Who's watching our environmental watchdog?
Published October 25, 2015
Editorial by The Fayetteville Observer, October 25, 2015.
This just doesn't look good.It doesn't look good when the state agency that's supposed to enforce environmental standards and hold violators accountable instead is found to be, if not in bed with, then at least too cozy with the responsible party.
Welcome back to the sad story of the state Department of Environmental Quality (formerly Environment and Natural Resources) and its handling of the coal-ash pollution problem at Duke Energy plant sites.
If you think this is coming only from the ever-righteous environmental crowd, you're wrong. The latest comes from U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs, who wrote about the lack of progress in getting Duke to clean up toxic waste outside a plant near Salisbury where neighbors can't safely drink their well water.
Judge Biggs described the state's posture as more delaying action than enforcement action: "The Court is unable to find that DENR was trying diligently or that its state enforcement action was calculated, in good faith, to require compliance with the (Clean Water) Act."
The agency's lawyer disagreed, calling the judge's assessment "an affront" to dedicated state employees pushing for the cleanup.
Tainted wells and a tarnished agency: Make your call on the merits of the arguments, but surely North Carolina deserves better than this.
October 25, 2015 at 7:09 am
Richard L Bunce says:
The outrage is that we turn over power to the government expecting the government bureaucrats that exercise the power to be competent. They always take the easy way, want to spend more than their budget, find the easiest metrics to measure which usually have little meaning, and bury private citizens and businesses in useless paperwork.
As an example of how most government regulation, particularly environmental regulation, would work when applied to violent crime, we could lock up all males between 15 and 35 and drastically reduce the violent crime rate, or atl least require them to file lengthy reports on all their activities each month we every level of law enforcement Federal, State and Local... instead we wait until someone actually does something wrong before we punish them.
October 25, 2015 at 11:36 am
Norm Kelly says:
And has deserved better than this 'for decades'. Remember, the problem with Duke's coal ash ponds didn't just happen. The coal ash ponds, we are told by the left-wing zealots at the N&O, were KNOWN to have been leaking for decades prior to the massive spill. If the left-wing zealots at the N&D can leak an honest evaluation of the situation, probably by mistake while someone in power was out sick or at a demoncrat party fund-raiser, should they be believed when they report that their allies were responsible for the disaster? Leftists want us to believe the N&D when they report on other topics, such as a Republican being hired by the UNC system to help destroy it, or unabashedly endorsing Roy moments after he announced his bid for governor with the direct intent of taking us back to the future with standard demon/leftist policies of tax the rich, pay the poor for votes, pit black groups against white groups, and penalize business. So why shouldn't we believe the N&D when they tell us that regulators under Demon control allowed coal ash to leak for decades, which directly led to the disaster that currently exists? If they are 'honest' about their endorsement of left-wing zealot politicians without deviation, then why shouldn't they be believed when they point the finger of blame at their allies? This might not be a mistake after all, but an attempt to show they are unbiased by blaming their allies. We don't buy this attempt for a second, cuz they go back to their zealous support of leftists immediately, and start blaming Republicans who NOW control regulators. It's only NOW that Republicans are in charge that left-wing zealot organizations like the N&D and now The Fayetteville Observer tell us the relationship between Duke and regulators is too cozy. Wonder why this is? Wonder if left-wing pols still ruled in Raleigh we'd continue to hear anything about this disaster or if the spin would change? Would former-news-outlets-current-left-wing-allies be reporting how hard regulators are working to force Duke to clean up but Duke was fighting with everything it had in court to prevent such action? Since Republicans are the majority in Raleigh, they are the enemies of the left-wing allies, Duke is a hated organization that must be taken over completely by government employees, and demoncrats must be returned to power in Raleigh, we know the stories of hate toward Republicans will continue. And until the person in authority at the N&D goes on vacation again, we can expect no further truth or enlightenment from them! It would run contrary to their overzealous support of Roy. If truth isn't available from the N&D, can we expect it from elsewhere? Appears not from The Fayetteville Observer.
