<< Back 6/26/02 Smokestacks bill praised as leverage against other states By Scott McLeod Politicians and environmentalists gathered last week to celebrate the passage of the Clean Smokestacks Act, but even as the significant legislation was being signed supporters said cleaning North Carolina’s air won’t be enough. “We know it’s critical to take steps to protect the mountains from pollution from other states,” Gov. Mike Easley said at a ceremony at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. “To do that, you must have leverage, must clean your own house. Now we can go to other states and say we’ve done our part, you do yours.” The bill is unique not only because of its strong emission reductions from the state’s 14 coal-fired electricity plants — which over the next decade will reduce nitrogen oxides by 78 percent, sulfur dioxides by 73 percent, and mercury emissions by 65 percent — but more importantly because of how it brought different parties together to tackle a complicated issue. “We in the mountains have created what I think is a different way of doing business in this state,” said Rep. Martin Nesbitt (D-Buncombe), who along with Sen. Steve Metcalf (D-Buncombe) is credited with shepherding the bill through the legislature. The impetus for the bill came out of Gov. Hunt’s clean air plan, which prompted three different clean air proposals — a strong plan formulated by environmentalists, a weaker plan endorsed by Hunt, and an even weaker bill supported by utility companies. After hearings on Hunt’s proposal, mountain environmentalists — headed by Brownie Newman of the Western North Carolina Alliance — crafted the Smokestacks Bill and took it to Metcalf and Nesbitt. The bill stalled last year in the legislature after it passed the Senate. Easley then worked with utility companies to forge a compromise that will allow them to forego an expected rate reduction to pay for implementing the bill. In addition, the utility companies have agreed to donate to the state their air pollution credits earned by cutting emissions. David Phillips, the vice president of the western region for CP&L, said he hopes the bill will help North Carolina convince other utility companies and other states to enact similar measures. “I think this can help people realize that there is a way to work out this kind of legislation,” said Phillips. He said CP&L’s main concerns — clean air, affordable rates, and reliable supplies — we’re all addressed in the bill. Avram Friedman is executive director of the Canary Coalition, a Sylva-based clean air advocacy group that has been a key supporter of the bill. “It couldn’t have worked out better,” said Friedman. “Now, we can take the battle to other states and the federal government.” Friedman also said that there is still work to do in North Carolina regarding emissions from automobiles. Most experts believe a lot of the pollution in WNC comes from Tennessee and the industrial Midwest. A General Accounting Office report released in March backed up that claim, saying that on low-visibility days ‘the majority of the air masses started over the industrial Midwest ... a significant minority of high-sulfur masses arrived from west of the park.” Robert Bruck, a plant pathology professor at N.C. State, says the Smokestacks Bill won’t significantly help the mountains. “Is it going to have an impact. The answer is yes. But is it going to have a thorough impact on the mountains? The answer is no,” Bruck told The Charlotte Observer.