, there will also be substantial beach erosion from high waves with the highest impacts likely to come along the strands just north of Wilmington, which could see the peak of the storm coincide with high tide.

“Storm tide, the combination of storm surge and high tide, will be maximum north of Cape Fear, in the Wrightsville Beach area, where the surge and high tide are likely to co-occur.”

A main worry in that area and especially along Topsail Island is that many of the dunes and beaches were heavily damaged in Hurricane Florence.

“That’s one of the challenges of having these (storms) year after year after year,” Luettich said “If the recovery isn’t fast then a much lesser event can cause as much or more damage in the follow-up year as a larger event would have with protective structure like a dune line intact and good and beefy.”

For now, Hurricane Dorian is expected to move along the coast much faster than Hurricane Florence, reducing the chances for heavy inland flooding. Its track resembles Hurricane Matthew, but for now it looks like it will follow much closer to the Outer Banks, which was spared much of Matthew’s wrath after the storm curved sharply out to sea at Cape Lookout.

Where Dorian tracks as it moves along the Outer Banks will determine the impacts. There’s a big difference in which side of that thin strip the storm is on.

Luettich said the more offshore the storm tracks, the more the main impacts are felt around Cedar Island, Portsmouth and Ocracoke.

If it tracks up the sound side, the impacts would be similar to Hurricane Irene, the 2011 storm that caused heavy soundside flooding on Hatteras Island and in soundside communities in Pamlico and Hyde counties.

In that scenario, as the storm arrives winds are blowing more east to west pushing water into Oriental, Hobucken, Bellhaven and Swan Quarter, Luettich said.

As happened during Irene, the sound side of Hatteras Island could even go dry, exposing the tidal flats. Then as the storm passes the winds blow west to east, pushing the water back and creating a storm surge on the back side of the barrier islands affecting Portsmouth, Ocracoke, Rodanthe and on up to Wanchese and Manteo. That dynamic, he said, is also the main source of new inlets.

“When you get inlets cut through a barrier island, it’s often the times you have sound water that gets pushed out to the coastal ocean,” Luettich said.

RALEIGH – As the state budget impasse heads into its second month, work on most major bills, including controversial environmental measures, has all but stopped on Jones Street.

On Monday, with a vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s June 28 veto of the two-year budget plan again on the calendar, the House again backed off, held a 10-minute session and adjourned for the evening. It marked the 17^th time the override vote was delayed, although House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, continues to assert that he is close to having the votes to push the through the override.

Meanwhile, Moore, Cooper and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, appear no closer to a deal, and with the state finances on a kind of autopilot, the impact of protracted impasse is starting to sink in.

Since a state budget wasn’t adopted at the end of the fiscal year on June 30, automatic funding legislation passed in 2016 kicked in and, in most cases, continues to support departments and agencies at current levels. But the legislation doesn’t provide for expansion funds, such as new programs or increases in student enrollments and raises and bonuses for state employees. Because the legislation applies only to recurring appropriations, projects funded in the new budget with nonrecurring funds are on hold until the logjam is broken.

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, one the main budget writers for the House, said that for environmental programs the main impact is a hold on additional funds for supplies and personnel for research and testing of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, by the Department of Environmental Quality, along with millions of dollars in nonrecurring funding for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

McGrady said the new funds for studying PFAS and other emerging compounds is a significant step, and along with it is needed funding for major renovations at DEQ’s outdated Reedy Creek complex, headquarters for water and air quality testing.

“While the governor had sought more money, up to now, the legislature hasn’t expanded the testing,” McGrady said Tuesday in an email response to Coastal Review Online. “In this budget, the legislature is finally approving more staff to do the testing. Also, in the capital budget, the complete renovation or rebuild of the testing facility is funded.”

McGrady, a longtime backer of the state’s conservation funds, said the budget stalemate could have an impact on both trust funds, CWMTF and PARTF.

“Both of these funds have some nonrecurring monies, and those monies are hung up along with expanded funding, particularly in the second year of the budget,” he said.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, agreed that both the PFAS funding and the conservation funds are significant, but she was also not happy with much of the rest of the budget, including the special provision that delays implementation of DEQ’s new permit rules for large-scale animal feeding operations and a proposed yearlong delay in a report on PFAS contamination by the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.

Harrison said that’s why she was “not heartbroken” that the budget was vetoed, but she has been disappointed about the lack of negotiations since.

“This is just a ridiculous standoff,” she said. “The parties ought to get together and negotiate. It frustrating to watch.”

Both Moore and Berger have accused the governor of refusing to negotiate on the budget unless they first agree to a Medicaid expansion plan.

Cooper, who offered an alternative budget plan in early July, insists he’s willing to talk about both expansion and other budget items, but that legislative leaders are more focused on an override than a compromise.

In Cooper’s initial budget proposal in February and again after the veto, he called for a much larger increase in DEQ funding than what the legislature ultimately agreed on. His July proposal, which asks for changes in roughly a dozen areas, includes an additional $4.5 million per year for DEQ.

Cooper spokesperson Sharon Martin said Tuesday that the legislature’s budget failed to go far enough on water quality protections and emerging compounds.

“The governor’s budget compromise prioritizes funding for staff, equipment and improvements to facilitate DEQ’s response to PFAS and water quality issues facing North Carolina,” she said.

Other PFAS items on hold without a budget deal is a $500,000 appropriation to replace a public well for the town of Maysville, where firefighting foam is suspected of contaminating the water supply, and a $1.5 million appropriation to the collaboratory as additional funding to complete its statewide PFAS assessment and prepare a report to the legislature.

The budget isn’t the only legislation related to PFAS that is on hold right now.

Harrison said legislation she sees as an important first step in regulation of PFAS and other compounds is likely dead for this year’s session. The measure would ban the use of PFAS and similar compounds in firefighting foam used for training exercises.

Harrison wanted the state to ban the use of the foam outright as other states are considering, but the move was strongly opposed by industry groups. Her attempt to limit the ban to training was also rejected by industry lobbyists. It’s an example, she said, of how difficult it is to regulate emerging compounds.

“I thought for sure at minimum we’d get some limitations on the use for training,” she said Tuesday. “If we really want to do the right thing, we’d take step to limiting the use of that chemical, but we’re not there yet in North Carolina.”

The bill remains eligible for consideration in the short session and Harrison said she would try again next year.

McGrady, who recently announced he would retire from the legislature after this term, said he would also work on trying to get the firefighting foam bill passed in the short session.

RALEIGH — A bill that started out as an effort by Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, to limit the areas available for wind energy projects won’t be taken up again this session, the senator told a state court last week.

Brown, the Senate majority leader, testifying before a three-judge panel in Raleigh during a partisan redistricting trial, used the bill’s lack of progress as an example of when even powerful members of the legislature don’t get their way.

“To be honest with you the bill is going to die in the House,” he said on the stand under questioning from counsel for the legislative defendants. “I’ve worked it as hard as I can work it this year, but I can’t get that bill done just because I don’t have the support in the House to get it passed,” Brown testified.

The pronouncement was a blunt admission that the legislation would not surface again in the House even after a compromise to move the bill had been worked out earlier this session.

House Majority Leader John Bell, R-Wayne, said Brown’s assessment is accurate given that it is unlikely that a deal between the House and Senate can be reached this session.

Bell said there was enough pushback on a version passed June 24 by the House Committee on Energy and Public Utilities to convince him that a deal can’t be worked out this session.

Bell said he expected to revisit the bill during the legislature’s short session next year.

Wind energy advocates, including the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, or NCSEA, said they were relieved to hear the bill wouldn’t be taken up again this session.

“NCSEA, many legislators, their constituents, especially landowners, are pleased to hear that Senate Bill 377 will not move forward; however, we will continue to discuss this topic and other important clean energy issues with legislators.” Peter Ledford, the main counsel for the group and a lead negotiator for the industry on the bill, said Friday in an emailed response.

The main hitch in the legislation for now is how much maps developed to show potential areas of conflict will play in the regulatory system for wind turbines.

In 2017, Brown pushed through an 18-month moratorium on wind energy projects while maps on potential conflicts with military operations were developed.

The moratorium ended Dec. 31, 2018. The maps, produced by the state Department of Commerce using research by Morrisville-based consultants AECOM, show conflicts in nearly all of eastern North Carolina and would automatically rule out large swaths of the state from consideration for wind energy projects.

The maps were posted to the General Assembly’s website in April. Brown had introduced Senate Bill 377, the Military Base Protection Act, in late March. The bill would have required the state to use the maps in any siting process and would have banned construction in areas listed as having conflicts. In effect, that would have eliminated nearly all of North Carolina east of Interstate 95 except for a small portion of Currituck County and most of New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick, and Columbus counties from consideration for wind energy projects.

The bill sparked a battle in the Senate between Brown and Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, whose district includes a major wind farm that was built to supply energy to the grid that serves Amazon Web Service’s current and planned cloud data centers. Senate Bill 377 passed the Senate 25-19 with Steinburg voting against it.

At the time, Sen. Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, a cosponsor with Brown who was in charge of steering the bill through the Senate, called the bill a work in progress. That version included a three-year moratorium on wind projects, a move that was strongly opposed by wood products company Weyerhaeuser, one of the region’s largest landowners. The company owned some of the land under consideration for a wind energy project that fell apart after the 2017 moratorium was imposed. Weyerhaeuser officials said earlier this year that the moratoriums interfere with the property rights of the region’s landowners.

With prospects poor for passage in the House, Bell, Steinburg and Perry worked on a compromise, eventually coming up with a bill that eliminated the moratorium and provided a system that would reduce reliance on maps showing conflicts with military training routes while at the same time adding additional ways for project opponents to make their case.

After the successful committee vote in the House, Perry said it was a positive step forward, but Brown said he was disappointed and declined to say whether he would support the new version.

His statement during the trial last week ended any speculation that he might support it. Brown called the issue paramount for eastern North Carolina.

Bell said he still intends to work on the bill next year.

Under General Assembly rules, bills passed by one chamber remain viable for the entire two-year session. He said his main objective is to give the military, especially wing commanders, more input.

Bell said a bill he sponsored in 2013, already gives the military more input, but he’s open to adding to that, including using the maps in the permitting process and finding additional processes for input.

“My focus has been just like Harry’s, to protect the military,” Bell said.

Process to Better Manage Pollution Could Take Years 

RALEIGH — Shortly after noon on July 10, the Lower Cape Fear River ceased to be classified as swamp water.

The action came during the windup of the state’s Environmental Management Commission’s monthly meeting in the Archdale Building on North Salisbury Street and it ends a regulatory saga with as many twists and turns as the Cape Fear River itself.

At the terminus of the journey is the same predicament as when it started: Starved for oxygen, the Lower Cape Fear River is a highly impaired waterway loaded by industrial and municipal discharges and agricultural runoff. At the same time, it’s the main drinking water source in one of the fastest-growing regions of the country.

The swamp water status, in place for about four years, was rejected outright by environmental groups as a way around tighter environmental regulation that conditions in the river required. Last year, after an official review, the Environmental Protection Agency said the state had failed to prove as required that the classification was the result of natural conditions. In a brief two-page letter rejecting the reclassification and parts of the state’s current management plan, EPA officials said there was no documentation provided to support the swamp water classification.

Last week, officials with the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resource said, in light of the repeal of the swamp water rules and the current management plan’s flaws, the next step should be development of a completely new management plan.

The commission obliged and directed the division to develop a new plan for the Lower Cape Fear River Basin.

As the follow-up to the decision last week, the Division of Water Resources is expected to formally request the official rule changes during the Environmental Management Commission’s meeting in September.

DEQ officials said Wednesday that division staff would be meeting soon to work on the next steps in developing the new management strategy. Officials estimated it could take a year or more to complete the science needed to begin developing a plan. The regulatory framework will take longer as will the public review process and an automatic review of any rules that result by the legislature.

As lengthy and complex a process as that’s likely to be, advocates say it is a long-needed reality check.

Will Hendrick, senior attorney with the Waterkeeper Alliance, one of the groups that petitioned the Environmental Management Commission to drop the swamp water classification, said developing a new management plan is an opportunity to take a larger look at the river basin.

“From my perspective, the opportunity that DWR now has is to take a more holistic view about what is causing the problems that it needs to address in the Lower Cape Fear,” he told Coastal Review Online in a recent interview. “The biggest problem with the existing management plan is that it exclusively looked at permitted, point sources and it exclusively looked at new and expanding permits. It didn’t look at who was currently operating, and it didn’t look at non-point source pollution.”

