After a few slow weeks, the pace picked up at the General Assembly this week. The House took votes on several bills that the Sierra Club has opposed.
House turns Duke Energy’s multiyear ratemaking proposal into a study
The N.C. House this week voted 112-2 to pass an amended version of S 559, Storm Securitization/Alt. Rates, revising the section that would have allowed Duke Energy to seek permission for multiple years of rate increases in one request.
Rep. Larry Strickland (R - Harnett, Johnston) amended the measure to turn the controversial multi-year ratemaking section into a study. S 559 would now require the N.C. Utilities Commission to study a variety of utility tools to modernize the ratemaking process, including performance-based ratemaking, revenue decoupling and multi-year ratemaking. The study would be due to the legislature in March 2020. Rep. John Szoka (R - Cumberland), co-chair of the Energy and Public Utilities Committee, spoke in support of the amendment.
A non-controversial section of the bill remains; it would allow power companies to seek NCUC permission to issue a bond to help pay for clean-up after storms and other natural disasters.
S 559 will next go to the Senate for a concurrence vote, likely next week.
Opportunity for Action
Please ask your senator to concur with the House changes to S 559.
House passes Farm Act with giveaway to industrial CAFOs
On Wednesday, the House voted 63-48 to pass the Farm Act (S 315), which includes giveaways to industrial hog operations that endanger the environment and public health.
S 315 contains a section that would make secret certain public records connected with soil and water conservation programs, including documents about factory farms that may expose environmental issues.
The measure would also allow hog farms that install biogas technology to avoid upgrading to environmentally superior technologies, as long as the farms don't increase the number of pigs on site. This would undermine a 2007 ban on construction of hog waste lagoons and sprayfields, which required any new or expanding hog production facilities to meet environmental performance standards to better protect air and water.
None of the Farm Act’s provisions help to address air and water contamination associated with factory hog farms or nuisance complaints from farms’ neighbors. The measure will next go to the Senate for a vote of concurrence, likely next week. Sen. Brent Jackson (R - Duplin, Johnston, Sampson), the bill sponsor, has said that the Senate will vote to concur with the House changes.
Cooper vetoes billboard bill
As you may recall, the Sierra Club asked Gov. Cooper to veto the billboard bill (H 645). He did so on Thursday - be sure to say thanks!