The 2010 Common Agenda is Here!

The NC Common Agenda sets priorities for the environment and represents a collaborative effort by a number of environmental groups from across North Carolina who have chosen to pool their collective energies behind strategically selected priorities. 2010 marks the fourth year that participating groups have set forth a shared list of priorities through a process coordinated by the Conservation Council of NC Foundation. The NC Common Agenda will position environmental groups to set a pro-active environmental legislative agenda for the upcoming session.

At the annual NC Conservation Network meeting, attendees heard presentations on 10 separate 2010 Common Agenda campaign proposals and were given a chance to provide feedback on each topic. Once the meeting adjourned, the Steering Committee reviewed each submission and feedback from participants. This year the Common Agenda focuses on these four issues: Grow Solar North Carolina, Steep Slopes, Campaign to Promote Healthy Beaches and Inlets in NC, and Water Resource Management.
Brief explanations of the focus of each campaign are as follows:

Grow Solar North Carolina

Presented by Elizabeth Ouzts, Environment North Carolina
North Carolina is far too reliant on coal and nuclear energy. Solar power, by contrast, creates virtually no pollution. Winning additional solar tax incentives and strengthening the state’s solar requirement are essential steps on the path to increase solar power production. Environment North Carolina is seeking to enact three policies toward can recoup 25% of their costs; 2) Improve the state’s solar investment tax incentives such that they can be combined with the federal tax incentives; and 3) Adjust the state’s solar "set-aside" so that all of it is required to be produced in North Carolina and none is allowed to come from out of state. Environment North Carolina’s primary strategy is to ensure that the House and Senate leadership include solar tax incentives as a part of any jobs package they move forward. Because the leadership has demonstrated its commitment to solar energy before; because the upcoming elections give them a strong incentive to move a jobs package; and because solar is a tremendous job creator, we have a strong chance of achieving our goal with the leadership. We plan to achieve our goal by 1) building a strong coalition of environmental groups, clean energy businesses, and local elected officials; 2) releasing reports generating media attention; 3) lobbying the governor’s staff and the general assembly; 4) and producing fact sheets and white papers on this topic. Sens. Clodfelter and Nesbitt; Speaker Hackney; and Reps. Gibson, Holliman, Luebke, and Weiss have all indicated strong support for this issue. Job creation is a top priority for Democrats and Governor Perdue, so to the extent this issue is tied to job creation, it will be a high priority for them. We are less likely to strengthen the solar requirement in the short session, but advocating for it educates lawmakers and helps pave the way for more meaningful reforms in 2011 and beyond. In short, this is a winnable campaign on a popular issue that already has support from leaders in both chambers.

Steep Slopes

Presented by Julie Mayfield, Western NC Alliance
The Western North Carolina Alliance and its mountain allies propose for the Common Agenda a bill aimed at preventing landslides caused by unsound home and road construction. In recent years, Western NC has experienced a number of landslides resulting in five deaths, millions of dollars in property damage, and environmental destruction to mountainsides, forests, and streams. Many of these landslides originated where homes and roads were not properly constructed on steep slopes. This unsafe construction continues today as most western governments do not have ordinances setting minimum standards for construction on steep slopes. The proposed legislation would establish these minimum standards; mandate that local governments adopt ordinances consistent with those standards; and penalize local governments for failing to adopt an ordinance. The bill would also mandate a real estate disclosure of the landslide hazard rating assigned to the property. The time is ripe for this legislation, as there have been two highly publicized landsides in Haywood County in the last year, and the bill has a new legislative champion in Rep. Bruce Goforth, a developer and a strong advocate of "local control." His leadership will hopefully mute the real estate and homebuilder opposition that has prevented this bill from moving forward in the last two sessions. Procedurally, as this is the short session and the bill did not cross over last year, it will need to be recommended out of the Environmental Review Commission (ERC). House leadership and a co-chair of the ERC support the bill, so we do not anticipate a problem getting the bill recommended. Once recommended, it will have strong existing support from at least six mountain legislators and, with Rep. Goforth’s leadership, we anticipate most of the mountain delegation will be supportive and that the bill will finally pass. This legislation is supported by a coalition of mountain organizations that came together two years ago to work on this issue and established a listserv as a central point of communication. Other participating organizations include SELC, Clean Water for North Carolina, ECO, Polk County SOS, Blue Ridge Forever, Mountain Voices Alliance, and the Sierra Club.

