|
Wasn't it Dr. Phil that said, "You teach people how to treat you"? If that's true, the recent SEPA-gutting legislation passed in the final hours of the General Assembly’s latest short session just invited all the heavy polluting industries in the world to come treat our state like their own personal landfill. Bill S778 (Application of SEPA to Incentives) amends the state environmental policy act (SEPA) so that heavy polluting industries can now take millions of tax dollars given to them by local and state politicians and they no longer need to wait for a comprehensive assessment of impacts to our public lands or to our valuable natural resources before they obtain their state permits. Every major paper reporting on this bill called it out for exactly what it is--a knee-jerk response to the recent court decision ordering Titan Cement to follow the SEPA review.
But what’s really amazing is just how far the Dept. of Commerce, a lot of legislators and our“Green Jobs” Governor are willing to go to send the message to Titan and other Titanic Polluters that we will do anything to help them avoid “delays” if they decide to bring their dirty jobs to NC. Just how far, you ask? Well, Governor Perdue has stood by Commerce and DENR in their contention that SEPA doesn’t apply to the Titan project. She’s been unmoved by the more than 200 local Wilmington physicians who oppose Titan because of concerns over health impacts. She’s seems unimpressed by concerns from more than 7,000 citizens and hundreds of local businesses who don’t want industries like Titan to negatively impact our air, water and local economy. Even our New Hanover County School Board passed a resolution stating their concern about impacts from Titan’s project (and if you have ever tried to talk about environmental concerns with our school board, you’d know how phenomenal a step this is). So when a Judge ruled in our community’s favor, stating SEPA did apply to the Titan project, Governor Perdue’s office supported legislation to gut SEPA so that never will a big polluter have to be subjected to the horrors of following important environmental laws. We also found out the effective date on the initial bill was backdated to May 1st, two days before the May 3rd Titan ruling—essentially revoking the court’s decision and giving Titan a get-out-of-SEPA free card. We were told this was a mistake, but can’t help wonder if the mistake was that it was done in the first place, or that it was caught before the bill was passed. Luckily, the date was changed on the third reading to June 1 so that Titan was not exempt. But we all know how clever Titan’s lobbyist can be, so when concerns were raised that Titan would withdraw their current application and re-apply so that they’d no longer have to follow SEPA, a separate bill was introduced (H1099) to force Titan to abide by the court’s decision on SEPA. Whether this correction bill makes it to the Governor’s desk is anyone’s guess. But the most egregious example of how far Governor Perdue is willing to lower the bar was detailed in a great post by NC Conservation Network, where they described how Rep. Grier Martin (D-Wake) tried to broker a compromise in the House of Representatives, running an amendment to the SEPA-gutter bill that said if a project has the potential to harm the environment enough to trigger an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and it took public money (incentives) it would still have to follow SEPA. Meaning, only the most heavily polluting projects that triggered a Federal environmental review would have to fall under SEPA (such as the 4th largest cement plant in the nation and its open pit mine). The Governor’s response came from one of her top advisors, Don Hobart, when he objected, saying it would cause undue delays to projects and deter economic incentives. A key word the Governor and other supporters are leaving out in all this is “polluting.” This is all about making NC competitive to heavy polluting industries. Period. Our “Green Jobs” Governor doesn’t want big polluters to be deterred by regulations. And to get back to the Dr. Phil analogy, what is all this teaching others about our state?
That North Carolina wants to be the most polluter-friendly state in the country.
Nice, huh?
So what’s a citizen to do? Pay attention, educate yourself and vote, vote, vote. It’s the only way to make a difference. It’s worth pointing out we had a few champions trying to stop this mess. Here are the links to how our elected officials voted on S778. Use your citizen power and don’t vote for anybody that supports this type of dirty, economic development.
Word from Governor Perdue’s office is she is expected to sign the SEPA-gutting bill soon. Call her up and ask her how she can sign this dirty legislation, knowing that if it was law at the time Titan came through, they’d be exempt from SEPA. Ask her what green jobs she’s bringing to our environmentally sensitive area? Does Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill get the high-tech jobs and coastal areas like Wilmington get the polluting ones? Ask why her office argued against a compromise to hold the heaviest polluters to our SEPA standard. And at the end of the day, if Governor Perdue actually signs a bill intended to weaken a state environmental review to help recruit dirty jobs to our state, then a Green Governor in North Carolina must stand for money, not the environment. Let’s hope we’re wrong and there will be some last minute miracle of clarity for the Governor and her staff as they realize that our state can be business-friendly without being polluter-friendly. Which brings to mind another Dr. Phil quote: “Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.” Let’s see what Governor Perdue does on this one.
Governor's Contact Info is:
Governor Bev Perdue
Office of the Governor
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
Phone: (919)733-4240
Fax: (919)733-2120
To read more, check out these links:
|
Blog 
You are a liar. The plant is in Bote...
August 10, 2010, 8:18 am E.P.A. C...
I am from Roanoke, Va and outside my ...
Pretty disappointing to see that Sena...
I oppose any amendment to SEPA!
Please do ;not let pollution from the...