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GOP planning to rewrite environmental policy, dismantle regulator

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

While budget battles and hot-button social issues are drawing the most attention in this year’s General Assembly session, major changes to the way the state protects the environment and regulates polluting industries are being considered by the new House and Senate leadership.

Legislators and locally based environmental advocates say what’s being contemplated isn’t just the result of budget cuts, but represents the overturning of long-term polices and even the potential dismantling of the North Carolina Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the state’s chief regulator for air, land and water quality.

“There’s no question that the environment is in the crosshairs,” said John Runkle, an environmental lawyer from Chapel Hill.

Runkle said it’s not just a case of overturning a few rules or shifting funds.

“I think there’s a systematic effort to destroy all environmental efforts and all environmental agencies,” he said.

It’s a change in direction that Runkle said is growing more alarming as more details emerge.

“It’s worse than anybody expected. They’ve gone beyond what industry was asking for,” he said.

Derb Carter, director of the Southern Environmental Law Center, said many of the changes he and others have heard might be coming are starting to surface.

“The approach seems to be to defund and dismantle DENR,” he said.

One indication is in the target that budget writers have been given. In her budget, Gov. Beverly Perdue took a solid whack at DENR programs herself, paring the budget from a base of $480 million to $407 million. But the GOP leadership’s budget target given to the appropriations committee that handles DENR’s budget cuts even deeper, to $323 million – a reduction of almost exactly one-third.

“Everyone recognizes the financial challenge that has to be met,” Carter said, “but the cuts targeted for environmental programs in DENR are disproportionate.”

He said he has seen internal discussions on the prospect of shifting various parts of DENR to the Department of Agriculture and the state Wildlife Commission and even a proposal to put all state parks, aquariums and museums under the direction of the Department of Commerce.

“It’s a blunt effort to go after this agency,” he said.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, who serves on the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources appropriations committee and represents Orange County agreed that the cuts are far too deep. She said House and Senate leaders are trying to figure out how far they can go in dismantling DENR.

She said it’s likely to be done in pieces. Still, Kinnaird said, the state is going to see sweeping changes this year in how agriculture and the forestry industry are regulated. A bill has already been filed that would move DENR’s Division of Soil and Water Conservation to the Department of Agriculture, which is run by Republican Steve Troxler. Troxler recently testified in an appropriations hearing that he thought agriculture is far too regulated.

While not as immediate as many on the right want, Kinnaird said, taking the agency apart piece by piece will have the same result in the long run.

“DENR,” she said, “is a dead duck.”

Chapel Hill Democrat Rep. Joe Hackney, who serves as minority leader in the N.C. House of Representatives, said he expects to see legislation aimed at shifting permitting authority to other departments as well as further attempts to slow or stop regulation.

“It’s pretty much an all-out attack on environmental protection measures in North Carolina,” said Hackney, an author of many of the state’s environmental laws.

The House has already passed a bill that would forbid new regulations if the cost to the regulated industry exceeds $500,000.

Carter said that the legislation is highly flawed because it doesn’t allow any public benefit for the regulation to be taken into account. It’s an indication, he said, that the people writing the laws are more interested in politics than sound policy.

“Unfortunately, it’s a very ideologically focused agenda,” he said.

At risk, Carter said, is the state’s long history of environmental protection.

Hackney said if the state cuts too deep into its ability to enforce regulations it risks having its authority to do so rescinded and taken over by the federal government.

“People might have to go to Atlanta to get their permits,” he said.

Carter said that the state also risks losing its reputation as a place that respects and protects its natural resources.

“North Carolina is regarded as a leader in the southeast. We have effective programs in place,” he said. “I think this will put all that progress at risk.

Carter said he expects to see some backlash against the effort as the public becomes more aware of what it entails.

“In 30 years of doing this, I’ve never seen this kind of agenda,” he said. “There will be a response.”

1 thought on “GOP planning to rewrite environmental policy, dismantle regulator”

  1. Don Watson says:
    March 25, 2011 at 11:20 am

    DENR has only themselves to blame for their current budget predicament. You do not have to look back very far to see that DENR has dug their own hole. They have always had divisions within the department with conflicting and often times conflicting goals. For example DAQ has billboards posted that state Breathe don’t Burn while DFR tries to promote burning. This is a conflict between a regulatory agencie, DAQ, and a service agency, DFR. In these conflicts DENR has always sided with the regulatory agency. To prove this point just look at the past 4 or 5 years and their handling of DFR’s budget.

    Between FY07 and today, legislative reductions, non-recurring reversions, and internal reserves have significantly impacted DFR staff levels and appropriations.
    DFR has lost 82 fire fighter positions since FY07.
    The DFR appropriated operating budget declined by 35.6% since FY07 couple that with the current recommended reductions in the DFR appropriated operating budget would result in a 39% reduction since FY 07 as well as an additional 110 fire fighters.

    DFR must count on DENR to present their concerns up to the Governors office. Current and present history shows that DENR has been unwilling to do that. DFR would sustain a 16.7% total (salaries and operating) budget reduction. Much higher than other state agencies and departments (see table below)
    o Public schools – 4%
    o DHHS – 4%
    o Commerce – 14%
    o Agriculture -12%
    o General Govt. – 6%
    o Justice – 6%
    o Adm. Office of Courts – 3%
    o Corrections – 4%
    o Crime Control and Public Safety – 6%
    o DENR – 14%

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