A bill inching through the Senate seeks to exploit state and federal agency turmoil to speed permitting at the expense of North Carolina's waters.
S472, Amend 401 Certification Process, would “deem approved” any 401 permit application that isn't processed by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) within five days. A 401 permit is required for projects that impact North Carolina waters – streams, wetlands, lakes and riparian buffers.
The bill would exploit staffing shortages at an underfunded DEQ to allow potentially harmful projects to speed past the approval process. Coupled with ongoing chaos at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and changes to wetlands protections during the last General Assembly, S472 could be the most damaging environmental legislation we see this year.
The bill got a favorable report this week from the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee and was referred to Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment, which hasn't put it on the calendar yet.
H729, Farmland Protection Act, saw incremental movement this week. This bill would no longer allow a utility-scale solar project to be sited on farmland that's being used to grow crops, regardless of the farm owner's wishes. It also would eliminate the property tax exemption for the land the solar is sited on. The House Agriculture and Environment Committee heard public comment on the bill but did not begin deliberations or vote, and no other hearings on the bill are yet scheduled.
We didn't see any action this week on two bills we're already fighting:
- We're making phone calls to key House members to ask them to oppose S261, the Energy Security and Affordability Act, which would allow utilities to pass along costs for construction work in progress (CWIP) to their customers, even if the projects never come on line, and also eases up on Duke Energy's carbon emission-cutting targets. If you haven't yet used our action alert to contact your House member, please do it now!
- We also didn't see movement on H402, the NC REINS Act, which would require legislative ratification of any agency rule that has an annual cumulative fiscal impact of $1 million – effectively, sending administrative rule-making in North Carolina to a screeching halt.
Next week, we expect the Senate to roll out its version of the state budget while the House will work to move legislation in advance of the May 8 crossover deadline. The entire legislature will be on Easter break the week of April 21, so the Letter from Jones Street will take a day off on April 25 – barring any unexpected shenanigans.
Take action:
We're still contacting House members to ask them to protect North Carolina utility customers by opposing S261, the Energy Security and Affordability Act. If you haven't already, please use our action form to send a message to your NC state representative. If you already did that, it doesn't hurt to follow up with a phone call! Find your lawmakers' contact information here.