Hendrick said that means taking a serious look at the effect of upstream nonpoint contributors, primarily large-scale animal operations.

“It’s a big and complex system and unless you’re going to look at all the sources then you’re not going to have any chance of solving it. What I hope is that they will meaningfully evaluate all the contributors to the in-stream conditions and not try to hide the ball.”

Brooks Rainey Pearson, the attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center on the reclassification petition, agreed that a new plan has to include an assessment of the impact of sources upstream.

“We’ll be looking for a plan that includes all sources contributing to the pollution including upstream non-point sources.”

Brooks Rainey Pearson, Southern Environmental Law Center

“We’ll be looking for a plan that includes all sources contributing to the pollution including upstream non-point sources,” she said.

A new management plan could take two to three years to go through the rulemaking process. Complicating the process is how rapidly the areas around the river are changing and a new federal designation that will require additional review.

In August 2017, the National Marine Fisheries Service designated the Lower Cape Fear River as a critical habitat for the endangered Atlantic sturgeon.

Rainey Pearson said that designation will require the Division of Water Resources to craft a management plan that will meet dissolved oxygen levels required to sustain the sturgeon nurseries.

Hendrick said the division will also have to take into consideration the lack of information about the fast-growing poultry industry and its effects on the watershed.

Unlike new hog operations, poultry farmers are not prevented from building in the 100-year floodplain, he said, adding that the state needs to get a better understanding of the size, scope and impact of the growing number of poultry operation in the Cape Fear River basin.

“We don’t have a good monitoring system for poultry,” Hendrick said.

The Long and Winding ‘No’

Although it involved all the complexities of the state rulemaking process and a federal review, for those who have fought the designation, the story of how the river became a swamp is an example of convenience over science.

In spring 2014, the Cape Fear River Program, representing a group of industries and local governments with discharge permits for the river, sought to reclassify the 15-mile tidal, saltwater section from Toomers Creek near Leland to Snows Cut near the Atlantic Ocean from Class SC waters to SW swamp water designation, which would allow for a lower level of dissolved oxygen.

Class SC waters are all tidal saltwater bodies that are protected for recreation such as fishing, boating and other activities involving minimal skin contact; fish and noncommercial shellfish consumption; aquatic life propagation and survival; and wildlife, according to DEQ. The SW classification covers waters that have low velocities and other natural characteristics different from adjacent streams.

The request worked its way through the state review system before reaching the Environmental Management Commission, which approved the change in September 2015 in the face of objections from environmental groups that called the action a thinly disguised attempt to get around regulations.

“The definition of swamp water was inconsistent with the in-stream conditions.”

Will Hendrick, Waterkeeper Alliance

The issue also drew the attention of legislators, prompting an attempt by Rep. Billy Richardson, D-Cumberland, to reverse the new rule. The bill failed to get a committee hearing, but Richardson was able to make his case on the House floor when he offered it as an amendment. He called the swamp water classification “intellectually dishonest.”

The beginning of the end of the swamp water designation came last year after the EPA’s official review that found the state had no data, specifically anything on stream velocity, to back up its assertion that the stretch of river at issue was a slow-moving swamp.

In reality, Hendrick said, the Cape Fear is a fast-flowing river and in the 15-mile stretch that was reclassified it’s likely flowing quickly enough to suppress some of the nutrient retention.

“The definition of swamp water was inconsistent with the in-stream conditions,” Hendrick said, “and the EPA pointed that out.”

Learn More

• North Carolina’s surface water classifications

MANTEO — “We need to not let up, we need to continue and we need to get stronger somehow,” said Mayor Bobby Owens as he tried to drive home a point about the difference between today and the first time he fought offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast.

Owens was chair of the Dare County Board of Commissioners during the late 1980s, when the long battle over Mobil Oil’s plan to drill off the Outer Banks divided the communities along the coast like nothing he’d been through before.

“It made friends out of enemies and enemies out of friends,” Owens told a gathering of coastal mayors at a meeting in Manteo earlier this year. That fight, he said, is very different from the current one.

“Now, I see a big difference,” he said. “There’s a solid block effort against oil drilling off our beaches.”

Since the spring of 2017 when a shift in policy by the Trump administration caused the prospect of offshore oil and gas exploration off the North Carolina coast to reemerge as real possibility, local governments from Currituck to Calabash have steadily weighed in, passing resolutions in opposition and in some cases multiple times.

About 40 of the coastal region’s municipalities and all but two coastal county boards — Carteret and Brunswick — have put their opposition to paper.

One of the latest additions to that list, however, could be a sign that other parts of the state are lining up against new leases as well. In late April, the Asheville City Council unanimously passed a resolution against both offshore drilling and seismic testing.

When the dozen coastal mayors got together to talk about how to expand their message statewide, the support from one of the state’s biggest cities and the mountain region’s tourism capital was seen as a positive sign in an otherwise frustrating effort to get inland recognition. At the meeting, all 12 of the mayors present signed on to a new resolution opposing offshore drilling.

Nags Head Mayor Ben Cahoon, who convened the group, said at the conference that despite the groundswell back in the districts, he’d had a hard time convincing lawmakers at both the state and federal level to take a stand. Many were worried about taking on the Trump administration, he said, and others said they were skeptical about policies proposed to address climate change.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan attended the meeting along with his top policy staff. Regan acknowledged that some elected officials aren’t signing on because they see it as part of a push by the administration toward alternative energy. But, the secretary said, even without considering clean energy, there’s a strong economic argument that the risk is not worth the return.

“It’s no secret the governor and I believe in a clean energy technology,” Regan told the group. But that, he said, is not the basis of the administration’s main argument, which is centered on the economic trade-offs. “We cannot afford the reality of a major offshore spill disaster spill,” he told the mayors.

As a candidate, Gov. Roy Cooper used his opposition to offshore drilling to pry votes away from incumbent Pat McCrory, who supported exploration efforts, in what turned out to be one of the closest governor races in the country. As governor, Cooper stepped up actions against leasing and testing, joining legal actions with other states.

At the same time opposition along the East Coast picked up steam and Cooper and other governors, including Republicans in South Carolina and Georgia, have said they, too, want an exemption like the one granted to Florida over concerns about the risks to the state’s tourism industry.

Worries about the impact to tourism and the local economy appear to be resonating, especially on a coastline still reeling from a succession of powerful storms.

A recent poll of likely voters in the 3rd Congressional District on perceptions about climate change, offshore drilling and wind energy showed a majority of the heavily Republican-leaning district now says offshore oil and gas exploration isn’t worth the risk.

Drew Ball of Environment North Carolina, which sponsored the poll along with the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce and the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, said perceptions on the coast have shifted in the past few years. The succession of devastating storms and a growing acceptance of the science around climate change, he said, has made people more aware of the threats to the local economy.

“I think it’s changed a lot in the past few years,” he said. “It’s a local issue. People recognize that climate change is not just something you talk about.”

It has also helped to cement opposition to drilling.

“They know that a spill off the coast would be devastating,” he said.

Remarkable Turnaround

One way to gauge how a legislature has changed is to look for new initiatives. Another, often more telling, is by looking at what it’s not doing or not doing anymore.

Since the 2016 election, the North Carolina General Assembly has pursued new initiatives in energy policy that have shaped, for better or worse, the prospect of renewable energy in the state. It has delved into deal-making over natural gas pipelines, and the current session has continued a lengthy debate over wind energy, along with a struggle with producers over electricity rate-setting.

Not on that list is anything related to offshore drilling or oil and gas exploration, a remarkable turnaround given the state’s energy priorities fewer than five years ago. In mid-2015 then-Gov. McCrory testified before Congress, criticizing the Obama administration’s decision to set a 50-mile buffer for potential leases as not being close enough to shore. He wanted the line closer in to ensure North Carolina would be in the running.

But within a year of the testimony, push-back on the Atlantic leases led them to be dropped from the administration’s plans. In 2017, with a new administration and renewed political rhetoric about energy independence, the Atlantic Coast leases were put back on the table.

Since then, the odds have shifted back and forth on whether any drilling – or the seismic exploration that would proceed it – is going to happen.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, again took leases off the table earlier this year following a court challenge. A review of next steps in policy is likely to come after that case is resolved and yet another revival of a leasing plan remains a possibility.

While on the coast, the on-again, off-again prospects for moving forward on leasing and testing continue to spur wariness, the issue is all but off the radar in Raleigh. The legislature remains on record as supporting oil and gas exploration off the coast, but few expect to see much forward movement.

Rep. Holly Grange, R-New Hanover, said offshore drilling isn’t at the forefront in the legislature because few members think anything will happen.

“It’s off the table right now from what I understand,” she said. If it does come back, Grange said she would oppose it. “What I’ve said all along is that we’re the No. 1 energy producer in the world right now and we don’t even need to think about all of that.”

Rep. Deb Butler, D-New Hanover, said many legislators are against the idea, but the leadership has declined to bring up legislation aimed at putting that stance on the record. Butler said she expects more communities from the state’s interior to raise opposition.

“It does have broad bipartisan support within the (coastal) community for sure,” she said. “I don’t understand why it’s not universal, but we’re coming along.”

Other legislators said the matter was out of their hands. Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said the decision on leasing is now a federal matter.

Brown said he still supports the legislature’s decision to encourage exploration in an extensive rewrite of state energy policy approved in 2012.

“If it makes sense and you could still protect the environment and it creates another opportunity to help the economy of North Carolina then I think you’ve got to take a look at it,” he said in a recent interview. “You wouldn’t be doing your job as a legislator if you didn’t.”

Still, Brown said there would have to be sufficient environmental safeguards.

“There would have to be some pretty good assurances for you to move forward,” he said.

Sen. Paul Newton, R-Catawba, who chairs the Senate Energy Policy Committee, said he also supports exploration.

“If offshore drilling can’t be done safely then it shouldn’t be done. But if you look at the facts, I think a rational person would come to the conclusion that it can be done safely, and if that’s true then shouldn’t we keep all options opened?”

Newton said testing is an important step forward.

“The next logical step is to find out what’s there,” he said. “Are we arguing about nothing or is there a rich reserve there that we ought to consider.”

Newton said that Cooper’s position has made it difficult to move ahead.

“I think it’s a dead option as long as Roy Cooper is governor,” Newton said. “That’s his prerogative as governor but he doesn’t speak for the legislature when he takes that position.”

This story has been updated.

RALEIGH – Gov. Roy Cooper late Friday signed a bill making long-sought changes to North Carolina’s shellfish leasing program that was unanimously approved in the General Assembly.

The House passed Senate Bill 648, Support Shellfish Aquaculture, on June 12 in a 116-0 vote. In early May, the Senate approved the bill in a 47-0 vote.

In a recent interview, Steve Murphey, director of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries, said planning had started for implementing the bill, which was drafted at the division’s request.

The division is the lead agency for major initiatives in the bill, including the determination of locations and rules for new shellfish enterprise areas and the establishment of three large-scale shellfish leases in Pamlico Sound.

The enterprise areas proved to be one of the key reasons why this year’s effort on aquaculture was successful. The areas will be established for shellfish leasing ahead of time and are to have a faster, more streamlined permitting process. Murphey said the initiatives are intended to reduce potential conflicts with other users of public trust waters and reduce legal fights over leases.

“We have areas of the state where you can apply for a lease and there’s a public hearing and nobody shows up, but we have other areas of the state, particularly with these intensive and water column methods, where as soon as we receive the application we know we’re going to have a lot of conflict,” Murphey said. “Everybody has due process rights in this and so often times we’re in a situation where, regardless of what we do, we end up in court.”

The program mirrors those in several other states, he said, including Florida, where nearly all the state’s shellfish leases are in enterprise areas.

The new legislation allows the creation of “one or more” enterprise areas. Murphey said the division plans to identify potential areas and then hold meetings with local stakeholders, including property owners, commercial and recreational fishing operations, tourism interests and county and municipal planning departments, to work through concerns. The sites would likely be about 20 to 40 acres and the leases could range between small, 1- or 2-acre parcels and the current maximum lease size of 10 acres.

Bogue Sound, where the division and National Marine Fisheries are developing a spatial planning analysis to identify potential areas, is a likely location for one of the first sites, but don’t expect anything to happen quickly. The new legislation includes a moratorium for both Bogue Sound and much of New Hanover County, areas where there are both a lot of lease requests and the most potential for conflicts with other users.

“We’re not going to rush this,” Murphey said. “We want to take it kind of slow because we want to get it right.”

