There is a break in ranks among environmental organizations regarding the Clean Smokestacks Bill.
In early September, sponsors Sen. Steve Metcalf (D-Asheville) and Rep. Martin Nesbitt (D-Asheville) announced revisions to the bill which had been languishing in the House Utilities Committee after passing the Senate by a 43-5 vote.

Michael Shore, Southeast air quality manager for North Carolina Environmental Defense, called the revised bill “a balanced, fair solution to North Carolina’s worsening air pollution problem.”

Avram Friedman, executive director of the Sylva-based Canary Coalition, has a different opinion. In a recent editorial in area newspapers, Friedman said “the Canary Coalition ... will not line up to give its stamp of approval to the compromise being proposed. This compromise sets a poor example for other states to follow and undermines North Carolina’s ability to compel cleanups elsewhere in the region.”

While they differ regarding the effects of the compromise, they concur on the genesis — big industry.
“A broad coalition of organizations worked to pass the clean Smokestacks Bill including health, tourism, utilities, environmentalists, fish farmers and many local governments. But manufacturers and their powerful lobbyists are fighting the bill,” Shore said.

According to Friedman, “Polls showed residential consumers were willing to pay their share in exchange for clean air. But, high energy consuming industry objected to the fact that utilities were able to pass on the entire cost to consumers .... This is where the governor and legislators have failed.”

The original bill called for a 78-percent cut in NOx (nitrogen oxide) from 1998 levels. The compromise calls for a 72-percent cut, which Friedman said will not have a meaningful impact on ground-level ozone and its adverse health effects.

Shore said the 72-percent reduction “would not be everything we wanted, but it’s nothing to shake a stick at.”

Friedman believes a “trigger” mechanism inserted in the compromise allowing the SOx (sulfur dioxide) reduction to be accomplished in two stages is a cop out. “Although the ultimate goal in the bill is a 73-percent reduction of SOx, it’s doubtful this would ever be achieved. DENR [Department of Energy and Natural Resources] has been notorious for favoring industrial interests over public opinion on air quality issues.”

Brownie Newman of the Western North Carolina Alliance (WNCA) said the language of the bill guarantees the SOx reductions.

“The only way phase II would not occur would be if no demonstrable health benefits would occur from its implementation. There is enough evidence to show that further SOx reduction would certainly generate more health benefits,” Newman said.

Friedman also argued that the language of the bill allows utilities to trade pollution credits rather than cut emissions. Friedman wrote, “According to federal policy, if a power plant in California is meeting or exceeding federal pollution standards, it can sell pollution credits to a plant in North Carolina that is not meeting standards. This enables the North Carolina utilities to meet federal regulations and continue to operate its power plants without actually cleaning them up.”

Newman disagrees. He said all the bill’s sponsors and all attorneys who have read it are certain the bill calls for actual reductions.

“We feel the integrity of this bill has been preserved. It still represents one of the strongest pieces of air quality legislation in the country,” Newman said.

Shore agrees: “Even with the compromises this is a great bill for North Carolina.”

Shore and Newman noted that all but two of the 12 eorganizations that came together as the N.C. Clean Air Coalition support the compromise bill. Area organizations that were a part of the coalition include WNCA, Appalachian Voices, Sierra Club, N.C. Environmental Defense and the Clean Water Fund among others. The Canary Coalition and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League have withdrawn support.

“The Canary Coalition remains committed to building support for the original Clean Smokestacks Bill that passed in the Senate overwhelmingly last April,” Friedman said.

 

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