Campaign to Promote Healthy Beaches and Inlets in NC

Presented by Dick Bierly, Carteret County Crossroads and NC Coastal Federation
Pressures to protect private oceanfront property from sea level rise, storms, and erosion are overwhelming existing state laws, policies, regulations, and leadership that have protected our public trust beaches for decades. This campaign seeks to maintain current safeguards for our beaches, while at the same time reaching out and enlisting the support of non-conventional partners to pursue longer-term solutions for maintaining healthy beaches for all citizens of North Carolina. Many of these solutions were identified by the Beach Management Summit organized by NC Coastal Federation in 2009. This is a long-term campaign that has to be waged in the NC General Assembly, in Congress, and with all the federal, state, and local agencies that make decisions about the future of our beaches. Specific and critical benchmarks that can be accomplished during this short session of the NC General Assembly include: 1) Defeating or sidetracking legislative efforts to allow terminal groins in North Carolina; 2) Undermining local enthusiasm for terminal groins by better communicating the downsides of this tool: costs, permitting delays, lawsuits, uncertainties about benefits, and liabilities to sponsors; 3) Obtaining good coastal adaptation recommendations by the Legislative Study Commission on Climate Change that reflect the 2009 Beach Summit proposals; 4) Assuring that there are insufficient state appropriations to fund local efforts to build terminal groins in North Carolina; 5) Building support from Governor Perdue and her Administration to support a proactive agenda to protect our beaches; and 6) Developing a future "Common Agenda" for the 2011-12 sessions of the NC General Assembly that includes a diverse group of non-traditional participants who are willing to come together to promote future policies that will protect beaches. The seeds of this pro-active agenda are contained in the 2009 Beach Summit recommendations. Protecting North Carolina’s public trust beaches is a priority for environmental groups across North Carolina, and this campaign will invite all those organizations to pursue coordinated strategies.

Water Resource Management

Presented by David Kelly, Environmental Defense Fund
Traditionally, water use in North Carolina has been governed by a system of riparian access and reasonable use. Under this standard, any landowner adjacent to a river can make reasonable use of the water in the river, provided the withdrawal does not interfere with other reasonable uses downstream. In theory, this approach allows for a balancing of withdrawals to ensure water’s most efficient use for the greatest public benefit. However, population growth, development pressure, and climate change will render this approach unsustainable. Without a system for rationally managing growth in demand, NC will likely enter an era of full blown water conflicts, hampering economic growth and resulting in massive cumulative damage to the health of NC’s waterways. American Rivers, Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, NC Conservation Network, Pamlico-Tar River Foundation, and Western NC Alliance are members of a coalition seeking state action to meet these water resource challenges. The chief outcome of this campaign will be a program to address growth in demand while protecting ecological flows for NC’s rivers and streams. A comprehensive approach to water resource planning is critical to providing reliable supplies of clean water for people and ensuring the longterm health of NC’s aquatic ecosystems. Sen. Clodfelter and Rep. Allen have introduced legislation in both chambers (S907 and H1101 respectively) and will continue leading on this issue in 2010. Coalition groups are broadening support in meetings with stakeholders, legislators, and administration officials and are hopeful that additional champions will step forward as the short session begins. With movement on this issue expected first in the Senate, initial focus will be on Senate leadership and the Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee, where the legislation currently rests. Given the current political climate, it is unlikely, though possible, that a comprehensive reform of state water policy will occur in 2010, but critical decisions will be made during this short session that will affect the future of comprehensive water resource management and we will be fully engaged. To establish the strongest ecological protections possible, the time to move forward on water resource management reform is now.

The Common Agenda process is designed to strengthen the environmental community as a whole and to position the community to win significant victories in the NC General Assembly.