The Senate passed a bill tonight that includes a minimal amount of funding for UNC-Wilmington and the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority to investigate contamination of the Cape Fear River, a repeal of the popular ban on single-use plastic bags in the Outer Banks, and other provisions that could endanger water quality.
The House plans to consider passing House Bill 56, “Amend Environmental Laws,” on Thursday morning.
Plastic bag ban repealed
The plastic bag ban helps protect endangered sea turtles, which can mistake the bags for food, and prevent litter in sensitive coastal areas. Local Outer Banks governments passed resolutions opposing repeal, but the Retail Merchants Association, John Locke Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform, pushed lawmakers to roll back the ban.
“In its rush to kowtow to industry groups, the General Assembly is not only running roughshod over local governments, it’s threatening the environment, endangered wildlife and unique natural beauty of the Outer Banks,” said Margaret Lillard, the NC Sierra Club’s communications coordinator.
Minimal funding for GenX contamination
H 56 also directs $435,000 to the local water utility and UNC-Wilmington to study GenX contamination of the lower Cape Fear River by Chemours and find a way to clean the water.
The Legislature ignored a request from Governor Cooper for emergency funding to investigate not only GenX contamination, but the presence of other unregulated chemicals in drinking water. Cooper requested $2.5 million for the Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health and Human Services. DEQ has been challenged to keep up with water quality inspections and permitting in the face of years of legislative budget cuts. Chemours, the company that discharged GenX, is operating on an expired permit.
H 56 may leave DEQ without needed resources to monitor discharges from the Chemours plant and DHHS without adequate staffing to address the toxicology issues. DHHS, for example, has only one toxicologist to address these and other issues statewide.
“This minimal amount of funding treats the symptoms, not the problem of the Cape Fear’s safety,” said Erin Carey, NC Sierra Club coastal programs coordinator. “The Legislature seems committed to putting resources anywhere other than with the two state agencies charged with protecting public health and the environment. It’s like asking everyone except a doctor to examine a sick patient.”
“Flow control” handed to private waste companies
At the request of private waste companies, the bill includes a new provision that would take authority from local governments for determining where solid waste is disposed of, and give it to the companies themselves. The technical term for this is “flow control.” Unlike local governments, private waste companies are not bound by law to provide environmentally safe waste disposal for citizens.
The proposed shift in control could be a bonanza for these companies, as they compete for revenue from both in-state and out-of-state waste streams.
“This brand-new provision added to the bill tonight is a giveaway to private waste companies at the expense of elected local governments,” said NC Sierra Club State Director Molly Diggins. “It also raises the question of whether the Legislature wants NC wants to become a net importer of waste.”
Other water protections weakened
In addition to the above provisions, and just days after an impassioned public addressed the Environmental Review Commission in Wilmington to ask for meaningful action on water quality, the Senate nonetheless adopted measures to weaken water quality protections. H 56 includes two sections that would create new exemptions to buffer rules for waterways. Both provisions appear to be unnecessary.