Once identified, the division would also hold public meetings on the enterprise areas. Once set up, the division would become the leaseholder and would subdivide the area through an application process. Unlike the current lease system, which allows the leases to be traded or passed on to heirs like property, the enterprise area leases would revert to the state once the holder stops operations.

“If you got on the lease and you got a couple of acres and you decided that wasn’t for you or too much work, or you couldn’t make production (goals) or couldn’t pay the rent, then it would revert back to the state,” he said. “Then we would go back to the queue and pull another applicant up, look at a management plan and put them into that.”

One of the main ideas behind the plan is to create a faster, simpler way for people interested in aquaculture to get started, but for the division, the new plan would lead to a more efficient and less contentious process.

Murphey said the change is also needed to keep up with a growing demand for leases. When he first started working with the division as a marine biologist in the late 1980s, it would get requests for 10 to 12 leases a year. Most of those were for growing clams.

“Now they’re all oyster leases and they’re all intensive culture leases and we’re getting between 80 and 100 a year,” he said.

Pamlico Leases and FLUPSY Provisions

While the potential conflicts with other users was part of the objections over last year’s failed aquaculture legislation, the biggest hitch was over the size of the leases.

An early version of the bill, aimed at attracting large producers, envisioned leases of 2,000 acres. In response to objections, that was reduced to 200 acres, but even that size drew strong objections.

This year’s bill includes a scaled-down pilot project in Pamlico Sound with three, 50-acre leases. Murphey calls it a “toe in the water” approach. He said finding the right location for the large leases will take one to two years. They can’t be in places with a lot of wave energy and they can’t be so remote that it takes a lot of time and fuel to get out and monitor them.

The division would carefully review business plans to make sure those interested are willing to make the kind of investment needed for such a large-scale lease.

The bill also gives the division authorization to allow shellfish growers to use waters currently off limits to grow seed oysters through the early part of their life cycle and then transport them to approved shellfish waters.

Murphey said the division asked for the authorization, which would allow for floating upweller systems, a platform known in the trade as a FLUPSY, to be located closer to a grower’s home base.

He said most growers like to use the systems in marinas because they are protected areas with access to electricity for the pumps, but under North Carolina law, marinas are automatically off limits for shellfish cultivation.

The change would allow more growers to use the systems to start their oysters, which is far cheaper than buying them at sizes large enough to survive in the standard beds. He said the division determined that the oysters would spend enough of their life cycle in approved shellfish waters to negate any effect from starting out in prohibited waters that are off limits.

The systems would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to make sure the waters in the area don’t have toxic substances or heavy metals. If authorized, growers would be required to transplant the oysters before they reach more than 25 millimeters or roughly 1 inch in size.

“This is just for seed,” he said. “That way by the time they grow out, they’re not going to have any deleterious substances.”

RALEIGH — A new version of legislation spelling out restrictions on wind energy projects passed the Senate this week, but backers in both chambers say to expect yet another rewrite soon.

Wayne County Republican and House Majority Leader Rep. John Bell, whose Greene, Johnston and Wayne County district includes Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, said a new version of the bill could be announced as early as next week.

Its sponsors, including Sens. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, and Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, say the bill is necessary to prevent conflicts between wind turbine projects and military training and safety, which in turn would be seen as a negative by a future Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The legislation, Senate Bill 377, is titled the Military Base Protection Act.

Opponents have called the bill an unnecessary infringement on property rights, citing an extensive military oversight process already in use.

Bell, the main sponsor of 2013 legislation that set up a process for dealing with wind energy conflicts with military bases, said that among the changes being worked out is a process that accounts for situations in which military officials are unable to raise objections.

Even though base managers are free to speak up, he said, “a lot of time through politics and government policy they were not allowed to speak.”

Bell said negotiations over the past two weeks with industry representatives had been productive.

“We’ve had discussions, shared language back and forth,” Bell said Thursday in an interview. “We’re hoping to address our concerns and hoping to alleviate their concerns and right now we’re about 95% there.”

This year’s legislation started out as an outright ban on areas deemed in serious risk of conflict, according to a set of maps commissioned under previous legislation. The maps were produced by the Department of Commerce using research by Morrisville-based consultants AECOM. They show conflicts in nearly all of eastern North Carolina and would automatically rule out large swaths of the state from consideration for wind energy projects.

After the bill stalled in the Senate, it was re-written. Now, instead of a permanent ban, it calls for a three-year moratorium on new wind energy projects in areas deemed in conflict. The bill also anticipates further guidance from federal officials on how wind projects could affect base closure plans.

That version passed the state Senate Wednesday by a vote of 25-19, but sponsors said they expect to see the bill come back with a clear set of guidelines that can be put in place, rather than another moratorium.

The legislation passed mostly along partly lines with Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, whose district includes a wind farm operated for Amazon, the lone Republican opposed.

Steinburg, who has fought over the issue with Senate Majority Leader Brown since his time in the state House, said the bill strips people of their economic opportunities and private property rights and would do nothing to prevent base closures.

Sen. Don Davis, D-Greene, said he had confidence in the system for determining conflicts as used by the Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse. Davis said he disagreed with the moratorium and couldn’t support the bill as written, but encouraged sponsors to push forward with negotiations.

Sen. Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, who along with Brown led the effort to move the bill, told his colleges during floor debate that a vote for the bill was a vote for moving forward with negotiations and not the final draft of the legislation.

Perry has been meeting with Bell and other House members as well as wind energy industry representatives and other stakeholders to try to strike a deal.

In an email response to Coastal Review Online, Perry said he expects a new version to be adopted by the House that removes the moratorium and adds additional provisions, including one addressing concerns that military officials can’t speak freely on potential project conflicts and another that would further spell out how the maps would be used in the process.

“We will see language referencing maps as a tool in the process, but not as a single point ‘go/no go’ mechanism,” Perry said in the email.

While Perry and Bell said they were confident a new bill would clear both chambers and have the support of renewable energy proponents, industry representatives had yet to sign off on a plan.

“Discussions on Senate Bill 377 are on-going and we hope to reach a final agreement with legislators soon,” Peter Ledford, General Counsel for the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, wrote in an email to Coastal Review Online.

Nancy Thompson, manager of public affairs for Weyerhauser, said the company, one of the state’s largest landowners, is mainly concerned with any attempt impose another moratorium.

She said that whether it’s for 18 months like legislation passed at the end of the 2017 short session or three years like the one in the current bill, a moratorium is unfair to property owners.

Thompson said the first version of this year’s bill was so strictly worded it would have created a “permanent moratorium.”

Bell said he’s looking forward to reaching a deal that can finally settle the long-running wind energy debate in eastern North Carolina.

“Hopefully once this is done, we won’t be having this issue come up again,” he said, “but then this is the General Assembly so anything can happen.”

RALEIGH – Long-term efforts to expand shellfish leasing in North Carolina waters cleared another legislative hurdle this week, an indication that, unlike last year’s bill, this one is on its way to becoming law.

The new bill, hammered out in a yearlong stakeholder process after the failure of last year’s legislation, is drawn in part from a strategic plan developed last year by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill-based North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.

The plan calls for a shift away from policies similar to those of other states, such as Louisiana and Virginia, that use large-scale leases. Instead, there’s a focus on smaller lease sizes with higher yields, like the approach used in Massachusetts and Maryland. Increasing the yield per acre, the report said, would also lessen the chance for potential conflicts with other users.

Last year’s legislation ran aground over opening Pamlico Sound to large-scale shellfish leasing. That plan started with the prospect of leases of up to 2,000 acres and although it was scaled back to 200 acres, even that size worried local producers that larger out-of-state companies could control the market.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said the major change this year was the recognition that there are multiple uses for the state’s public trust waters.

“There are a lot of user groups out there, there are boaters, there are fishermen, there are duck hunters,” McElraft said. “We have to make sure these things are placed in the proper way so we don’t have these conflicts.”

McElraft and others said the stakeholder process used to develop the bill language was critical to finding a way to expand the industry without creating more conflicts with other groups.

Todd Miller, director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review Online and facilitated the dozens of stakeholder meetings during the past 18 months, said the discussions included hundreds of people who support expanding the shellfish farming industry as long as it is compatible with existing fishing practices, public trust uses and coastal environmental and economic needs.

“The strategic plan they devised promotes a major new economic industry along our coast that must have clean and productive coastal waters,” Miller said. “The federation is honored to have helped diverse stakeholders work together so they could forge this strategy. It’s a good beginning. Passage of this legislation means there’s much hard work that remains to be done.”

Enterprise Areas, Moratoriums, Studies

The new plan authorizes the state Division of Marine Fisheries to set up one or more shellfish enterprise areas and a streamlined permitting and leasing process for them. It also launches a large-scale pilot program in Pamlico Sound, but limits it to three, 50-acre leases. In addition, no one company would be allowed to own all three of the leases.

The legislation also calls for a moratorium in New Hanover County and Bogue Sound in Carteret County on new shellfish cultivation and water column leases. In New Hanover County, the moratorium would be for waters from the Wrightsville Beach Bridge through Masonboro Inlet to the waters off Peden Point, and in Bogue Sound in Carteret County from the U.S. 70 high-rise bridge in Morehead City to the Emerald Isle bridge. The moratorium would take effect July 1, 2021.

Several studies are mandated in the bill, including a look at ways to reduce use conflicts, the potential for a crop insurance program for shellfish, a low-interest loan program and a review of penalties for shellfish violations.

‘Commerce for North Carolina’

One part of the bill that has drawn criticism from growers is the new production requirements, which proponents say are necessary to make sure the waters are being used to their full potential. McElraft said the requirements had to be part of any expanded leasing program.

“I think it’s important that they do have a production level. This isn’t something for just personal use, this is commerce for North Carolina,” she said.

Jerry Schill, director of government relations for the North Carolina Fisheries Association, told legislators that although there are some concerns about the production requirements, the bill was a good step forward. But he did caution against trying to discourage larger companies.

“This isn’t a panacea. It takes a lot of money to get into this business,” Schill said. “The big boys better get involved because they’re the ones with the cash.”

The aquaculture bill is paired with elements of budget legislation approved last month by the House and likely to be part of the final round of budget negotiations.

The House budgeted $300,000 in the first year to the Division of Marine Fisheries as startup funding for the new leasing program and $150,000 a year after that for a district manager and fisheries technician assigned to it.

The Senate did not include direct funding for the new program but did budget $1.5 million for each year of the budget for the Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network.

The House this week formally rejected the Senate budget, triggering a conference committee to work out the differences in the plans. Leaders in both chambers said they expected to have an agreement before the close of the fiscal year at the end of this month. Should they fail to do so, a contingency budget mechanism kicks in that would fund departments and agencies at current levels.

Farm Bill, Trust Funds

The North Carolina Farm Act of 2019 passed a key committee and is heading for a final vote as early as this week.

The Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee approved the measure Wednesday. The bill’s supporters rejected an amendment by Sen. Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, to initiate a study on dry litter practices in the state’s fast-growing poultry industry. Peterson said the state has almost no oversight of the what happens to the waste and needs the study to better understand the industry.

Bill sponsor Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, said further study wasn’t warranted. He said he had not heard of any problems with how the waste is handled. The amendment was defeated by voice vote.

The House this week was expected to pass a bill to revamp some of the state boards and commissions ruled unconstitutional last year in a court fight between the legislature and the governor over separation of powers.

Senate Bill 381 would amend appointments to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to give more seats to the governor as required by the court ruling.

It also adds hazard mitigation grants to one of the possible uses for the grants by the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and adds basin-wide and regional water management planning to its list of grant criteria.

Co-published with Carolina Public Press

RALEIGH — Senate and House budget proposals contrast sharply with the governor’s on how each deals with emerging contaminants.

In the years since the 2017 revelations about GenX in the Cape Fear River, legislators as a group are far more familiar with the challenges of understanding the health effects and, ultimately, regulating the growing class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

But in policies and on the bottom line, plans by the House, Senate and governor are very different.

In Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget request this year, he asked for additional money for personnel and new equipment for emerging contaminant testing and monitoring programs. Cooper said the Department of Environmental Quality needs the additional staff in order to conduct in-house and mobile analysis of emerging contaminants. The department had to shift dozens of experts from other duties to deal with the GenX and emerging contaminant research and monitoring, he said.

The governor’s total ask was about $12.5 million for the next two years to cover equipment costs and 37 new staff positions.

The lynchpin for both the emerging contaminants programs and DEQ’s budget request overall is a $30 million upgrade and renovation at the department’s main laboratory complex on Reedy Creek Road in Raleigh, where most of DEQ’s air and water quality testing is conducted.

