The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources is returning a pair of federal grants totaling more than $581,000 to study streams and wetlands that could be
harmed by hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, and wetlands monitoring, Bruce Henderson reports for the Charlotte Observer. Under new leadership appointed by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who took office in January along with a newly GOP-controlled legislature, the department now
says it doesn’t want the grants.
"Division of Water Resources director Tom Reeder said the fracking study will be done, but not now and not by the unit that applied for the grant," Henderson writes. "The Program Development Unit, which housed experts in aquatic ecosystems, is being disbanded in a reorganization of the division." Reeder told Henderson that without this data, the state won't be in compliance with its own law on fracking. He said management efficiencies, including eliminating about 70 jobs, will save the division $4 million a year and cover the cost of a fracking study.
"The unit is being dismantled as the former Division of Water Quality is absorbed by the Division of Water Resources, a move mandated by state legislators who complained that environmental regulations kill jobs," Henderson writes. "The environment department under the McCrory administration declares it will no longer be a 'bureaucratic obstacle of resistance.' The Program Development Unit was funded mostly by EPA grants totaling about $10 million over the past two decades. The money has been used to plug updated science into regulatory programs, train local regulators and monitor stream and wetland health. Among its controversial roles was in confirming that so-called intermittent streams, which flow in winter but dry up in summer, harbor aquatic life. That resulted in requirements that damage to those streams had to be compensated." (Read more)
"Division of Water Resources director Tom Reeder said the fracking study will be done, but not now and not by the unit that applied for the grant," Henderson writes. "The Program Development Unit, which housed experts in aquatic ecosystems, is being disbanded in a reorganization of the division." Reeder told Henderson that without this data, the state won't be in compliance with its own law on fracking. He said management efficiencies, including eliminating about 70 jobs, will save the division $4 million a year and cover the cost of a fracking study.
"The unit is being dismantled as the former Division of Water Quality is absorbed by the Division of Water Resources, a move mandated by state legislators who complained that environmental regulations kill jobs," Henderson writes. "The environment department under the McCrory administration declares it will no longer be a 'bureaucratic obstacle of resistance.' The Program Development Unit was funded mostly by EPA grants totaling about $10 million over the past two decades. The money has been used to plug updated science into regulatory programs, train local regulators and monitor stream and wetland health. Among its controversial roles was in confirming that so-called intermittent streams, which flow in winter but dry up in summer, harbor aquatic life. That resulted in requirements that damage to those streams had to be compensated." (Read more)
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