McCrory needs to prove he can stand up to industries that pollute

Published February 15, 2014

Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, February 11, 2014.

State environmental officials have been busy backpedaling of late. Last week they assured residents that a coal-ash spill from a Duke Energy power plant had not put excessive amounts of arsenic and other toxic metals into the Dan River in Rockingham County. But – oops! – they later reported that they’d made a mistake and that at least one test showed levels four times the level deemed safe.

Now a former employee of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources says that under Gov. Pat McCrory regulators consider their “customer” to be the industries they are supposed to watch over, as opposed to the public. And an environmental group accuses the state of using its enforcement powers to shield Duke from the group’s attempt to sue under the federal Clean Water Act. The group sought to force Duke to clean out coal-ash ponds at plants around the state, including the Sutton Steam Plant off U.S. 421 north of Wilmington.

There has always been criticism that regulators are too chummy with the industries they regulate, and environmentalists often complain that penalties are too soft.

Those fears have multiplied since McCrory took office. His administration’s focus on easing the regulatory burden on businesses to spur economic growth has fueled suspicion that environmental protection is not DENR’s primary mandate nowadays. The governor also is a former employee of the company and Duke executives and relatives gave or raised more than $1.1 million to his two campaigns for office.

Just coincidentally, of course, some of those executives hold important positions in his administration.

In the year since he’s been in office, DENR has intervened at least three times by filing notice of enforcement just in time to stop litigation by the Southern Environmental Law Center from proceeding. In one case involving coal ash leaking from the Asheville Steam Generating Plant, the state proposed to fine Duke $99,111, with no requirement to clean out the ponds. The company would have to study how to make the area environmentally safe.

DENR eventually asserted is enforcement jurisdiction in the case of every one of Duke’s coal-fired plants in North Carolina.

Then along came last week’s coal-ash spill from a leaking pipe at the retired Dan River Steam Station, making it all but impossible for the administration to justify what would amount to a slap on the wrist for the nation’s largest utility. DENR asked a judge to hold off on approving the Asheville spill settlement, and McCrory pledged to get tough.

The people are waiting. Thirty-one coal-ash ponds around the state are threats to ground and surface waters, as well as to public health, and other environmental catastrophes are certain to happen if DENR relaxes its regulatory hand.

It is far better for all North Carolinians not to drag out legal action that could take years to resolve and could delay cleanup of the toxic waste dumps. Only a year into his term, McCrory still has time to demonstrate that he can be both an economic development governor and one who stands strong for the environment – the two do not have to be mutually exclusive.

But he risks losing all credibility if the public perceives that he and DENR are using their “enforcement” powers to protect polluters from harsher consequences.