By Staff
When future generations look back, they may see 2007 as a good year for the environment in North Carolina.
The General Assembly passed the Solid Waste Management Act of 2007, which creates more oversight and financial responsibility regarding large landfills. Among the bill’s significant provisions are more stringent permitting requirements and oversight for new landfills, as well as the establishment of a permit fee schedule for solid waste facilities. Nobody likes paying fees, but the money raised from the surcharge will go toward cleaning up hazardous waste sites and abandoned landfills.
The Division of Soil and Water Conservation also received its first appropriated funding from the General Assembly for the development of the Community Conservation Assistance Program. It is the first state program of its kind that enables local soil and water conservation districts to provide cost sharing funds and technical assistance to homeowners, civic groups, municipalities and others for projects that protect water quality. More than a dozen types of projects are eligible, including rain gardens, backyard wetlands and stream bank restoration.
The state parks system also brought 8,042 acres of land into conservation with support from the Parks and Recreation, Clean Water Management and Natural Heritage trust funds. A partnership between the trust funds, the General Assembly, land conservancies and local communities resulted in the acquisition of the 996-acre private nature attraction Chimney Rock Park. The attraction will be integrated into Chimney Rock State Park, which is now under development.
One of the biggest problems faced by Gov. Mike Easley was the issue of the drought. Last year’s drought efforts have resulted in an online system to enable public water supply systems to report weekly water use data as well as improved tracking and public availability of statewide water conservation efforts.
The state’s Rules Review Commission approved rules that call for risk-based cleanup of solvents from dry cleaners. The rules enable the Division of Waste Management, which oversees the dry cleaner program, to assess the risks of contamination by dry-cleaning solvents based on each site’s characteristics. The new rules will guide cleanup of highest priority contaminated dry cleaning facilities so that they can move forward under state contracts.
The Division of Waste Management also put in place new rules to better protect against pollution from underground storage tanks. These secondary containment rules were adopted to ensure that underground storage tanks don’t release contaminants into the environment.
As part of the One North Carolina Naturally program, DNER is producing a conservation planning tool to identify and prioritize the state’s most ecologically significant lands and waters for conservation. This tool will provide consolidated maps that focus on biodiversity, water, agriculture and forestry and marine and estuarine ecosystems. The approach enables cost-effective investment of tax dollars towards the most precious and vulnerable remaining lands. Several of these tools will be available for use by planners and decision makers early this year.
In July, the General Assembly placed a permanent ban on new hog farms using the lagoon system to treat waste. The Legislature also allocated $2 million to help finance hog operations that switch from hog lagoons to waste treatment technology that is more environmentally friendly.
The Clean Water Management Trust Fund funded 168 grant requests totaling $114.6 million to protect and preserve water quality in North Carolina. In addition, the program funded 58 land acquisition projects designed to protect streams, creeks and rivers from pollution by purchasing property for conservation. The fund also awarded grants for 40 restoration and stormwater management projects and 65 wastewater projects, most of which were in economically distressed counties.
The Division of Marine Fisheries established a spending plan for a $20 million Waterfront Access and Marine Industry Fund created by the General Assembly. The agency received 159 informal proposals, which were pared down to 21 projects last month. Plans call for an announcement of funding decisions in the spring.
The Division of Coastal Management enhanced public access to beaches and coastal waters through $2.9 million in grants for 23 projects in 19 local communities. The grants help pay for projects such as walkways, dune crossovers, restrooms, parking areas and piers. Funds also may be used for land acquisition or urban waterfront revitalization.
Taken individually, each one of the above projects is a step forward. Taken as a group it’s a giant leap forward for the state of North Carolina.