House budget writers greatly dialed back the governor’s request for more staffing, but they included the governor’s full request for the Reedy Creek labs.

The Senate did not. Its plan includes no additional funding and focuses solely on a provision extending the studies of a PFAS testing network set up through the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at University North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Relying on the Collaboratory

The Collaboratory, which was set up via a Senate initiative in the 2016 budget, would get an additional $1 million to complete its work and file a report with the legislature’s Environmental Review Commission by Dec. 1, 2020. The main effort of the testing network has been to expand PFAS and emerging contaminant testing statewide to include all 191 public drinking water intakes and 149 water systems that use groundwater wells. Researchers say the plan is partly to establish a baseline of the extent of the compounds in areas, but they also expect to find areas with elevated levels of certain compounds.

At the initial hearing on the Senate’s budget plan in the Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Sen. Andy Wells, R-Catawba, the committee chairman, said the decision was made to withhold funding until the Collaboratory presents its report.

“That is correct, there is no funding while we wait for this report from the Collaboratory,” Wells told Sen. Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, after Peterson said he was surprised to see no additional funds for DEQ and the Department of Health and Human Services on emerging contaminants. Wells said the report comes first and it would be used to assist legislators to determine what to fund after that.

“I’m pretty shocked by the lack of interest and concern by the Senate in this budget recommendation,” Peterson said afterward. “I don’t think anybody denies we have an emerging contaminant crisis, not just in my district, in the lower Cape Fear River basin but throughout the state.”

He said that, in addition to the Collaboratory studies, work needed to continue at the departments. “We have a health issue. That is paramount. Public health comes first. We want to know what’s in the water.”

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, an early advocate of tighter PFAS regulations said she was frustrated by the Senate’s decision, calling it “wrongheaded” and “a step backwards” in dealing with emerging contaminants.

“We learned last year that DEQ had pulled 31 people off of other roles to cover the PFAS issue, so we’ve got a funding gap right now,” she said. “The reality is that we’ve got PFAS contamination all over the state and I don’t know how we can ignore that and I don’t know how we cannot fund the regulatory agency protecting our water, how we can’t fund them adequately to do their job to enforce, monitor and let us know when we’ve got a contamination issue.”

She said she supports the Collaboratory’s work, but their research can’t be used in enforcement actions.

DEQ officials have said that if the Collaboratory finds PFAS hotspots or other indications of contamination, the department will still have to do its own analysis in order to craft an enforcement response.

DEQ spokesperson Sharon Martin said the lack of funding could have a big impact.

“The delay puts our ability to do this vital work on hold. DEQ’s priority is the health and safety of North Carolinians and we need additional resources to protect the people of our state from the threats posed by unregulated emerging compounds,” Martin said Thursday in an email response.

The move by the Senate to lean on the work of the Collaboratory is similar to a strategy it adopted in 2018, which allocated an initial $5 million to the Collaboratory for the research project after rejecting a request by the department for more funding.

The Senate’s strategy, put together by then-Sen. Michael Lee, a New Hanover County Republican, was criticized at the time for hampering DEQ’s PFAS response. The department initially asked for $8 million, but ultimately only received $1.5 million. Lee’s plan also included a limit on the type of high-resolution mass spectrometer that the department could purchase to do the analysis.

Peterson, who unseated Lee in an election that highlighted the legislature’s response to emerging contaminants, said the message in the budget to his constituents is that the state Senate doesn’t care about their health. He said that, in addition to PFAS, the Cape Fear River has high levels of 1,4 Dioxane, Bromide and other contaminants.

“This will come back to haunt the Senate,” he said. “They’ve got their priorities upside down.”

RALEIGH — The three-way negotiation between the House, Senate and Cooper administration hits another milestone this week, with the Senate prepared to vote out its version of the $24 billion, two-year spending plan.

The Senate bill, which was released Tuesday, includes significant differences in funding for environmental programs and Department of Environmental Quality spending plus a number of policy proposals not in either previous plan.

Among the top differences is spending on research and testing on emerging contaminants, upgrades and additions to DEQ’s main laboratories and several new special provisions, including a review of the recent process for adopting new general permit requirements for animal waste management systems that would delay for a year the implementation of tighter controls for swine, poultry and cattle operations.

DEQ Secretary Michael Regan said the animal waste permit changes in the budget provision delays were not new rules or regulations. He said they are part of the permit-writing process that’s within DEQ’s authority and that the changes, which were the result of discussions with numerous stakeholders and a review of more than 6,500 public comments, would provide more certainty to farmers and communities.

“The Senate’s budget provision, unlike our permit process or even a proposed bill, lacks transparency and justification,” he said.

The Senate also would put on hold policy changes on emerging contaminants along with any increases in spending for DEQ proposed in both the House and governor’s budgets.

At a hearing on the budget Tuesday, Sen. Andy Wells, R-Catawba, said the Senate wants to hold off while the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory completes a statewide study on emerging contaminants.

Researchers had requested an additional year to compile a report to the legislature. The Senate budget has an additional $1 million for the study, which includes testing of all of the state’s public water supplies for GenX and other emerging contaminants.

A DEQ representative said the Senate is ignoring pressing needs to improve environmental and public health protections.

“Budget are about priorities,” DEQ spokesperson Sharon Martin said in a response to Coastal Review Online. “The Senate budget again does not fund critical needs to protect water quality, public health and the environment.”

Another major policy provision is a rewrite of a bill proposed this year in both the House and Senate to set up a carrot and stick approach to encourage struggling, economically unsustainable water wastewater to merge with larger systems. The budget includes a $17.5 million appropriation for a new Viable Utility Reserve.

Coastal Projects

Oyster sanctuaries, two major land purchases and additional funds for storm repairs are among the coastal items in the Senate plan.

The Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network would receive $1.5 million in funding each year and the North Carolina Coastal Federation would receive $50,000 to conduct a shellfish marketing study.

The plan also includes a transfer of $20 million to the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund and an additional $50,000 for the state’s Division of Coastal Management to study locations in state waters for dredge spoils.

The state also is providing Audubon Society $4 million in a directed grant for the purchase of Lea Island, one of the state’s only undeveloped barrier islands, located between Figure Eight Island and Topsail Island.

Like the House, the Senate plan also includes $3.3 million for the Bogue Sound Project, a partnership between the Coastal Federation, Carteret County and the U.S. Marine Corps to secure 74 acres on N.C. 24, including 20 acres of undeveloped waterfront on Bogue Sound near the Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue, also known as Bogue Field.

The funding is drawn from a special budget section on disaster funding although, in general, the Senate and House budgets differed widely on disaster spending.

The House budget plan would spend $84.7 million, most of the remaining money set aside last year for hurricane relief, with the bulk of the funds going to grants to local governments for water and sewer infrastructure and an array of resilience programs including some buyout projects.

But at a press conference Tuesday, Senate budget writers said they didn’t want to commit that much of the remaining funds and instead are allocating $47 million mainly for matches for federal recovery grants.

The total includes $1.5 million for stream debris removal, $2 million for a resiliency study, $5 million for repairs at the North Carolina Aquarium At Fort Fisher and $68,000 for the renovation and dredging of Pelletier Creek in Morehead City.

The two chambers are in agreement on funding for the state ports and the Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division.

Both budget plans set aside $11 million to raise the power lines over the Cape Fear River near the Port of Wilmington to accommodate larger vessels; allocate more money for ferry maintenance; and $1 million to lease the M/V Martha’s Vineyard Express passenger ferry for the Hatteras-Ocracoke route because the long-planned new state ferry has had construction delays and won’t be ready until later in the year.

RALEIGH — Legislators got their first official look at the Farm Act of 2019, which focused on regulations to support the state’s fast growing hemp industry, but included a provision that would loosen requirements on upgrades and new construction at swine operations.

The change, aimed to accommodate the expansion of the use of covered anaerobic digesters and hog waste to energy projects, would drop a longtime state requirement that prevents expansion for operations that rely on disposal systems that use waste collection ponds and sprayfields.

The new legislation would allow expansion and construction of new facilities if they do not increase the capacity of the operation and applicants can prove that they substantially reduce odors, ammonia emissions, release of airborne pathogens and discharge of waste to surface water or groundwater.

The Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee is expected to vote on the legislation next week.

RALEIGH — Legislation designed to allow two public water systems in Pamlico County to merge is expected to pass next week after approval Thursday by a Senate committee.

The Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee gave its approval to Senate Bill 434 that would require the merger of the Bay River Metropolitan Sewerage District, which serves about 3,000 customers in Pamlico County, and the West Bay River system, which serves about 300 customers.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, now goes to the Senate Finance Committee for review. It would take effect on Oct. 1 of this year.

Although the legislation is narrowly tailored to apply to only the two districts, more extensive legislation to facilitate mergers and consolidations among dozens of financially troubled water and wastewater systems is also moving in the Senate.

Next week, the Finance Committee is expected to modify that legislation, Senate Bill 536, over objections to a proposed $1 per month fee that would be collected from customers statewide to help pay for a growing backlog of maintenance and upgrades needed for systems that are no longer financially sustainable. Those costs have proved to be a barrier to mergers with nearby larger systems or consolidating smaller systems into a more financially viable entity.

RALEIGH — The Senate will take another look at a controversial bill that would make wind energy development nearly impossible in much of eastern North Carolina, according to the bill’s main sponsor.

Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said he plans to bring back Senate Bill 377, the Military Base Protections Act, which did not pass ahead of this month’s crossover deadline. Brown, one of the Senate’s main budget writers, said he plans to get the legislation back before the Senate as early as this week, but would not do so through the budget process, as some observers had speculated.

Opposition to the bill in the Senate includes Sen. Erica Smith, D-Northampton, whose district lost out on a wind farm project due to the state-imposed 18-month moratorium that expired in December, and Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, whose district includes the wind farm in Pasquotank and Perquimans counties commissioned by Amazon, which started operation in 2017.

Smith and Brown sparred two years ago over the wind energy moratorium that Brown championed. Brown said the state needed the time to work on maps of potential conflicts with military training and operations. Smith called the maps an unnecessary intervention in the process, but Brown, the Senate Majority Leader, succeeded in getting the moratorium through the House and Senate.

The map connected to the new bill, titled “Vertical Obstruction Impact on the NC Military Mission,” was released earlier this year. In eastern North Carolina, it designates all but a sizable chunk in the state’s far southeastern region and small sections near the coast of Pender and Currituck counties as “significant,” meaning a high risk of conflicts with Department of Defense safety and training operations. Brown’s legislation would put any area designated as significant off limits to wind energy facilities.

Opponents of the legislation say the map is far too restrictive given that wind energy projects already require a rigorous review process run by the Defense Department’s Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse.

In an interview last week, Brown said he’s determined to push the legislation forward as soon as this week. Brown said he was considering changes to the bill, but didn’t spell them out.

“We’re looking at some things,” Brown said. “The reason I slowed it down is I knew there was a lot of bad information being tossed around, most of it dealing with the clearinghouse.”

He said the key point he’s trying to make to Senate and House members is that an OK by the clearinghouse isn’t a guarantee that wind energy project conflicts won’t be detrimental in a future round of military base realignment and closures, or BRAC, process.

“I think we need to make it clear that what the clearinghouse decides to do still doesn’t protect you from a BRAC,” Brown said. “I think we’ve got the information we can share next week that will verify that’s the case.”

Meanwhile, Steinburg and others have been making the case against the use of the new map.

In an op-ed published May 14 in the Elizabeth City Daily Advance, Steinburg writes that the bill would prevent many of the state’s most economically distressed counties from taking advantage of a potential major boost in their economies. He notes the bill as written violates private property rights and overrides a strict state permitting process and Defense Department reviews.

“Fortunately, there are protocols in place by the U.S. Department of Defense Clearing House that will make opposing Senate Bill 377 a no brainer for me,” Steinburg writes in his op-ed, “the military’s mission will be protected, personal property rights assured and free markets will continue to flourish in a part of the state in desperate need of further economic development.”

In another op-ed published earlier this month by the Fayetteville Observer, David Kelly, senior manager of North Carolina political affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund, said Senate Bill 377 was misguided and would hurt poorer counties. He noted that Pasquotank and Perquimans counties had benefited greatly from the Amazon wind farm, which is the largest taxpayer in each county, by far.

“No elected official or piece of state legislation can guarantee our bases won’t ever be subject to review. That’s a fact of life our military communities face. But we can rest assured that wind energy has not and will not cause a base to be put at risk. The proposed wind ban, on the other hand, does guarantee that communities across eastern North Carolina will be deprived of the opportunity for substantial new economic investment,” Kelly writes.

