NC environmental groups warn against legislation

Several environmental advocacy groups are urging Gov. Bev Perdue to veto bills they say would harm N.C.’s environment and hamper state agencies’ ability to protect it.

The bills include “Energy Jobs Act” and “Regulatory Reform Act.” Perdue must take action on them by tonight, or let them become law.

The jobs act directs Perdue to work with nearby states along the coast to begin natural gas exploration in preparation for offshore drilling.

The reform act prohibits state environmental agencies from implementing stricter standards than what is specified in federal law, except in cases of a threat to public health or a court order.

In a letter to Perdue, leaders of state environmental groups said the most recent legislative session represented a “relentless assault on the environment.”

“(The) bills… reverse North Carolina’s unique commitment to the environment that has made the state one of the best places in the country to live and do business,” the letter said.

Elizabeth Ouzts, state director of Environment North Carolina and one of the signatories of the letter, said the jobs act will actually eliminate more jobs than it creates if offshore drilling results in an environmental disaster.

“Our coasts are much more valuable clean than they are dirty,” she said.

Ouzts said the state should focus on creating jobs by supporting renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

“That’s where we have the most potential to create homegrown energy that protects the environment and also creates the jobs that we need,” she said.

But Sen. Harry Brown, R-Jones, a primary sponsor of both bills, said the state will lose opportunities for job growth and increased revenue if it does not pursue offshore drilling.

The jobs act claims that states such as South Carolina and Virginia have already moved forward on offshore drilling, and that a potential disaster would inevitably affect the North Carolina coast whether the state engages in drilling or not.

Brown said he thinks the risk for environmental disaster is low.

“There have been a lot of lessons learned in exploring off the coast,” he said. “I feel pretty confident that we’d be very, very careful and make sure all the safeguards that we could put in place would be there.”

But Ouzts and other environmental advocates say a 12.3 percent cut in the state budget for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources will impede the agency’s ability to properly regulate procedures such as offshore drilling. And if the reform act becomes law, the kind of regulations in place won’t be strong enough, Ouzts said.

“The… reform bill is really an attempt to stop all new environmental legislation and also initiates a process of undoing rules that are already on the books that protect our air and our water,” she said.

“State regulators should have the ability, if they are allowed by statute, to go ahead and enact stronger protections for North Carolina’s unique environment.”

Brown said the bill aims to remove unnecessary bureaucratic impediments for businesses rather than damage the environment.

“If you talk to any business — especially on the coast where I live — if you talk to anyone that has tried to do any kind of project, it has gotten so burdensome that people are to the point where they won’t even do the projects anymore,” he said.

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