The Toxic Dawn in North Carolina

While a growing group of Watauga County citizens have become aware of how Watauga County ordinances actually welcome toxic polluters through weak or non-existent protections, that bunch of Republicans in Raleigh are fast-tracking a bill which loosens regulations for air quality, water quality, and recycling, a new set of regs meant to completely neuter whatever is left of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Naturally, it's coming out of the NC Senate, which is so far to the right on everything that our feckless governor ... oh, never mind! It's coming out of the Senate, which is where extremism has its home office. And who's "shepherding" this particular piece of backward thinking but Sen. Trudy Wade, she of the Greensboro redistricting meanness, which is also slouching toward Bethlehem to be born.

The News&Observer reports:

...DENR distributed a 12-page analysis for lawmakers enumerating the agency’s concerns with the legislation. The document stands out for its tone of alarm coming from an agency that under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory had vowed to treat businesses as partners and customers rather than adversaries.

“The complaints that would be generated as a result of this proposed legislation would be innumerable,” the document stated. The agency warned that one proposal would lead to “severe environmental damage,” while another could result in federal authorities moving in “to take over the North Carolina public drinking water program.”

Doesn't matter. This Polluter Protection Act will pass the Senate. It'll be up to the NC House to have a sane moment. Don't laugh. It could happen.

The Good Hands People

Dwane Powell, in the Raleigh News&Observer.

Funny because it's true. Also not funny, and that's exactly what they've done, installed giant eggbeaters in Jordan Lake to take care of the pollution that they also decided needed to keep flowing into the lake in order not to discomfit any corporations.

You can read about this particular boondoggle here.

This Is Your Government on Gas

They intend to frack us, and they intend to deny that anything bad has happened to our water as a result.

That was utterly transparent when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) turned down federal grants that would have paid for establishing a "baseline" of water quality in areas where fracking will take place. Without a baseline report of what's in your water and what's not in your water right now, well, when your faucet swill starts igniting, the gas companies will be able to say with a straight face, "That methane was in there all along."

You have turned your government over to vandals, North Carolina, who have no conscience, no values, no vision beyond the enrichment of their special interest supporters.

Congratulations.

Cloudy Horizon

Chris Fitzsimon at NC Policy Watch makes the tart suggestion that newly elected Gov. Beverly Perdue is dithering about cabinet appointments, particularly to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), because the "business community" doesn't approve of anyone whose name has been floated so far.

"Why does the business community have so much say about who will enforce the state's laws to protect the environment?" asks Fitzsimon. Perhaps environmentalists should begin insisting that they get to pick the secretary of Commerce or of Revenue.

The fact that Perdue is already acting indecisive in the face of potential opposition is not encouraging.