The bill’s supporters say they also intend to press their case.

Last week, Sen. Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, announced that he had confirmation from clearinghouse director Ronald Tickle, that clearinghouse approval does not protect a base from closure.

A statement Perry released quotes Tickle as saying “Our Clearinghouse reviews do not explicitly address a potential future (base closure proceeding). We assess proposed wind farms based on current and reasonably foreseeable missions. Therefore, your statement is correct.”

Perry, whom Brown said, would take the lead on the wind energy legislation while he is in budget talks, said he stood by the map.

“The military is more likely to close bases in areas where training is more dangerous. The study using data provided by the military installations confirms that there are areas where wind turbines pose a ‘significant risk,’” Perry said in a statement.

New Information

The online risk maps themselves have taken a somewhat mysterious route, posted first on the state’s Department of Commerce website, then made accessible only with a special password and then finally moved to the website of the Legislative Services Office at the North Carolina General Assembly, which posted a version late last month.

The map site now has additional features, including a breakdown of the criteria used to determine the risk of conflicts.

It also now comes with a guide and an extensive disclaimer that states in part, “The geographic mapping data utilized in this mapping product was collected from a variety of sources, is subject to change, and is offered without any warranty. This product is not issued with any professional seal and is not a final product of any licensed land surveyor or engineer.”

It bases the assessment of risk on “The threat of physical damage and personal harm, degraded radio communications/electromagnetic uses, interference with Doppler coverage, and increased degradation of radar due to reflectivity.”

The document defines as “Significant,” those areas where construction of tall structures above 249 feet above ground would a pose “significantly high” impact to safety and training. The “Moderate” designation refers to those areas where there is a “moderately high” impact to safety and training and suggests further review for proposed tall structures that are 500 feet above ground level.

At their highest point, the blades of the 104 turbines generating power for Amazon in Pasquotank and Perquimans counties reach about 500 feet.

RALEIGH – Act II of the 2019 North Carolina General Assembly session begins this week with the Senate finalizing its version of the budget and both chambers taking up bills that passed last week’s crossover threshold.

To remain viable for the session, most types of nonbudget-related bills must be passed by at least one chamber before the crossover deadline.

Among the bills that did make it to the other side and are being closely monitored by environmental groups is a proposed change in utility commission laws that would allow large utilities, primarily Duke Energy Corp., to apply for multi-year rate increases.

Cassie Gavin, director of government affairs with the North Carolina Sierra Club, said Senate Bill 559 means the commission could go as long as five years between rate cases. That’s important, she said, because the rate increase hearings are when environmental organizations are given an opportunity to make their case on major issues on the record.

“That’s where we weigh in to try and get better environmental outcomes from Duke Energy,” Gavin said, adding that it’s when groups push for things like closing coal plants and not making ratepayers cover the cost of coal ash cleanup. “We could see our chances to weigh in reduced to twice a decade,” she said.

The bill passed the Senate earlier this month 27-21.

Gavin said other key bills she’s watching are House Bill 645, which would scale back local authority over billboards, and House Bill 823, which encourages reductions in the use of single-use plastic and calls on the Environmental Review Commission to conduct a related study. H823 passed the House last week by a vote of 115-1, with Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, casting the lone “no” vote.

Also clearing crossover was House Bill 812, Nutrient Offset Amendments, a bill that would extend the areas developers could use for nutrient offset projects.

The Division of Water Resources allows developers and operators of wastewater treatment facilities to buy nutrient offset credits as a way to meet some of their pollution-reduction requirements. Credits are generated when the state or private mitigation firms restore or enhance shorelines within the watershed. The bill strikes language that requires mitigation projects to be in the same hydrologic area where the increased nutrient loading happens.

Proponents of the legislation say it would allow mitigation closer to the state’s estuary systems. Those opposed say it would degrade water quality in upstream areas and let developers use cheaper land for offset projects.

Oysters, Fisheries

Also clearing the crossover deadline last week were bills making sweeping changes to aquaculture and marine fisheries management.

Senate Bill 554, Marine Fisheries Reforms, and Senate Bill 648, Support Shellfish Aquaculture, sailed through the Senate last week drawing only one “no” vote between them. Sen. John Alexander, R-Franklin, voted against the fisheries bill.

The aquaculture bill is similar to a shellfish leasing bill introduced earlier in the House by Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret. It sets up new leasing enterprise areas, rules to prevent conflicts with other public trust waters uses and enacts moratoriums on new leases in New Hanover County and Bogue Sound.

The marine fisheries bill restructures the state’s Marine Fisheries Commission, adding two more scientists, and shifts more authority on management plans and their timing to the Division of Marine Fisheries.

McElraft said the House will begin its review of both bills this week.

Dead, Undead Bills

Although bills that don’t meet the deadline are considered dead for the rest of the biennial session, it’s important to remember the legislature has a few well-worn procedures for getting around that.

Among the environmental policy bills that didn’t meet the crossover deadline was a controversial wind energy bill sponsored Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, that would have effectively put much of eastern North Carolina off limits to wind energy generation projects. Brown’s measure, Senate Bill 377, the Military Base Protection Act, would delineate broad areas Brown says are in conflict with military training, despite the Defense Department’s existing process for clearing wind energy sites. The bill narrowly passed a Senate committee on May 2, but did not advance to a floor vote.

Grady McCallie, policy director for the North Carolina Conservation Network, said he would continue to keep an eye out for the language in the bill surfacing elsewhere. A moratorium on wind projects Brown pushed two years ago took a similar route, was inserted into another bill at the end of a session and passed into law.

“The Senate wind bill didn’t make crossover, but, of course, nothing ever goes away forever,” McCallie said Monday in an interview. “So, we’re going to watch to see if that or concepts like that show up elsewhere.”

McCallie said that in addition to bills that passed crossover, there are two others to watch that had revenue-related provisions and didn’t have to meet the deadline.

They include House Bill 560, introduced by Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, which would ban the use of firefighting foam that includes per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, during training. Although the bill falls short of an outright ban that was included in an earlier version, it would, if passed, be the first PFAS prohibition passed by the legislature.

Another bill that’s still awaiting action with versions in both chambers would provide state funds for consolidation of struggling wastewater and water systems, create more interlocal agreements and change the rules on interbasin transfers. Such transfers include situations where a system draws raw water from one river basin and discharges treated wastewater into other river basins.

Both McCallie and Gavin said this year there are noticeably fewer major environmental policy bills and far less policy in the budget that in prior years.

That could change as the Senate writes its version of the budget, Gavin said.

“One thing I’m pleased to see, for the environment at least, is that the budget doesn’t contain a lot of unrelated environmental provisions like we’ve seen in the past,” she said. “We’ll see what happens in the Senate.”

Fighting environmental provisions embedded in the budget bill is more difficult than in standalone bills, she said. “So, I’m really happy to see that.”

McCallie agreed that the budget doesn’t have the same kind of policy proposals seen in years past. Part of that may be a result of the different relationship between the governor and House and Senate leaders who no longer control supermajorities and can easily override a veto. Still, he said, for whatever reason the difference is noticeable.

“More broadly, this budget feels like the second year in a biennium,” he said. “There’s a lot fewer big ideas in it.”

RALEIGH — The House passed its version of the state budget last week, including in it another substantial round of spending on disaster relief and recovery.

The disaster recovery program was one of the last sections to be added to the House budget. It now heads to the Senate, which is working on its own version of the two-year spending plan.

While there are differences between each chamber’s budgets, House Speaker Tim Moore said last week there’d been ongoing cooperation on budget targets.

The disaster recovery section of the bill draws $84.7 million from the Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Reserve, which was set up in the wake of last year’s devastating storm. The largest pool of money in the recovery plan is $26.5 million, to be disbursed through the Golden LEAF Foundation as grants to local governments and to water and sewer authorities for water, wastewater and stormwater repairs and upgrades. The bill also authorizes Golden LEAF funds to be used for hazard mitigation programs.

Among other appropriations are a range of resiliency programs, most of which are set up under the Department of Public Safety’s new Office of Resiliency and Recovery. The office was set up last year to coordinate and consolidate ongoing disaster recovery programs from 2016’s Hurricane Matthew and last year’s storms, Florence and Michael.

The resiliency plans focus on several buyout and mitigation programs, including $13 million for the new State Acquisition and Relocation Fund to expedite 214 home acquisitions in areas that repeatedly flood and provide gap funding to help residents who accept a buyout to purchase new homes. Another $10 million would go for relocation and buyout assistance for local governments and $10 million more would go for the repair, reconstruction or purchase of 100 residences deemed ineligible under Federal Emergency Management Agency and Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery grants.

Local governments would also be eligible for an additional $13 million in grants to improve disaster recovery capabilities and cash-flow loans for communities awaiting federal reimbursements.

Also in the budget is $2 million a year for two years for a flood insurance pilot program that would provide subsidies for about 1,667 residential properties in high-risk areas.

Volunteer programs helping homeowners with repairs would receive $2 million under the plan.

Bridget Munger, a spokesperson for the Office of Recovery and Resiliency, said many of the properties under consideration for buyouts and repairs had already been identified, but others were awaiting a final set of guidelines from federal agencies that would determine the areas where federal appropriations would be targeted.

In addition to the DPS funding, the Department of Environmental Quality would receive $13 million for infrastructure and environmental cleanup needs and $100,000 for the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, a project led by the North Carolina Coastal Federation to remove lost crab pots that create hazards to navigation and marine life in the state’s sounds.

The Division of Marine Fisheries would receive an additional $1.5 million for resiliency projects and $1 million would go to the Wildlife Resources Commission for derelict vessel removal.

Conservation Partnership

The House’s plan also sets aside $3.3 million for land acquisition as part of the Bogue Sound Project. The project involves 74 acres that include 20 acres of undeveloped waterfront on Bogue Sound, land the Marine Corps had sought for more than 10 years to prevent residential development near its auxiliary airfield.

The Coastal Federation is partnering with Carteret County and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on the planned purchase with part of the property to be used for a public boat ramp and nature park area.

Cherry Point is applying for half of the total $7.47 million purchase price, or about $3.74 million, through a Defense Department program, Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration. REPI funds cooperative agreements with landowners to keep land uses compatible with nearby military operations.

Once purchased, ownership of most of the property would transfer to the county under an agreement with the federation allowing its environmental education programming on the preserved areas of the land and involvement in the boat ramp’s design to incorporate features to protect the designated outstanding resource and open shellfishing waters from polluted stormwater runoff. The federation plans to purchase 5 or more acres as a future site for its headquarters and a coastal nature center.

About 60 acres, including nearly the entire shoreline and 18 acres of wetlands, is to be set aside permanently for conservation. The Marine Corps plans to place an easement over the entire property preventing residential construction in the encroachment zone for Bogue Field.

The partnership also involves the Onslow Bight Conservation Forum, which in addition to Cherry Point includes representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Department of Cultural and Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The group has conserved more than 71,000 acres since 2001.

DEQ Lab, Emerging Contaminants

One area where House and Senate plans have differed widely in the past several budget cycles is in spending for DEQ.

The House budget proposes increases for the department this year for work on emerging contaminants and an extensive $30 million renovation and upgrade to the department’s water and air quality laboratories at its Reedy Creek facility in Raleigh.

DEQ’s lab request was fully funded, but an additional $6 million and 37 positions requested to handle the growing volume of work on GenX and other emerging contaminants was trimmed to $600,000 and seven new positions.

DEQ spokesperson Megan Thorpe said this week that the funding provided for emerging contaminants was a disappointment.

“While other states made multi-million-dollar commitments to water quality monitoring equipment and staff when facing similar threats to the water supply, the House budget instead neglects DEQ’s resource gaps and sets aside gluttonous earmarks for pet projects.”

The House also didn’t provide an additional $1.5 million requested by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill-based North Carolina Policy Collaboratory to continue its statewide work on emerging contaminant testing, but did agree to extend its work another year with a special provision extending the Collaboratory’s work testing waters around all public water intakes and wells used for public water systems for another year.

That funding is likely to be included in the budget developed by the Senate, which pushed for the creation of the Collaboratory in 2016 and has included funding for it in each budget since.

