Environmentalists say HB 765 has many flaws including a provision exempting businesses that voluntarily report environmental violations from civil penalties. That is roughly the equivalent of telling a Meth lab to report any internal drug related crimes in order to avoid arrest.
House Bill 765,is another Classic "Hit and Run" style bill, which Republicans claim strikes the right balance between protecting the environment and reducing regulatory burdens of businesses. However environmentalist believe HB 765 includes a goodly number of Chinese like, race to the bottom environmental incentives to assist dirty energy businesses in making up their mind to move to North Carolina, such as :
* Significantly reduce the number of state air quality monitors ( of particular interest to citizens suffering from respiratory ailments)
* Relax the requirements for controlling storm-water pollution and resort development on the coast. (which can lead to mass ocean life kills)
* Reduce public access to information about air pollution in their neighborhood ( Reduces public access to information about air pollution in their neighborhood. Eliminates requirement to publish notice of violation or public hearings in the newspaper, and uses only the agency website. )
* Allow the destruction of intermittent streams ( very convenient if you happen to own a few coal ash ponds or farm waste ponds )
Some of these measures were killed in earlier sessions a few years back in there first ALEC motivated attempt to deregulate Environmental standards in North Carolina. However you know the old Republican sorority chant " If you don't at first succeed , try ,try again Hu Ya Hu Ya."
This is also a reminder that Liberty must be maintained with constant vigilance
H765, Regulatory Reform Act of 2015, is far from a ‘ compromise bill’. Instead, it needlessly rolls back protections for air, water, groundwater, and land across North Carolina and needs to be vetoed by governor Pat McCorory or "We The People" need to find ourselves a governor that will protect the states priceless resources for future generations.
To review a summary of the sections of this bill click here.