Gov. Cooper vetoes SB 16 over dangerous rollbacks to water quality protection

The governor’s veto last night of Senate Bill 16 has temporarily halted several environmental laws, including one that gives eminent domain power to Dominion Energy for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Gov. Cooper vetoed Senate Bill 16 , the Business and Regulatory Reform Act of 2017.

It passed the House and Senate when they convened for just one day earlier this month, and when many lawmakers were out of town attending a national legislative conference.

Cooper’s veto statement read:

We should make it easier, not harder, for state and local governments to protect water quality, whether through stormwater safeguards or by giving public health departments the ability to revisit wastewater permits if needed Rolling back ways to protect water quality is dangerous.

SB 16 includes a provision expressly enabling Dominion Energy to use eminent domain to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in eastern North Carolina. Currently, in-state companies can condemn private property for these types of projects. But Dominion is based in Virginia, and although the company co-owns the ACP with Duke Energy, needed this language to quickly proceed, should the project receive federal approval.

The bill also micromanages DEQ by giving the Environmental Management Commission — which is politically appointed more oversight over the agency’s reports. And the measure weakens coastal stormwater and development rules, and eliminates public input from landfill permit renewals. (NCPW annotated the bill, which we’ve included below.)

Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Matthew Starr issued a statement shortly after the veto, “calling it a victory for clean water and property rights.”

“If SB 16 became law, it would open the door for oil companies using eminent domain to build dangerous pipelines through the back yards of families across the state. And it would make it more difficult for communities to hold local landfills accountable for poor practices. When it comes to clean water, SB 16 would literally pave the way for contamination. The bill’s language makes it easier for developers to skirt responsible stormwater controls, making it more likely that toxic contaminants enter our public waterways.”

SB 16 had taken on many forms since it was filed early in the session — Jan. 26. — serving primarily as a placeholder for various legislation that could be added later. One amendment that passed the House but failed in the Senate conference committee is worth watching: In June, Rep. John Bell, whose district includes counties within the Lower Neuse River basin, sponsored an amendment that would have directed the Legislative Research Commission to study flood control in that basin. While this sounds innocuous, building flood control reservoirs can create more problems than they solve. They eat up land, potentially creating environmental justice problems, and fragment ecosystems. (Ironically, a different bill would have weakened rules regarding riparian buffers, themselves a natural method of flood control.)

Under the amendment, the Legislative Research Commission would have also considered alternate water sources for Raleigh when flooding forces the US Army Corps of Engineers to lower the level of Falls Lake. Jordan Lake is already supplying water to more than 300,000 people, a number that is expected to grow; Lake Crabtree is contaminated with PCBs in the fish and sediment. Within the county, that leaves Lake Benson, near Garner. The supply of clean drinking water is definitely an issue facing Raleigh, but it seems strange to tuck such a far-reaching provision in an amendment to a omnibus bill.

Senate Bill 16 by LisaSorg on Scribd