By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
This week, N.C. legislators continued to draft and file many bills in the lead-up to filing deadlines. We review environmental bills as they become public and will share information on key bills with you, along with opportunities for action.
Also this week, news came out about a secret House stakeholder process on energy issues. WRAL reported that Duke Energy, solar energy representatives and industrial electricity customers are meeting on energy policy without any environmental groups or residential customers input. In other energy stakeholder processes in recent years, environmental groups were invited to participate and did so, so this is a change in the wrong direction. As an energy bill would likely have significant impacts on residential ratepayers, it’s concerning that there does not appear to be a consumer protection voice in the room. We will share more information on this process as it comes out.
Opportunity for Action:
House Bill 220, “Assuring Choice of Energy Service,” a measure that we reported on last week, will be up for consideration in the House Committee on Energy & Public Utilities on Tuesday.
Please contact your House member today and ask them to oppose H 220 because it would limit local options to address climate change.
Details: H 220 is sponsored by Representatives Arp, Miller, Saine and Szoka. The bill would take away the ability of local governments to decide how buildings are powered. It would prevent counties and cities from transitioning away from gas-powered buildings to more efficient electric-powered building codes, and make it difficult for them to reach local commitments to 100% clean energy.
In good news, bills filed this week that we support include:
House Bill 245, “Efficient Government Buildings & Savings Act,” sponsored by Representatives Szoka, Arp, Saine and Zenger, is another House effort to raise water and energy efficiency standards for government buildings. More efficient buildings would save taxpayers’ money and be good for the environment. Last session, a similar bill passed the House on a 111-2 vote, but the Senate did not take it up. This bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy & Public Utilities.
House Bill 130, “East Coast Greenway/State Trails,” sponsored by Representatives White, McElraft and Strickland, would authorize the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to add the portion of the East Coast Greenway traversing North Carolina to the state parks system. The bill directs the Department to facilitate the establishment of trail segments on state park lands and on lands of federal, state, local, and private landowners. The East Coast Greenway, when complete, will connect 15 states and 450 cities and towns from Maine to Florida by a walking and biking route. This bill was referred to the House Committee on Rules.