Environmental advocacy groups are expressing disappointment with North Carolina's governor in the wake of her decisions on a number of high-profile measures dealing with regulating ongoing commercial and home development in the state.
The groups say the governor abdicated her responsibility to North Carolina taxpayers in favor of real estate developers by signing two bills into law this week and refusing to veto a third. On that third bill, Gov. Perdue allowed the bill to become law without her signature.
While the new laws put into words the state's position on matters, you can be sure that the emotional and economic investment that people have in the issues, there are sure to be legal challenges that will be best met with the aid of experienced legal minds.
One of the bills the governor signed this week, and which the environmental groups oppose, delays the imposition of anti-pollution rules for new construction near Jordan Lake. A second bill that got the governor's ink softens buffer regulations in two major river basins.
But the item that has sparked the greatest amount of verbal sparring is a bill that is now law regarding how sea-level rise issues will be addressed in the state. At the heart of the debate is whether rising sea levels, possibly driven by climate change, pose an imminent threat that the state should be responsible for addressing, or whether local jurisdictions can handle things on their own.
For now, the scales have tipped in favor of the local jurisdictions. But Gov. Purdue has issued a challenge to the legislature to revisit the question and make it possible for regulators to draw on the growing pool of scientific projection data to address sea-level rise, not just historical data. Proponents of the bill now law say it already allows for that assessment of data.
Regardless of what side of the fence one is on as regards these laws, the rhetoric that is being sparked shows that the issues are important to a lot of people. We'll keep watching.
Source: StarNewsOnline.com, "Sea-level rise bill becomes law," Patrick Gannon, Aug. 1, 2012
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