
{"id":16911,"date":"2011-03-24T10:34:33","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T14:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=16911"},"modified":"2011-03-24T10:34:33","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T14:34:33","slug":"gop-planning-to-rewrite-environmental-policy-dismantle-regulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/03\/24\/gop-planning-to-rewrite-environmental-policy-dismantle-regulator\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP planning to rewrite environmental policy, dismantle regulator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Kirk Ross<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>While budget battles and hot-button social issues are drawing the most attention in this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.<\/p>\n<p>Legislators and locally based environmental advocates say what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being contemplated isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief regulator for air, land and water quality.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no question that the environment is in the crosshairs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said John Runkle, an environmental lawyer from Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n<p>Runkle said it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just a case of overturning a few rules or shifting funds.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a systematic effort to destroy all environmental efforts and all environmental agencies,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a change in direction that Runkle said is growing more alarming as more details emerge.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worse than anybody expected. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gone beyond what industry was asking for,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The approach seems to be to defund and dismantle DENR,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s budget target given to the appropriations committee that handles DENR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s budget cuts even deeper, to $323 million \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a reduction of almost exactly one-third.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyone recognizes the financial challenge that has to be met,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Carter said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but the cuts targeted for environmental programs in DENR are disproportionate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a blunt effort to go after this agency,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>She said it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153DENR,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is a dead duck.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  <\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty much an all-out attack on environmental protection measures in North Carolina,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Hackney, an author of many of the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s environmental laws.<\/p>\n<p>The House has already passed a bill that would forbid new regulations if the cost to the regulated industry exceeds $500,000.<\/p>\n<p>Carter said that the legislation is highly flawed because it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow any public benefit for the regulation to be taken into account. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an indication, he said, that the people writing the laws are more interested in politics than sound policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Unfortunately, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very ideologically focused agenda,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>At risk, Carter said, is the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long history of environmental protection.<\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People might have to go to Atlanta to get their permits,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Carter said that the state also risks losing its reputation as a place that respects and protects its natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153North Carolina is regarded as a leader in the southeast. We have effective programs in place,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think this will put all that progress at risk.<\/p>\n<p>Carter said he expects to see some backlash against the effort as the public becomes more aware of what it entails.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In 30 years of doing this, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen this kind of agenda,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There will be a response.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16911"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16932,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16911\/revisions\/16932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}