Other coastal items in the budget include the following:

• Carteret Community College Aquaculture Program – $125,000 each year for a Shellfish Aquaculture Demonstration Center, to be set up through a collaboration between North Carolina Sea Grant and Carteret Community College.
• Fort Fisher Historical Site Visitor Center – Provides $8 million for another round of funding for a $20.9 million upgrade to the visitor center.
• Water Resources Development Projects – Provides $11 million for the nonfederal share of navigation, water management, flood mitigation and beach renourishment projects.
• Passenger Ferry Lease – Authorizes up to $1 million for the state Ferry Division to fund leasing a passenger ferry for the Ocracoke passenger service while the state ferry under construction is completed.
• Ferry Maintenance – Provides an additional $8.5 million over two years for increased projected operations and maintenance expenditures.
• Cape Fear Utility Lines – Provides $11 million to the State Ports Authority over two years to elevate by 41 feet the power lines across the Cape Fear River near the Wilmington port to allow an overall clearance of 212 feet to accommodate larger ships.
• Wind Study – Authorizes $300,000 for the ports authority to conduct a study of state ports and transportation infrastructure for potential to support the supply chain for offshore wind industries.

RALEIGH – Bills to establish a new shellfish leasing program and extensive changes to the state’s marine fisheries oversight began moving through the Senate this week.

Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, introduced both measures Wednesday morning in a review-only session of the Senate’s Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources Committee.

Sanderson said Senate Bill 554, Marine Fisheries Reforms, represents the most significant set of changes to the way the state handles fisheries issues since the landmark 1997 legislation that created the current system.

“It’s time that we stop playing politics with a natural resource that belongs to all the citizens of this state.”

Sen. Norm Sanderson

The new bill changes the appointments to the nine-member Marine Fisheries Commission, replacing two at-large members with two additional scientists with expertise in areas such as marine estuarine ecology, water quality, habitat protection, fisheries biology or habitat protection.

It would also change the rules how the commission can call for meetings and shifts more authority on fisheries plans to the director of the Division of Marine Fisheries, specifically designating the director as the sole source of proposals for time periods in fisheries management plans.

Last month, state Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan criticized the current Marine Fisheries Commission for calling an emergency meeting to override a Division of Marine Fisheries decision on the flounder fisheries plan.

Sanderson said the changes are needed to bring to an end near-constant battles between commercial and recreational fishing interests.

In addition to Sanderson, the chief sponsors of the bill are Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, and Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick.

“This is my ninth year in the General Assembly and every year I’ve been here we’ve had issues with fisheries management plans, with the Division of Marine Fisheries, with recreational fishermen and with commercial fishermen,” Sanderson said. “It’s time that we stop playing politics with a natural resource that belongs to all the citizens of this state.”

He said the change in the composition would balance the Marine Fisheries Commission, making it three commercial fishing representatives, two recreational fishing representatives and three scientists. Eliminating the two at-large seats prevents one set of interests from dominating the commission.

“I think because of the nature of this resource and the value of this resource that we should settle this once and for all and make our plans based on scientific evidence and not political pandering,” Sanderson said, calling the bill a “giant step” in the right direction. “I think if we manage these resources correctly there will be enough resources for everybody.”

Representatives of commercial and recreational fishing disagreed on the bill.

Jerry Schill, director of government relations for the North Carolina Fisheries Association, said most of the commercial fishing concerns had been addressed and the organization is in agreement with the bill. “I’ve been doing this for 32 years and it’s the most positive I’ve felt in a long, long time,” he said.

His counterpart in the recreational fishing industry, David Sneed, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association, said that while there are some good ideas in the bill, he wanted to see a more comprehensive approach to fisheries.

“We have no problem with more scientific-based management, however there’s very little in the bill that would actually serve to protect or enhance our public trust fisheries resources. It’s an attempt to shift policy making authority for coastal fisheries resources management from the MFC to the division and DEQ,” Sneed said.

That’s the opposite of how the state’s wildlife resources are handled. Sneed said the state needs to change its definition of sustainable harvest.

Sen. John Alexander, R-Wake, said that as the bill moves forward, he would like to see some of the concerns raised by Sneed and others addressed.

A committee vote on the bill is expected this month.

Shellfish Enterprise Areas

Also heard, but not voted on Wednesday, was the Senate version of a shellfish aquaculture plan that would create new shellfish enterprise areas and encourage greater productivity in the existing leases.

The new legislation, Senate Bill 648, sponsored by Sanderson and Rabon, is similar to a bill introduced earlier this session in the House by Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret.

It gives the DEQ secretary authority to establish one or more aquaculture enterprise areas and for the Marine Fisheries Commission to establish rules for shellfish bottom leases. The leases would be non-transferable and would revert to the state if relinquished or terminated.

The bill also sets up a pilot project for three larger-scale leases in Pamlico Sound of 50 acres each, up from the current state limit of 10 acres. It prohibits any one company or shellfish operation from holding more than 100 acres. The pilot areas, which would be established by DEQ and DMF, would require setbacks of 250 yards from the shoreline or from other leases, up from the current 100 yards now required.

The legislation, which follows a failed attempt by legislators last year to expand the leasing program, also would set productivity requirements to help maximize output from existing leases and require leaseholders to reach those goals or risk having their leases terminated.

It establishes a moratorium on new shellfish cultivation and water column leases in New Hanover County waters from the Wrightsville Beach Bridge through Masonboro Inlet to the waters off Peden Point and in Bogue Sound in Carteret County from the U.S. 70 high-rise bridge in Morehead City to the Emerald Isle bridge. The moratorium would take effect July 1, 2021.

Sanderson said the troubles with last year’s legislation was that it tried to do too much too fast.

He said the new legislation was a more measured approach and includes a number of studies to help flesh out the right direction for growing the industry.

“We want to do this step by step by step so that we don’t make any mistakes,” he said.

Among the studies are a look at reducing conflicts between shellfish leases and other uses for the areas; a study of penalties and violations on unlawfully taking shellfish; a review by the North Carolina Coastal Federation of ways to set up a low-interest loan program for startups; and a study by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services of crop insurance for shellfish growers and other loss-mitigation and protection programs.

RALEIGH – The state Department of Environmental Quality would get a major round of funding on upgrades for its lab facilities and robust funding for the state’s two main conservation funds would continue under a spending plan approved late last week by House appropriations committees.

The House Capital Appropriations Committee approved $30 million for renovations at DEQ’s Reedy Creek laboratories, which conducts the bulk of scientific research for air and water quality programs. The project, a top priority of the department for years, would include new equipment, ventilation systems and expanded lab and storage space.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources Appropriations Committee, which oversees spending for DEQ, along with the departments of Commerce, Labor, Agriculture and Consumer Services and Natural and Cultural Resources, authorized $591,472 in recurring funds for DEQ to hire seven engineers and lab technicians for work on emerging contaminants.

The total appropriation for Clean Water Management Trust Fund grants would be $18.3 million and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund would be $20.2 million, levels comparable to the last budget cycle.

DEQ’s Dam Safety program would also have funds to hire on an additional four employees to help manage emergency action planning for intermediate and high-hazard dams required under the 2014 Coal Ash Management  Act.

One of a handful of late amendments to the spending bill shifts $93,794 in planning money for a proposed state aquarium at a private development in Pender County to help cover repairs for storm damage to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

During committee discussion Thursday, Rep. Pricey Harrison told her colleagues that the controversial aquarium project proposed at Blake Farms, championed by former Pender County Rep. Chris Millis, did not appear to be moving forward, while the museum urgently needed the funds to help repair damage during the hurricane that wasn’t covered by insurance.

In the Department of Transportation spending plan, the state Ferry Division would be authorized to spend up to $1 million to lease a passenger ferry for the Ocracoke passenger ferry. The company hired to build the new ferry for the service recently announced that construction delays would mean the vessel would not be ready for this summer.

The Ferry Division also would receive an additional $3.5 million to cover projected increases in service and higher maintenance costs.

The State Ports Authority would receive a total of $11 million over the next two years to cover the cost of raising the power lines across the Cape Fear River near Wilmington by 41 feet to bring the overall clearance to 212 feet.

Other items in the House budget include:

• Funding for a Division of Marine Fisheries district manager and technician for shellfish leasing program.
• $400,000 for the restoration of funding to university energy centers at Appalachian State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University and North Carolina State University.
• $50,000 for the Division of Coastal Management for the assessment and data collection to find sites for dredge material.

Although most of the House appropriation subcommittees reported out their totals last week, other parts of the plan are still being finalized, which includes another round of hurricane disaster relief and recovery funding expected to include about $100 million for additional debris cleanup, water and sewer infrastructure and resiliency projects.

Details of that spending is due Monday evening.

The House is scheduled to hold final votes on its plan on Thursday and Friday. If passed, the budget moves to the Senate, which will write its own spending plan.

In addition to then negotiating a consensus agreement between the two chambers, GOP leaders in the House and Senate, who no longer hold supermajorities, will also have to win over the governor or enough Democrats to override a veto.

RALEIGH – With legislative deadlines for initial passage less than a month away, the push is on for environmental policy bills, including a tightening of emerging contaminant regulation.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, said she expected to win support for a first step in further regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, with a bill banning their use in fire-retardant foams used for training. Harrison said she’s working on a universal ban on the use of the compounds in all firefighting foams, but she was still meeting resistance over whether there were adequate substitutes able to handle large industrial fires.

The bill, which would ban the use of the substances in training facilities, also has the support of the Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics Association of North Carolina.

Harrison said she was hopeful that the bill would pass this year, but the pushback underlines how difficult it is for a state to regulate the rapidly growing PFAS universe, which includes compounds used in numerous industrial processes and household products.

“It’s really hard to get a handle on how to contain this, but where we have known sources, we ought to be able to limit that,” she said.

Last week, the House Environment Committee heard from representatives of the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at UNC Chapel Hill and the new PFAS Testing Network, which the collaboratory set up to study the spread and effects of PFAS and related compounds statewide.

This week, officials with the state Department of Environmental Quality were expected to testify on the department’s PFAS work and a request for additional help improving the department’s laboratories and testing equipment.

Harrison said DEQ and the state Department of Health and Human Services had been stymied in their efforts to deal with PFAS by a lack of funding to handle the staffing requirements, laboratory space and necessary equipment upgrades.

DEQ would get stronger enforcement powers in broader legislation filled in both the House and Senate. The legislation would require the state to follow the precautionary principal of full disclosure in discharge permits and prohibit the discharge of unauthorized and undisclosed compounds. The bill, parts of which Harrison filed last session in the House in the wake of the GenX revelations in Wilmington, would also repeal the so-called Hardison Amendment that prohibits the state from enacting laws that are more stringent than the federal government’s.

Harrison said while the bill’s chances were slim, it’s important to continue the conversation. Harrison also said she wants it to be clear that the state has the funds and the authority to regulate PFAS compounds like GenX, which have no federal standards. She said that although DEQ officials have said they believe they have the authority to regulate the compounds, repealing the Hardison Amendment would remove all doubt. The bill would appropriate $6 million in recurring funds for 37 positions at the department and another $336,441 for a mobile drinking water testing lab to respond to hurricanes and algal blooms.

In addition to Harrison’s bill, Sens. Kirk deViere, D-Cumberland, and Harper Peterson, D-New Hanover, who campaigned on the need for tighter PFAS protections for the Cape Fear watershed, have filed legislation to set up a PFAS task force to assist with research identifying the scope the problem in the watershed and the development of alternative drinking water supplies for affected areas.

Boards, Commissions

Legislation has also been moving in the Senate to address a recent court ruling that found certain state boards and commissions were unconstitutional because they fulfilled executive branch functions but did not give the governor an adequate number of appointments.

Senate Bill 381, filed by Sen. Andy Wells, R-Catawba, would include more appointments for the governor to the boards of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. It would also eliminate the CWMTF Advisory Council and revise the criteria used in selecting projects.

A competing bill filed in the House earlier in the session would add the new seats for the governor to the trust fund boards, but the measure does not include the criteria changes and it maintains the CWMTF advisory council.

Other Environmental Bills

Other environmental policy bills this session include the following:

• House Bill 545/Senate Bill 517 Offshore drilling ban — includes a policy statement in opposition to seismic airgun testing as well any offshore exploration for oil and gas in federal waters off the North Carolina coast. Also includes a ban of any exploration of offshore oil and gas in state waters and requires development of a state oil spill action plan.
• House Bill 572 and House Bill 567 Coal ash disposal — H572 would require that the remaining large coal ash compounds be excavated as part of remediation plans. H567 would prevent power companies from passing the cost of coal ash disposal on to ratepayers.
• House Bill 738 State Science Advisory Board — would write into law the composition and duties of the 11-member Science Advisory Board, which provides input and review on science, environmental impacts and health effects for DEQ and DHHS.
• House Bill 592 Check-Off Donation for Land Trusts — would create an option on state tax forms allowing taxpayers to donate a portion of their refunds to the state’s Conservation Grant Fund.
• House Bill 559/Senate Bill 496 Pollinator Protection Act — seeks to increase control over the use neonicotinoid insecticides to prevent damage to honeybees and other pollinators.
• House Bill 479 Solar Decommissioning Requirements — would study the effects and proper disposal methods and potential for recycling of large-scale solar facilities.

