General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe NC Ash Spill Was....
the result of Governor McCrory getting his wish! Those pesky regulators harassing the noble Duke Energy just had to be stopped! The NC DENR was once considered among the most aggressive in the Southeast. Governor McCrory has transformed it into a weak pro-business agency that plays down science and has abandoned its important regulatory role in favor of politicized decision-making. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Ash Spill Shows How Watchdog Was Defanged
Last June, state employees in charge of stopping water pollution were given updated marching orders on behalf of North Carolinas new Republican governor and conservative lawmakers.
The General Assembly doesnt like you, an official in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources told supervisors called to a drab meeting room here. They cut your budget, but you didnt get the message. And they cut your budget again, and you still didnt get the message.
From now on, regulators were told, they must focus on customer service, meaning issuing environmental permits for businesses as quickly as possible. Big changes are coming, the official said, according to three people in the meeting, two of whom took notes. If you dont like change, youll be gone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/us/coal-ash-spill-reveals-transformation-of-north-carolina-agency.html?ref=us&_r=0
n2doc
(47,953 posts)After all, isn't "government regulation" the chief cause of unemployment?
Laxman
(2,419 posts)cleaning this mess up, hasn't it? What a brilliant plan! You see, that's the problem with us liberals, we don't see the strategic thinking behind every move the right-wing makes. Probably because we've gone to public schools.
Think about this, McCrory has just created a generation's worth of damage in his short tenure with this incident alone. We don't do a good job of measuring the costs of such programs or policies as eliminating environmental protections. You can measure jobs and profits but we don't appropriately value environmental damage.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... our minds are just different than theirs. And I wouldn't necessarily call their thinking "strategic." We cannot wrap our minds around the evil that guides their thinking... that's the difference between us and them. They don't have a conscience. They don't give a shite about damaging the environment and eventually peoples health and lives. What but an evil mind would think of causing environmental damage in order to create jobs to clean it up?
Laxman
(2,419 posts)but you're absolutely right about seeing the world differently.
Beach Rat
(273 posts)Soul-crushing takeover of NC DENR brings resignation
But this years historic and hostile takeover of DENR by politically and ideologically motivated lawmakers in the General Assembly was soul-crushing. I could no longer clock in in good conscience and believe I could uphold my commitment to protect the environment.
Environmental regulators play an important role and have a huge responsibility.
They must issue permits for industrial activities in a way that protects natural resources. They must ensure the state meets a variety of federal requirements.
And at all times, they must balance assisting individual residents, protecting the public resource and holding polluters accountable.
These are not just empty bureaucratic exercises.
Whats at stake is nothing less than having clean water to drink, healthy streams in which to fish and swim, pure air to breathe and green space where wildlife can thrive and where our children can play.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/15/3457917/soul-crushing-takeover-of-nc-denr.html
I think that qualifies for some kind of prediction award. This is the kind of crap that ALEC brings us.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)Also, they have to be incorruptible and transparent. And treat all fairly and equally.
G_j
(40,372 posts)They did a behind-closed-doors settlement with the lawbreaker, and it requires no cleanup of one ounce of pollution or movement of one ounce of ash, said Frank Holleman, a senior lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which sued on behalf of environmental groups. The state has been a barrier at every turn.
onethatcares
(16,188 posts)what has been going on in Floriduh.
Wherever Duke Energy goes, it shits a pile for the rate payers to clean up while they walk away
with a pocket full of dollars.
12ZTR
(92 posts)before the Republicans are harmed enough by environmental issues for them to say: "Doh! Think we might ought to be a'doing something about this here problem?"
hatrack
(59,593 posts)nt