'Polluter's wish list' moving in NC legislature

A bill environmental lawyers describe as a “polluters’ wish list” is set to move forward at the General Assembly, potentially making it harder for the state to regulate so-called forever chemicals in drinking water supplies.

This wide-ranging regulatory reform is expected to go before the state Senate Wednesday. Some of the language will morph when it does, according to Republican Sen. Norm Sanderson, one the bill’s handlers.

Sanderson said Monday evening that bill supporters have negotiated away most of the concerns brought up by Gov. Roy Cooper’s Department of Environmental Quality. But a key sticking point remains: A section that would limit state water pollution regulations, including when it comes to PFAS, a family of chemicals so durable they’re called “forever chemicals,” and 1,4-dioxane, a carcinogen.

Both have become common in North Carolina waterways, fueling health worries, lawsuits and removal costs. The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority spent $43 million on water treatment plant upgrades in Wilmington over the past several years to remove PFAS chemicals, including one called GenX, from its drinking water.

Sanderson, R-Pamlico, said lawmakers are trying to find language that allows regulation without forcing companies that make or use these chemicals to radically alter their business models.

“We take [water pollution] very seriously, but we’ve got to be careful that we don’t cause a lot of collateral damage,” Sanderson said.

Language that lawyers say would make it harder for the state to regulate these chemicals is part of House Bill 600, a 36-page bill that touches on a wide range of environmental regulations. The bill moved through the Senate Rules Committee Monday, a final step before a major vote on the Senate floor.

Sanderson said the bill will be amended on the floor. Most of those amendments, which weren’t available Monday evening when the Rules Committee moved the measure forward, won’t fundamentally change the bill but clarify it, Sanderson said.

The Southern Environmental Law Center has targeted the bill, and particularly the water pollution section, as one of its biggest worries this legislative session. The group called it “a polluters’ wish list that limits the state’s ability to protect drinking water and the health and safety of North Carolinians.”

Cooper’s Department of Environmental Quality declined comment on the bill as negotiations continue. But DEQ talking points circulated to lawmakers this month asked for more than a dozen changes, including the wholesale removal of multiple bill sections, including the section impacting PFAS and 1,4-dioxane regulations.

Leaving that language as-is would impact regulations for “hundreds of substances,” the DEQ talking points state. The department and the Southern Environmental Law Center have both said this section runs afoul of federal environmental rules.

Sanderson said lawmakers don’t want the state regulating these chemicals more strictly than the federal government and are trying to find the right language for a bill that will impact businesses and the environment. Sanderson said bill negotiators are trying to walk a fine line, and he urged his fellow lawmakers to move the bill forward despite its unfinished nature.

“There’s a lot of stuff in this bill that’s going to be good for the state of North Carolina,” Sanderson said.

Southern Environmental Law Center Program Director Geoff Gisler said the bill may be “among the worst that I’ve seen over the last decade.”

The measure has also drawn concerns from The Umstead Coalition, a nonprofit organization working to protect Umstead State Park. Coalition chair Jean Spooner asked lawmakers Monday to drop a section that changes river and stream buffer rules for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which borders the park in western Wake County.

Sanderson said bill sponsors are satisfied with the language in that section.

In addition to House Bill 600, a separate measure opening wetlands around the state to development also has environmentalists worried as this legislative session heads toward a likely July close. Cooper vetoed that measure, commonly called the farm act, Friday, but the state Senate voted Monday evening to overturn that veto.

The House is expected to follow suit as soon as Tuesday, which would make the measure law.

Passage of the farm act, along with House Bill 600, Gisler said, “would be a disastrous couple of weeks for North Carolinians.”