RALEIGH – After two years of hearings, heated debates and special legislation, work at the North Carolina General Assembly on GenX and other, newly emerging contaminants in the Cape Fear and other watersheds has all but halted.

While still a focus for many legislators in the regions most affected by the revelations of high concentrations of GenX in the Cape Fear River, the main focus for committee work on GenX ended last year when the House Committee on North Carolina River Quality wrapped up and issued its final report in late April, just prior to the General Assembly’s short session.

Since then, Rep. Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, who chaired the committee, and other House members have said they want to see the committee, or at least its work, continue. Early in the session, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said rather than extend the life of the river quality committee or set up a new one, the work would likely be done by one of the standing House committees.

“I can tell you I’m committed and most of our members are committed to make sure we are investing in the work that we’ve done,” he said.

But so far, except for a brief oversight hearing in January, further examination of the issue of emerging contaminants has yet to be taken up by any other committee in either chamber.

Last week, Davis said he was continuing to work with other House leaders on a way to follow on the work of the committee he led.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, who chairs the House Environment Committee and served also on the river quality committee, said there is a possibility that some educational meetings can still be held this session.

Molly Diggins, state director of the North Carolina Sierra Club, said the pause in the legislature is unfortunate.

“There doesn’t seem to be an appetite to face this major new challenge,” she said. “Without question, the legislature owes it to their constituents to address the problem.”

One reason for the delay, she said, was the hope that the federal government would implement tighter regulation of other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. But this month, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a long-awaited PFAS action plan that did not set specific requirements for drinking water, opting instead to continue to set health advisory levels, which do not have the same regulatory muscle.

“If things were moving forward at a better pace nationally, states would not have to resort to sorting it out for themselves,” she said.

Diggins said much of the policy debate is likely to play out in this year’s budget process.

In his budget proposal released early this month, Gov. Roy Cooper asks for $12.5 million to go toward new equipment, additional personnel and a mobile testing lab for analysis of PFAS compounds such as GenX.

In preliminary discussions on the budget there’s already been some pushback to that, partly because the enforcement actions again GenX manufacturer Chemours have resulted in a sharp reduction of the compound going into the river.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, said she worried that with GenX levels reduced, the sense of urgency among her colleagues has started to fade.

“Some of the members think the water is taken care of,” she said. “That’s a problem.”

Diggins agreed. She said even the original research that led to the GenX discoveries in the Cape Fear River also detailed the heavy presence of other compounds as well.

“The focus has been on one narrow set of contaminants as opposed to the others that are being identified,” she said.

Improving state Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, capabilities and other budget items are an important short-term step, Diggins said, but dealing with emerging contaminants over the long term is going to take more than just dollars.

Restarting the ERC

One complication to resuming work on emerging contaminants is a protracted disagreement over the future of the Environmental Review Commission, which in the past took the lead role at the legislature in reviewing and recommending environmental policy changes.

Like the former river quality committee, the ERC is classified as an interim committee and, under the rules, meets only between sessions. But for more than two decades the committee has served as a key forum for environmental policy debates in the legislature.

In the past two years, however, the ERC has seldom convened. Its last meeting was in mid-February 2018 and its one and only review of GenX was during an August 2017 public forum in Wilmington, two months after GenX stories first appeared in the Wilmington StarNews, which broke the story.

Since then, House members have complained that then-Sen. Trudy Wade, R-Guilford, essentially sidelined the committee by refusing to hold additional hearings.

With public pressure over GenX rising, in fall 2017 Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Moore announced the formation of river quality committees in their respective chambers and assigned further investigation of GenX and emerging contaminants to them.

The Senate’s river quality committee, also chaired at the time by Wade, held one meeting in October 2017, but the House river quality committee continued working for more than a year, holding seven lengthy meetings that included briefings from scientists on the latest studies and updates from the state Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Wade was defeated for re-election last fall, giving hope to some legislators that that the ERC would restart regular meetings and resume its role as the main legislative study group on the environment.

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, a longtime member of the ERC, said cooperation between the two chambers on issues like emerging contaminants is important and he hopes the ERC can take up the work started in the river quality committee.

“My hope is that ERC will now be tasked with working on the issue of emerging contaminants,” McGrady wrote in an email response to Coastal Review Online. “We need both the House and the Senate to be working together.”

Harrison said she was optimistic that the ERC will be “operational” again. She said the river quality committee accumulated a lot of knowledge and data on the emerging contaminants issue that could help the ERC hit the ground running.

In the meantime, Harrison, who now serves as vice-chair of the Environment Committee, is working on PFAS legislation for the current session and said she expects to introduce two bills soon.

RALEIGH – New legislation would the extend Manteo’s authority over navigable waters within the Dare County town’s corporate limits, adding it to a growing list of local governments seeking help in managing derelict moorings and other issues exacerbated by recent storms.

The Manteo bill, introduced early last week by Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, would extend the town’s jurisdiction over the waters of Shallowbag Bay from the northern tip of Ballast Point to the southern tip of Baum Point, including Doughs Creek and Scarboro Creek.

Among other powers, the bill gives the town authority to place and maintain channel markers and other navigational aids and to regulate anchoring and mooring of vessels within its waters.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, introduced similar legislation earlier in the session that would give local control to Beaufort for the navigable waters around the unincorporated region of the Rachel Carson Reserve and extend to other Carteret County  towns of Atlantic Beach, Bogue, Cape Carteret, Cedar Point, Emerald Isle, Indian Beach, Morehead City, Newport, Peletier and Pine Knoll Shores the right to control anchoring of boats and operations of boats and vessels in their respective navigable waters.

The deadline for filing all local legislation for this year’s session is March 28.

Other recently filed legislation includes $2 million in funding for the Maritime Heritage Foundation of Beaufort to begin advanced planning on construction of a new North Carolina Maritime Museum. The money is to be used for a master plan for the 31-acre site on Gallants Channel, including a wetlands and environmental survey as well as building and infrastructure plans.

Although a standalone bill for now, the measure that was also introduced by McElraft is likely headed for inclusion in this year’s House budget proposal. McElraft is co-chair of the subcommittee that writes the natural and cultural resources section of the budget.

Sunshine Week, March 10-16, when news organizations highlight the many obstacles to transparency and openness in government, often focuses on the difficulties in accessing public records, secret meetings and other various ways to cloak government action.

Last year, I wrote about the difficulty of tracking proposals to change environmental policies, mainly because most of the real debate was happening behind the closed doors of House and Senate conference committees.

This year, as the session began, I was reminded that there are other ways in which the process can get murky and how valuable public information becomes less accessible and available. Here’s why.

Each year, by law, almost every department and agency files some kind of update to the committees in the General Assembly that oversee their budget. In addition, the state budget and many other major pieces of legislation often include special reports and studies. Usually, these reports are part of the give and take of reshaping public policy and help give some indication of the current thinking on a subject and where policy around it might be going.

Some of them are done in lieu of passing a policy proposal. Bills with ideas that aren’t quite ready for prime time or don’t have broad enough support are turned into study bills to keep the discussion going or, at the very least, assuage the disappointment of the bill sponsor.

That means that by design some of what’s produced is destined to see little use. Part of the job of any legislative reporter is sifting through the information for what has the potential to become law.

In environmental policy, however, most of what’s produced regularly is extremely useful and almost every special study or report required in the budget and elsewhere is a precursor to either major initiatives or a shift in policy. In terms of sheer volume, the number of environmental studies and reports outstrips nearly every other subject area in state government.

Right now, dozens of recently issued studies and reports on subjects like terminal groins, wetlands, coal ash and the turnaround time on environmental permits are loaded on the servers of the North Carolina General Assembly.

Some of them intended for use in this year’s session have been there since last year, but to date almost all of them have yet to heard, explained, reviewed or even mentioned in passing before a legislative committee. Meanwhile, as required in laws passed last year and the year before, more mandated reports are on the way.

At the root of this bottleneck is the reality that committees assigned to do the environmental policy work have all but stopped meeting.

In theory, that kind of work is supposed to happen in the interim, between sessions. But that hasn’t happened either.

The main joint House and Senate oversight group, the Environmental Review Commission, held its last get together in 2018 on Valentine’s Day. It used to meet regularly ahead of each session to dig into the details of potential legislation and try to improve the final product.

The House Select Committee on North Carolina River Quality, which was set up in 2017 to review GenX and other river contamination issues, wrapped up its work on April 28, just ahead of the last year’s short session. So far, it hasn’t been determined which committee will continue the work it started to better understand the broader science and public health implications of challenges highlighted by the GenX contamination.

The only interim work on environmental policy this year was handled by a joint House and Senate oversight committee that was also dealing with a heavy load of work on hurricane recovery. They scheduled a half-hour in January for presentations on new emerging contaminant studies and a broad review of a shellfish mariculture plan.

This is not to say that environmental policy discussions, reviews of studies and reports and debate over clean air and water issues are not happening.

They’re just not happening in public.

This year, during the exceptionally slow start to the session, the building was still buzzing at times. Behind closed doors, those with access to our elected officials and their staffs were making their cases.

In all cases the public will have to get quickly up to speed if anyone outside the insiders want to have any input on the output.

Now, the pace on Jones Street is starting to pick up and with some filing deadlines little more than a month away, legislation affecting all kinds of environmental policies should start to enter the que.

Some of what’s proposed could be wonderful, some awful and, as often is the case for bills worked out in secret, some of it is destined to be repealed or corrected.

In all cases the public will have to get quickly up to speed if anyone outside the insiders want to have any input on the output.

There is a process for crafting environmental policy in North Carolina, but without an open review of what’s going into the proposals and a thorough airing of studies and reports prior to the point of when it’s too late to change anything, it is hard to call the business being conducted “public.”

This story was updated Thursday at 9:25 a.m.

RALEIGH – Legislators at the helm of key House and Senate committees said they will try again to reach a broad agreement on the path forward for the state’s mariculture industry.

A bill that would have established a new leasing program and new rules to encourage mariculture in state waters failed in the final days of last year’s session of the North Carolina General Assembly over concerns that it could close off too much of the coast to other uses.

The new bill in draft form includes potentially controversial moratoriums on shellfish leasing in Bogue Sound in Carteret County and in waters between the Wrightsville Beach bridge and Peden Point near the Masonboro Island Reserve in New Hanover County. It would also allow permitted shellfish nursery operators to, under certain times and conditions, transplant seed oysters and seed clams from areas where harvesting is otherwise prohibited or restricted.

Speaking Tuesday at the annual North Carolina Oyster Summit in Raleigh, Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, and Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, said they plan to introduce new legislation that addresses concerns from a variety of groups about the size and extent of the leasing program.

“Yes, we saw with the last shellfish bill that there were lots of conflicts,” McElraft told summit attendees. “There were conflicts from the tourism industry, from the boating industry. There were conflicts coming from the duck hunters. There were conflicts from commercial and recreational fishermen,” McElraft said. “So, we kind of stepped back and said we need to get input from all these stakeholder groups and find out what the conflicts are and how we can address those.”

McElraft said other coastal states had the same conflicts when they began to address shellfish issues and had to address them. North Carolina is no different, she said.

“We do not want a fight between our shellfish growers and our tourism industry and others. We want everybody to support the shellfish industry,” she said.

McElraft said the new bill had been sent to stakeholders in draft form and that there were already suggestions for changes.

She said the new bill would include Shellfish Enterprise Areas, or SEAs, to establish areas that would be optimal for shellfish growers and don’t present conflicts with other users. Those areas would be set up and “ready to go” for shellfish growers. Other areas, where there could be conflicts, would go through a stricter permitting process that would provide for public comment and feedback from other users.

“We want everybody to be happy with our oyster industry.” – @mcelraft_pat #OysterSummit2019 #ncoysters

— NC Oysters (@nc_oysters) March 12, 2019

Sanderson acknowledged the headwinds encountered last year and the difficulty of working on a solution, but said he was committed to making new legislation happen.

“The reason I am willing to go after this again is because of its potential for North Carolina,” Sanderson said. The benefits, he said, would ripple through the economy beyond just improving opportunities for shellfish growers.

