The state Senate is poised to go along with the state House’s earlier approval of a reduction of environmental protections. By the time you read this, the Senate may have given final approval to that measure. If that’s the case, Gov. Pat McCrory should veto it.
The Senate gave tentative approval last week to narrow the application of the State Environmental Policy Act, a 1971 law that requires government agencies to evaluate potential environmental problems associated with spending public dollars or disturbing public lands.
Though its passage looks certain, we hope responsibility and rationality will rule the day. In other words, we hope Senate members will come to their senses and reverse their trend of eliminating legislation that protects the natural resources that make our state unique and beautiful and keep it healthy.
Some legislators say that these reviews aren’t necessary today. They say that federal legislation makes them redundant.
But when it comes to our fragile environment, every available measure must be used. The real risk lies in making relaxed regulations the general order of the day, leading to harmful and unintended consequences as damage falls through the cracks.
Some legislators also claim that environmental protections create too much red tape and hinder commercial development. But as we’ve noted before, business in North Carolina has traditionally been good, even with vigorous environmental protections.
Beyond that, as American economic Herman E. Daly has said, “The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the reverse.” Our environment supports our health, but it also supports North Carolina’s economy. Tourism is an obvious recipient of a clean and beautiful environment. But many other industries in the state, from agriculture to manufacturing benefit from it, especially as top companies that can go anywhere consider overall quality of life. Eliminating environmental protections puts our economy at risk.
One reason we don’t have as many environmental problems today as in the 1960s and ’70s is because of laws like this one. They reined in the environmental degradation that first led to the public’s concern about public health and pollution. They worked then and they work now.
We can’t afford to take risks with North Carolina’s natural resources. If we don’t protect our environment vigorously, we may find it irreparably harmed.
