By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
The N.C. General Assembly took a spring break last week, but there were still many new environmental bills filed, some helpful and others harmful. This week the pace of committees picked up as crossover looms on May 13th. If a bill doesn’t “make crossover” by being passed by one chamber there is much less chance that the measure will become law this biennium.
Another giveaway to industrial hog CAFOs proposed
On Tuesday, Senators B. Jackson (R - Duplin, Johnston, Sampson), Sanderson (R - Carteret, Craven, Pamlico) and Edwards (R - Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania) filed S 605, the N.C. Farm Act of 2021. Much of the bill is non-controversial, but it includes a section to require the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to create a general permit for biogas at industrial hog operations. A general permit is typically used where there are a large number of similar projects with little environmental impact. It’s not appropriate for projects that vary widely in size, geography, and environmental impacts.
Under current law, DEQ can decide:
- whether to issue a general or individual permit;
- what conditions should be in the permit; and
- whether a public hearing is necessary to receive input on a permit application.
S 605 would remove agency discretion on these important protections, which could mean less opportunity for public input from affected communities and less review of water and air pollution. In addition, biogas production as proposed by Smithfield and contemplated by this legislation will lock in the harmful lagoon-and-sprayfield system used at industrial hog operations, which will increase the risk of water pollution and exacerbate environmental justice concerns.
Nearly every session in recent years, the legislature has passed bills to help the hog industry but hasn’t taken steps to help the neighbors of factory hog farms who are suffering environmental impacts. The neighbors keep winning nuisance cases in court, so there’s not a question that they are experiencing significant pollution. Check out this New Republic story for more detail about these issues and how it all relates to biogas.
Opportunity for Action: Click here to contact your senator to ask them to oppose the Farm Act unless the biogas section is removed.
New helpful clean energy, transit and toxics bills:
Please thank the sponsors of these bills who are stepping up as environmental champions!
S 509, An Energy Resilient North Carolina, sponsored by Senators Salvador (D - Mecklenburg), Woodard (D - Durham, Granville, Person), and Murdock (D - Durham) would direct the State Energy Office to carry out a grant program to improve the energy resiliency, energy democracy and energy security of communities.
S 638, PFAS Manufacture/Use/Sale Ban, sponsored by Senators Garrett (D - Guilford), Woodard, and Mayfield (D - Buncombe) would ban the manufacture, use and distribution of PFAS products in the state to protect public health from these so-called forever chemicals that accumulate in the body over time and are tied to cancer. PFAS contamination has been found around the state and in key drinking water supplies such as the Cape Fear River, so a ban is overdue.
H 511, STI Funding/Bicycle/Pedestrian Improvements, sponsored by Representative Butler (D - New Hanover) would remove an unreasonable prohibition on statewide funding of bike and pedestrian projects. With more people than ever out enjoying walking and biking during the pandemic this change would be welcome.
What’s the opposite of tree-hugging?
H 496, Property Owners' Rights/Tree Ordinances, sponsored by Representatives Boles (R - Moore), Hunter (D - Gates, Hertford, Pasquotank), Brody (R - Anson, Union) and Moffit (R - Henderson) is an anti-tree bill that would make it nearly impossible for local governments to protect trees on private property. The bill would be legislative overreach to the extreme by prohibiting communities from adopting tree protection ordinances that regulate the removal of trees from private property with the express authorization of the General Assembly. Check out this article in The Pilot about the bill.
Opportunity for Action: Contact your House Representative and ask them to oppose H 496 to protect local government authority to protect trees.
H 529, Repeal Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, sponsored by Representatives Pittman (R - Cabarrus), Cleveland (R - Onslow), Kidwell (R - Beaufort, Craven) and Brody would eliminate North Carolina’s renewable energy portfolio standard that requires, among many things, utilities to source a percentage of energy from renewable sources. H 529 would be a step in the opposite direction from where the state should be going to address climate change. The NC Sierra Club supports raising the REPS significantly from the current 12.5% to 70%. Many states have much higher goals than NC at this time such as California (60%), Illinois (25%) and Nevada (50%). The good news is that similar bills have been filed before but have never passed. The bad news is that, even in this time of climate crisis, there are still some legislators who are anti-clean energy.