“[The oyster industry] is important enough to do whatever it takes…it is great economically, environmentally, for commercial fishermen, and recreational fishermen.” – @normsanderson #ncoysters #OysterSummit2019 @NCCoastalFed #ncpol

— NC Oysters (@nc_oysters) March 12, 2019

“Things don’t flow as smooth as silk all the time, especially when you’re dealing with a piece of legislation that crosses a whole lot of different entities,” Sanderson said. “You have a lot of moving parts and you have to take the time to do it right.”

But he warned that this is a key session for the shellfish industry. If a bill doesn’t move this year, he said, it would likely be two years before another one could be considered.

Sanderson said he was optimistic that a bill can be drafted to resolve the conflicts. Anytime you can get commercial and recreational fishermen together on a piece of legislation “you’ve done something remarkable,” he said.

The new bill, he said, is heading in the right direction, based on initial feedback.

“I think this year is going to be different,” Sanderson said. The new bill, he said, is needed to help lay the necessary groundwork to guide the growth of the industry.

“After that, this industry can grow at a pace where it just doesn’t overwhelm everybody and gets out of control from the very start.”

McElraft and Sanderson were joined by Sen. Rick Gunn, R-Alamance, who chairs both the Senate Commerce Committee and an appropriation subcommittee that oversees spending on agriculture, natural resource and environmental programs.

Gunn said that as a consumer of oysters he often wondered why he could get Virginia and Chesapeake oysters but couldn’t get North Carolina oysters at his favorite seafood spot near Lake Norman. He said the state has an enormous opportunity to grow a native industry.

Gunn said it’s more than growing the oysters and harvesting them. The state also has to assist with building markets inland and leveraging the tourism appeal of a unique oyster industry.

Last year’s bill, championed by former Sen. Bill Cook of Beaufort County, initially envisioned of up to 2,000 acres that were designed to draw large-scale operations. As negotiations wore on, the size of the leases was reduced, and a final compromise plan capped the total leases at 200. But opposition to the bill wasn’t limited to the size of the leases, and the compromise broke down over concerns about how quickly leases would proliferate, as well as the permitting process itself.

In the interim, the legislature turned to work underway at the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill on a broader study of the state’s oyster programs and the economic and policy challenges to expansion.

The collaboratory’s report, which included a strategic plan for growing the shellfish industry over the next 10 years, took an in-depth look at the goals the state was setting and the strategy for obtaining them. One key finding was in how the state modeled its strategy. The report found that, given the conflicts with multiple uses of public trust waters, large-scale operations such as those in Virginia and Louisiana would not work in North Carolina. Researchers turned to a strategy based on keeping the sizes of leased areas smaller and concentrating on increasing productivity.

RALEIGH — A major upgrade to Department of Environmental Quality lab facilities, increased staffing for water pollution detection and oversight, and a nearly $1 billion boost in funding for clean water projects statewide are among the dozens of priorities Gov. Roy Cooper outlined in his version of this year’s budget plan.

This is the governor’s third budget, but for the first time he does not face a veto-proof majority.

State budget director Charlie Perusse told a joint meeting of the House and Senate appropriations committees on Thursday that it’s just the beginning of a long give and take. It’s just the first inning, he said, and the governor intends be involved throughout the process.

But in North Carolina, where the legislature wields the most clout in what goes into the final document, the proposal from the executive branch is more often treated like a ceremonial first pitch. This year was no different in that regard.

A few hours after the plan was released, legislators began to push back. A statement from Senate budget writers said it was not a serious budget and took aim at a lynchpin of Cooper’s spending plan, the $3.9 billion Invest NC Bond proposal, which is intended to address a school construction backlog and would go before the voters in November 2020.

Both Cooper and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, have proposed construction bonds, but early in the session Senate leaders signaled that they are backing a pay-as-you-go plan to deal with the growing backlog of construction and maintenance needs in the state.

Water Quality Initiatives

In making the case for his bond program during his budget presentation Wednesday, Cooper said a major piece of it is at the heart of his water quality initiatives.

His budget calls for $800 million for “an overhaul of water and sewer infrastructure across the state.”

In a briefing to reporters on Wednesday on budget details, Perusse said those funds would go to support regionalization and greater connectivity among water and sewer systems. It follows concerns raised last year by the state’s Local Government Commission about the growing number of financially distressed water and sewer systems, many in areas hard hit by recent hurricanes, which cannot keep up with maintenance and upgrades.

Perusse said the bonds would go toward needed upgrades in those systems, which in turn would facilitate mergers with larger systems. In hearings earlier this year before a legislative committee looking into water and sewer system viability, maintenance backlogs and the cost of upgrades were cited as a main deterrent to mergers.

Other clean water allocations in the governor’s budget include an increase in the grant funds available through the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, or CWMTF, and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF. The annual appropriation for both funds would be raised to $20 million and each fund would receive an additional one-time $5 million appropriation.

Both funds also take in some revenue from license plate fees and the total available for PARTF grants for the 2019-20 fiscal year is $26.4 million and $29.5 million for the CWMTF.

About $16 million from the state’s Capital Improvements Projects Reserve would be used for the state match for federal navigation, beach renourishment, flood mitigation and other water resource development projects.

DEQ Upgrades

Cooper is also proposing using limited obligation bonds that do not require voter approval for a $30 million renovation and expansion of DEQ’s Reedy Creek laboratories, home to labs for DEQ divisions that oversee air and water quality regulation.

Last year, several legislators toured the aging complex, and heard an appeal from the department for more space, better ventilation and infrastructure upgrades in light of the increasing demands for testing and monitoring.

Along with the improvements for Reedy Creek, the governor wants to put $12.5 million toward new equipment, additional personnel and a mobile testing lab for analysis of emerging compounds such as GenX and other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, compounds.

The work of the new group also would assist with sampling and other work in conjunction with grant programs for filtration systems at homes where groundwater has PFAS contamination.

Cooper’s budget also includes more technical assistance for farmers and closer monitoring of wastewater management at animal feeding operations, as well as a new program that would cover half of the cost of installing required groundwater-monitoring wells at facilities in the 100-year floodplain.

The state’s Division of Marine Fisheries would see stepped up support for shellfish leasing and stormwater oversight programs and a $1,180,000 in additional one-time funds for oyster sanctuaries, cultch planting and studies of current sanctuary and planting programs and mariculture market analysis. DMF would also get $2 million to help pay for a replacement of the West Bay, a vessel currently used for oyster sanctuary and reef construction.

DMF would also continue to work with the North Carolina Coastal Federation and commercial fishing operations for another round of crab pot and fishing debris cleanup.

The division would also get $1.1 million to upgrade its Marine Patrol equipment.

Other Coastal Funding

Commerce

• Wind Energy — $300,000 for offshore wind infrastructure and supply chain analysis to evaluate state and privately held ports that could support offshore wind maintenance and manufacturing projects.
• Marine Industrial Park — $14.75 million for road and water access, water and sewer and other infrastructure for an industrial park focusing on marine products in Perquimans County.

Natural and Cultural Resources

• Fort Fisher — $8 million for completion of work on the new museum and visitor center.
• Queen Anne’s Revenge — $250,000 in recurring money for further work on the 1718 shipwreck.
• Tryon Palace — $ 100,000 for one-time purchase of new equipment and vehicles to help improved maintenance.
• Graveyard of the Atlantic — $4.2 million toward an extensive renovation and upgrade the HVAC system at the Hatteras museum.
• OBX Trails — $100,000 for the Town of Kitty Hawk for the Sandy Run/Kitty Hawk Park trail connection.
• Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center — $58,592 in annual funding for sea turtle conservation and education staff at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

Ferry Division

• Fuel, Maintenance Costs — An additional $5 million in recurring funds for additional staffing and increased fuel and maintenance costs.
• Currituck Facility — $1.49 million for a building replacement.
• Ocracoke — $1.19 million for improvements at the ferry quarters on Ocracoke.

RALEIGH – For coastal North Carolina, where many communities are still reeling from the effects of last year’s storms, the top local requests for help from the General Assembly so far fall in two interrelated categories: sand and money.

With the cost estimates for beach repairs, inlet dredging and infrastructure upgrades far outstripping state and federal resources, local governments are looking at ways to raise more money on their own.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said there’s a growing worry about the economic impact of damaged beaches and out-of-commission vacation properties going into this year’s tourist season.

“There are some coastal issues, some beach issues we’ve got to take a look at, especially as it relates to tourism, because some of those beaches got beat up pretty bad,” Brown said Thursday in an interview with Coastal Review Online. He said it’s a concern for all coastal counties because of the tax revenue that could be lost.

Brown said the last hurricane-relief bill, which passed in December, included $18.5 million in state funds for beach and coastal infrastructure repairs, and this year there will be a need for additional money to keep rebuilding efforts going.

“There’s a lot of work being done down there, but there’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.

Brown added that he was hopeful that disaster-relief legislation introduced last week in the U.S. Senate can move quickly to free up additional federal assistance.

Sales Tax Measures

Meanwhile, there are two local bills and potentially more on the way aimed at helping coastal communities raise revenue to move forward on needed work.

In a bill introduced Tuesday by Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, Carteret County would have the option of once again asking voters to adopt a countywide quarter-cent sales and use tax to cover the costs of inlet and waterway dredging and maintenance.

County voters rejected a similar effort in 2016 with 58 percent voting against the additional sales tax. Assistant County Manager Dee Meshaw said that in the 2016 referendum the county also intended to use the funds for inlet and waterway needs, but existing law didn’t allow the ballot question to state that specifically.

“We have a tremendous amount of waterways that need dredging,” Meshaw said Tuesday.

The bill mirrors legislation introduced by Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, that passed the House by a wide margin in 2017 but was never taken up by the Senate.

The new legislation, which would only apply to Carteret County, would allow the funds to be used only for inlet and waterway dredging and maintenance and require the ballot question to indicate that.

In Brunswick County, officials are looking to a meals tax to raise funds for beach and infrastructure work.

Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, said in a recent interview that he expected at least two and as many as five Brunswick County communities to take advantage of a bill he introduced early in the session to allow the county’s municipalities to adopt a half-cent meals tax. The additional tax would require approval through a referendum that could be held as early as this year.

Iler said there was a lot of work to be done on the Brunswick County coast, and the idea is to give local governments another way to fund repairs and improvements. He said Southport and Oak Island had asked for the legislation, but other communities could also take advantage of the option.

Southport Town Manager Bruce Oakley said Monday that he didn’t have a firm estimate of what a new meals tax would bring in if approved. The money would go to infrastructure repairs and improvements, he said.

While some measures to address the extensive list of coastal repairs and beach restoration work may figure into the next round of hurricane-relief legislation and this year’s state budget, legislation introduced last week would help fund Department of Environmental Quality oversight and management of the projects.

In legislation introduced last week by Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, the Division of Coastal Management would be able to use up to 2 percent of the fund annually to cover two positions: a beach and inlet project manager to oversee all activities related to beaches and inlets, and a manager to oversee financial management of water resources grants. The bill would also direct some of the fund be used to develop and maintain a database of all dredge material disposal sites in the state.

More Coastal Bills in the Que

Although it’s been a slower-than-usual start to the session, bill filing has begun to pick up.

Last week, McElraft introduced legislation that would give local control to Beaufort for the navigable waters around the unincorporated region of the Rachel Carson Reserve and extend local authority over anchoring of boats and operations of boats and vessels in navigable waters to the towns of Atlantic Beach, Bogue, Cape Carteret, Cedar Point, Emerald Isle, Indian Beach, Morehead City, Newport, Peletier and Pine Knoll Shores.

The following bills have also been introduced this session:

• H169 would adopt the loggerhead turtle as the state’s official saltwater reptile.
• H52 would clarify easement rights along the oceanfront properties to allow the town to build looped waterlines to improve water quality.
• H44  would allocate $7.5 million for the completion of renovations at Fort Fisher and allocate $500,000 to plan facilities for the state’s Underwater Archeology Branch of the Office of State Archaeology to be located at the fort.
• H245 includes a provision that would extend from 15 to 30 days the amount of time the Coastal Resources Commission has to respond to contested cases petitions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Gov. Roy Cooper joined Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker this week in a bipartisan appearance before a congressional committee looking into the effects of climate change and possible responses.

Cooper said it’s clear that climate change is making weather more erratic and storms like Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence more powerful. He said governments must do more than just help “pick up the pieces.”

“We must take action to prevent this kind of devastation in the future. I urge this Congress and all our federal partners to match the same level of determination brought to disaster recovery in our fight to reduce the effects of climate change,” Cooper said in his opening remarks.

Learn More

• Text of Cooper’s written testimony
• Video of the hearing