State lawmakers head back to Raleigh this week with a showdown likely over Gov. Roy Cooper’s recent veto of an environmental bill that included limited funding to address GenX in the Cape Fear River.
Republican legislators called “troubling” Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto Thursday of the wide-ranging environmental bill that included, among other controversial provisions, only local funding to address GenX in Wilmington’s drinking water.
Closed-door negotiations have increasingly become the norm in the North Carolina General Assembly, especially with contentious environmental measures such as the recently passed House Bill 56.
Funding to address the GenX contamination in the Cape Fear region’s drinking water was approved Thursday as part of a controversial measure that’s been on hold since April.
While solar industry changes and a wind project moratorium passed, bills with coastal stormwater changes, the creation of a new fund to pay for beach re-nourishment, new dredging plans and repeal of the plastic bag ban on the Outer Banks remain on the table.
New Hanover County’s Rep. Deb Butler pointed to concern about the GenX compound in the Wilmington area’s drinking water supply and DEQ permitting backlogs in a plea to spare the agency from cuts in the budget passed Thursday.
The House and Senate must reconcile policy choices and a $15 million difference in funding for the Department of Environmental Quality as work on a final budget deal begins.
The Senate has amended a bill that would now, among other things, repeal a longstanding ban on single-use plastic bags on the Outer Banks and address Topsail Beach’s dune-protection efforts.
The Senate’s 2017-19 spending plan approved Thursday would eliminate 45 Department of Environmental Quality positions and impose a three-year moratorium on wind-energy projects.
Amid a hectic rush this week to advance dozens of bills by a critical deadline, state lawmakers solidified support for a wind energy bill and regulatory changes.
The move is on in the North Carolina General Assembly to advance bills ahead of an important deadline later this week, including measures to repeal the Outer Banks’ ban on plastic bags.