Environmental regulators this week issued the state's first contracts to test sites in North Carolina for oil and gas resources ahead of any potential drilling.
The two contracts with Sanford-based Patterson Exploration Services will cost the state $236,500 for core sampling in several locations in Stokes, Scotland, Hoke and Cumberland counties.
Our state & local laws on toxic chemical use are threatened by the CICA, a bill which would undermine laws that require chemical disclosure and restrict the EPA's ability to take action on some of the highest priority toxic chemicals. The CICA would also pre-empt and stop local and state laws on fracking. This bill is likely to come up for a vote in a matter of days -- Help stop this bill by urging Committee members to vote against the CICA! Two members of the Committee represent a large part of NC, please contact:
Renee Elmers (R -- representing 9 central NC counties from Alamance to Cumberland, Phone:(202) 225-4531 or 1-877-645-8764
G.K. Butterfield (D -- representing parts of 24 northeastern NC counties from Bertie to Durham). Phone: (202)-225-3101 or (919) 908-0164
The State Legislature is working TODAY to sneak through legislation that would create more and bigger landfills and encourage other states to dump their trash in our state. Call Speaker Tillis's Office to ask him to speak out against mega-landfills. (919-733-3451).
On July 2, The Senate Agriculture and Environment Committee took up a noncontroversial House bill concerning local solid waste planning (House Bill 321) and amended it by adding a section that chooses sides in a specific legal dispute between a landfill operator and a local government. The operator and the Town of Unionville had been in litigation for several years, with the town receiving a favorable outcome from a US District Court in August of 2012. If this Bill passes as amended, this landfill company will be the only one allowed to apply for a new state permit for a C&D landfill without a local government franchise.
The amendment sets a dangerous precedent against local control by disconnecting a solid waste landfill permit from a local franchise. It also interferes in a long standing legal dispute.
An amended S328 was passed out of the finance committee today. It is still very bad, and is scheduled for a second reading - roll call on Thursday, soon after 11:00 am.
The Landfill Bill (S328) was removed from the Senate Calendar on Monday and moved to Senate Finance. The Senate Finance Committee will take up the bill next week, and from there it could go to the Senate for a vote.
Excellent Analysis of S328, Solid Waste Management Act of 2013 (June 7, 2013)
Chart prepared by Grady McCallie of NC Conservation Network, and Chandra Taylor of Southern Environmental Law Center of NC. http://nomegadump.org/files/S328/S328_analysis_6-7-13.pdf
A new bill (Senate Bill 328) in the state legislature is jam-packed with every bad idea from the last five years regarding landfills. S328 would radically weaken environmental standards for landfills, including: eliminating landfill height restrictions and weakening protective buffers; expanding the length of permits to 30 years (meaning new standards won’t apply to old landfills); allowing groundwater contamination to stay in place indefinitely; eliminating the requirement for regular inspections of toxic liquid collection lines; and prohibiting revisions to state groundwater standards more frequently than once every five years.
A hearing before Judge Michael Nettles will determine whether or not DHEC has the authority to force the residents in and around Marlboro County to accept a mega-dump in the community. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at the Marlboro County Courthouse. The proposed location for the landfill is between Highways 38 and 177, just south of Hamlet, NC. It is for 6,500 Tons Per Day, over twice what is allowed by NC Statutes. Two articles below the fold:
State regulators have given polluters breaks, withheld information from the public, pushed development over the protection of natural resources and angered residents from Greenville to Charleston. Has the agency that's supposed to safeguard the environment and our health lost its way?
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