RALEIGH — Amid closed-door budget fights, public spats and end-of-session maneuvering, environmental bills continue to chug along through N.C. General Assembly. Last week, while tempers flared over budget negotiations, the long-awaited coal ash legislation passed the state Senate with unanimous support and the House approved its versions of a cluster…
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The House Budget and the Environment
…Banks, including the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge across the inlet, in the event of an emergency. Rep. Tom Murry Those provisions, championed by Harry Brown, R-Onslow, the Senate majority leader, were stripped from the House budget. Republican leaders there want more time to look at the inlet issue, according to…
Senate Budget and the Environment
RALEIGH – Medicaid cuts and pay raises for teachers generated most of the headlines last week, but a fast-moving budget proposal by the N.C. Senate contains, like all budget bills, numerous provisions that change environmental laws or policy. Among the key environmental provisions, sections of the bill contain money for…
Bill Would Restrict Permit Challenges
…the projects in the coastal plain were larger than an acre. All would have been exempt from permitting under the proposed new threshold. Ninety-seven percent of the permitted projects across the state would not need permits under the proposal. In Case of an Emergency . . . The Senate bill…
Coal Ash, Budget Dominate Opening Day
RALEIGH — The state would set a deadline for Duke Energy to submit cleanup plans for four major North Carolina coal ash sites, including the Sutton Power Plant in New Hanover County, under a proposal developed by the Gov. Pat McCrory and introduced yesterday on the opening day of the…
The Bucket List: Rules Review Begins
…of rule review and determinations from departments across state government through June 2019. Under the new law, the process is scheduled to repeat itself with every rule on the books going through a similar review and possible re-adoption every 10 years. Land-use rules like those that guided this future land…
Sutton Ponds High on Clean-Up List
The Sutton plant near Wilmington is one of the four critical sites identified by Duke Energy as priority for clean up. Photo: Cape Fear Riverkeeper RALEIGH — At least three legislative proposals calling for tighter regulations and the cleanup of coal ash ponds are in the works for the coming…
As Sand Rushes In, a Deadline Looms
The N.C. General Assembly is looking into the possibility of the state acquiring the Oregon Inlet and the adjacent land. Pictured left of the Oregon Inlet is northern Bodie Island, which is part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore; and to the right is Hatteras Island, which is part of Pea…
A Sneak Preview of the Coming Session
RALEIGH — In the months ahead, expect state legislators to debate a range of environmental bills ranging from when and how the public gets notified of major spills to the potential repeal of an executive order on enforcement over leaking garbage trucks. While coal ash news and a federal probe…
Feds Widen Probe of Coal Ash Ponds
RALEIGH — Hours before yesterday’s press conference where North Carolina’s top environmental regulators tried to defend the state’s clean-up efforts after the Dan River coal ash spill, news broke that U.S. prosecutors have issued another round of subpoenas that expand the federal probe of the state’s oversight to all coal…
What Is an Environmental Ordinance?
RALEIGH — Legislation that would rein in locally enacted environmental regulations is being readied for the coming session of the N.C. General Assembly, a move that could have far-reaching effects on the way cities and counties draft development, stormwater and a host of other ordinances. In an update last week…
Water, Wetland Rules Up First
RALEIGH — Somehow, this sentence makes sense: A state commission on rules has scheduled a public meeting next week to review how it will review state rules. The meeting will be start of a multi-year effort that could subject every environmental rule to revision or repeal and give new appointees…