Coal-ash incident raises questions about DENR's record
Published March 7, 2014
Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, March 5, 2014.
There is seemingly no end to the revelations coming from the state's designated environmental watchdog in the aftermath of an enormous spill that has put the spotlight on the 33 under-regulated coal-ash ponds operating in North Carolina. The latest shoe dropped on Friday, when the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources cited Duke Energy for failing to get the required federal permits governing stormwater runoff at coal-fired plants, including Wilmington's Sutton Steam Plant.
The most troubling aspect of that news was that DENR administrators seemed more concerned about how utility companies' lobbyists would react than with enforcing the law.
Employees who did try to enforce the law met resistance at every step. As one supervisor noted in an email reviewed by The News & Observer of Raleigh this week, "We just stopped asking."
The Feb. 2 spill at Duke Energy's Dan River plant brought to a head the controversy over the utility industry's preferred method for storing the ash residue from coal-fired power plants such as Sutton. It also put Gov. Pat McCrory's administration on the hot seat, particularly after the Associated Press reported how on several occasions DENR stepped in to prevent an environmental group from suing the company over its coal-ash ponds.
This case will test whether the push by McCrory and other Republican leaders to relax environmental regulations and make North Carolina more "business friendly" have tipped the scales too far.
But the problem with DENR dates back further. Much of the haggling over the stormwater permits occurred under Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.
Her predecesor, Democrat Mike Easley, had a group of developers/campaign contributors to lunch and came away with a program to fast-track environmental permits for some of his most generous donors.
This week, DENR's top spokesman jumped on the chance to suggest that this administration has pushed enforcement where McCrory's predecessors failed.
But the mantra preached by the current leadership wasn't that regulation had been too lax, and action was not aimed at more rigorous enforcement of environmental laws.
Rather, McCrory and his team proclaimed that the system was too cumbersome for businesses. Republican leaders in the General Assembly drafted legislation to cut what they derisively referred to as "job-killing" environmental regulations, as well as staff.
McCrory, meanwhile, got permission to convert what had been professional workers into at-will employees who could be hired and fired at the whim of the governor and his political appointees.
A New York Times story this week quoted several current and past DENR employees as being fearful for their jobs and under orders to embrace the department's new "customer-friendly" approach with regard to businesses seeking permits.
The unspoken but clear message employees received was to get permits out quickly and get out of the way of business, or else. DENR Secretary John Skvarla roundly disputes that characterization, but it's clear that a number of employees have gotten that impression.
North Carolina can be both "customer friendly" and a staunch environmental watchdog, but the latter requires an administration that empowers professional employees to enforce the rules vigorously and without fear of stepping on the wrong toes.
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20140304/ARTICLES/140309888/1108/editorial?template=printart
March 7, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Norm Kelly says:
You see, this is how it goes. A white guy & a black guy are in a room. The black guy has been discriminated against by the racist white guy. How do we know? Cuz he's a white guy.
A man and a woman are in a room together. The woman has been sexually harassed. How do we know? Because there's a man in the room.
A Demoncrat and a Republican both have responsibility for some given event. The Republican will be roasted by the media, charged with all kinds of things by Demon politicians, labeled a racist by the NAAlCP. Why? Because he's a republican. Obvious.
These are just the facts and it's about time all us Republicans/conservatives/libertarians accept it. Don't watch what the left hand is doing because the right hand is doing something 'wrong'.
'but the latter requires an administration that empowers professional employees to enforce the rules'. You mean like Gov Mike did?
Lefties are a funny lot. The unnameable occupant of the White House basically gives a green light to those in his administration, within the federal government, to take punitive action against right-leaning political organizations. Some departments, like the IRS, take the unnamed occupant at his word and start harassing TEA groups. TEA groups are ACTUALLY harassed and the law is ACTUALLY BROKEN. What's the response from the unnamed and all liberals and the media (redundancy!)? They blame the TEA people. They accept the lie that it was an out-of-control small group of low-level employees in one office. They claim there is nothing to be found in Lerner's emails & other documents. They all claim that the TEA people and other right-leaning organizations are making it all up. They all claim that this is being blown out of proportion. What's the relationship between the IRS scandal & the state coal-ash issue? The same people who gloss over the IRS breaking the law, accepting the unnamed ones' lies, are the same people wanting us to gloss over 2 Demon administrations in NC, and accept that DENR employees felt pressured from above/from Republicans to do something specific that might be illegal. Why would we believe one story and not the other? Is it because one group of guilty people are libs and the other group ain't? Is it because the whiners about DENR/coal-ash are libs (this is the group we are supposed to pay attention to) and the other group actually breaking the law are libs (this is the IRS case we are supposed to ignore & accept the lies)?
This looks like just another example of the media/lib/DemocRAT double standard. By stating the obvious I've just been labeled a radical/anarchist/racist/rich white guy by every lib that might possibly stumble on my response. But when the horse is white and I call it white, you can't call me a liar. When the horse is black and I call it a black horse, you can't call me either a liar or a racist. So when the media/lib double standard rears it's incredibly ugly head ONCE AGAIN, you can't label me. When it's this obvious, again, you can't denigrate me for pointing it out. If you expect I'm supposed to accept your lies, why is it you won't accept the truth when I point it out to you? I know the answer here. This is a trick question. The difference is you are a lib and the rules don't apply to you. And only YOUR rules apply to non-libs.
