By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director for Government Relations
This week, the House took up two of the bills we’ve been following, the Farm Act and a new House energy bill. Plus, the Senate moved forward an election bill that would narrow the window for voters to get in absentee ballots.
Omnibus House energy bill would include new gas plants
This week, Rep. John Szoka (R - Cumberland) released a draft omnibus energy bill that would set in law early retirements for some coal plants but would unnecessarily lock North Carolina into reliance on burning fracked gas at a time when the cost of renewables and energy storage are falling. The House Energy & Public Utilities Committee discussed the draft H 951 for 2.5 hours on Thursday. Reps. Szoka and Dean Arp (R - Union) presented the bill as an all-of-the-above energy approach including retiring sub-critical coal plants and replacing them with gas plants, energy storage and solar. Rep. Pricey Harrison (D - Guilford) summed up many of the concerns of environmental advocates in her questions focused on the need to address climate change while protecting low-income ratepayers.
The bill does not align with Gov. Roy Cooper's goals to address the climate crisis and transition North Carolina to a clean energy economy by 2025, so the N.C. Sierra Club opposes it. In addition to lining up harmful fracked gas as a replacement for coal, the measure would mean a significant step backward in the way the N.C. Utilities Commission reviews energy plans by Duke Energy and other utilities. Communities experiencing pollution from coal plants would continue to be burdened by living next to fracked gas plants and would be allowed less opportunity for input. N.C. Sierra Club is urging the House to reject the current version of this bill and begin a transparent, public stakeholder process that includes ratepayers, environmental groups and the voices of fenceline communities. Read more about this bill at WRAL.
House Agriculture Committee hears from biogas proponents but not neighbors
On Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee heard from Smithfield Foods, the N.C. Pork Council, the N.C. Farm Bureau and the N.C. Department of Agriculture - all in support of the biogas provision of the Farm Act. But the committee did not hear from any community members who live near and suffer the impacts of hog operations. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) also spoke and indicated that the agency is neutral on the biogas provision. N.C. Sierra Club is opposed to the biogas provision because it would perpetuate the harmful lagoon and sprayfield system that is a nuisance to neighbors. Rep. Dixon (R - Duplin, Onslow) championed the bill in committee while Rep. Ager (D - Buncombe) asked good questions. Although the committee did not make room for voices of impacted community members, you can hear from two people about that in a video that we created along with NC Conservation Network. Please check it out and take action.
Senate passes bill to limit timing for counting of mail-in ballots
S 326, the “Election Integrity Act,” would limit when mail-in ballots may be counted. The measure passed the Senate along party lines 28-21, with Democrats voting no. It now heads to the House. An amendment was added by Senator Fitch (D - Edgecombe, Halifax, Wilson) that changed the bill’s proposed deadline to receive absentee ballots from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., when in-person polls close. Although the amendment is a small improvement, the bill would still unfairly prejudice absentee voters, including rural voters with limited access to mail services.