Hotlist Weekly Legislative Bulletin
The Hotlist is a weekly e-newsletter published expressly for our elected officials, and only sent during legislative session. It provides information for our legislators on key environmental issues so that they can make better environmental decisions. It also tracks most of the environmental legislation moving through the Legislature, and lets our leaders know what the sound environmental choices are. As we tell our legislators, all votes covered in the Hotlist are eligible for scoring on our Legislative Scorecard.
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Recent Issues of the Hotlist
Welcome back... Well, not really. This has been one of the worst sessions on the environment in some time.
Will a historical budget veto be overridden? Will the body adjourn this week? Will the ostriches in charge ever remove their heads from the sand and realize environment regulations is not the reason for the economic downturn?
Instead of focusing on one topic this week, I thought I might keep the Hotlist short and sweet (you can thank me later), and just mention some of the bills that we are tracking this week.
Last week the Senate rolled out their budget and it took a harsh axe to environmental standards. North Carolina has been a leader in protecting our environment and the Senate wants to send us back to the dark ages.
The Senate Budget is expected to roll out today. I am not optimistic it will be any better to DENR given the disdain the Senate has shown for DENR this session. I hope I am wrong.
John Cook is the author of "The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism" and maintains the website www.skepticalscience.com.
Last week the House passed their budget. The budget disproportionally targeted the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for many of the cuts. This should be an embarrassment to those elected to protect the health of our citizens and preserve our quality of life.
Last week the House passed their budget. The budget disproportionally targeted the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for many of the cuts. This should be an embarrassment to those elected to protect the health of our citizens and preserve our quality of life.
The House is rolling out their budget this week. It is in Finance committee this morning, with hopes to be on the floor next week. I am sure that between now and then, many revisions will be made, so I may reserve any comments until then.
The House budget was released last week and it was as bad as expected. We cannot use a chainsaw to cut our way out of the deficit we are experiencing. Proverbs 22:16 reads oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself; and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.
From an environmental perspective, there have been many bills filed this year that would have a detrimental effect on North Carolina’s environment, economy, quality of life, and the health of our citizens…now and for a long time to come. I would even say that some would move North Carolina backwards and undo a lot of the protections citizens of our state have come to expect.
This week I want to talk about H309/S183 Selective Vegetation Removal/State Highways. It’s incredible to think the State Legislature may interfere with local cities and towns’ ability to regulate bill boards.
A relevant statement in this time as many proposals are being considered that could drastically change our state's natural heritage. One such bill that is moving forward is S110 that would lift the ban on hardened structures on our coast.
Now is the time to make sure we do this right before we do any irreparable damage to our water resource supplies or quality. While we do need to grow our energy resources, it should not come at the expense of clean and reliable water for our local communities.
Another week, more bad bills passed and introduced. In my opinion, the new leadership is working hard to make sure their reign only lasts two years by overstepping many boundaries and spending time on things that will not help them at the polls in 2012.
One awful bill that should be on the House floor this week is Senate Bill 22, APA Rules: Limit Additional Costs. We ask you to OPPOSE this bill because it is detrimental to North Carolina’s people, economy, and our environment. Rest assured, this bill will be scored on our annual scorecard.
The anti-environmental bill of the week is S110, Permit Terminal Groins, one of our community's priorities on the NC Common Agenda. I have already highlighted this issue previously this Session and will likely write about it again before it is over. Bottom line: Terminal Groins have been wisely banned from our coasts for over two decades.
I want to once again bring your attention to a piece of bad legislation that is moving forward this week - HB 62/ SB 64Prohibit Boylston Creek Reclassification. We need to be doing all we can to protect our trout waters before they are damaged. Once they are destroyed, will you be willing to fund their restoration?
As we move ahead in the session, and hopefully begin the recovery from this tough economic time, we must not forget who we are as a state. Some of the environmental protections we have made in the past have helped make our state one of the fastest growing in the country. I promise you, short-sighted decisions now can erase that and move our state backwards toward the stone ages.
