Statutory Reminder for NC Officials

In the midst of all the rhetoric and half-baked excuses our State government likes to employ when ignoring environmental nightmares like Titan Cement, Cliffside and PCS Phosphates, I figured it was time to remind them of decades-old (but still gold) laws that have been passed that provide both guidance and requirements for our officials to follow. Follow me down below the fold and get ready to take notes:

(b) The General Assembly further finds and determines that the development and expansion of industry within the State, and the generation of electric power and the supply of other services by public utilities, which are essential to the economic growth of the State and to the full employment and prosperity of its people, are accompanied by the increased production and discharge of gaseous, liquid, and solid pollution and wastes which threaten and endanger the health, welfare and safety of the inhabitants of the State by polluting the air, land and waters of the State; that in order to reduce, control, and prevent such environmental pollution, it is imperative that action be taken at various levels of government to require the provision of devices, equipment and facilities for the collection, reduction, treatment, and disposal of such pollution and wastes; that the assistance provided in this Chapter, especially with respect to financing, is therefore in the public interest and serves a public purpose of the State in promoting the health, welfare and safety of the inhabitants of the State not only physically by collecting, reducing, treating and preventing environmental pollution but also economically by securing and retaining private industry thereby maintaining a higher level of employment and economic activity and stability.

This was enacted in 1975, people. It's still on the books, and any of you folks who work for us (taxpayers) need to burn those words "health, welfare and safety" into your brain. That comes first, way ahead of any other considerations. To continue:

it is the policy of the State to finance only those facilities where there is a direct or indirect favorable impact on employment or an improvement in the degree of prevention or control of pollution commensurate with the size and cost of the facilities.

161 jobs at Titan, (probably) only a third of which will actually be filled by currently unemployed local workers, is not even close to "commensurate" with the size and cost of this facility. Period, exclamation mark.

And here's a little friendly (yet legal) reminder for local Commisioners:

If any officer, commissioner or employee of the authority, or any member of the governing body of the county for which the authority is created, shall be interested either directly or indirectly in any contract with the authority, such interest shall be disclosed to the authority and the county board of commissioners and shall be set forth in the minutes of the authority and the county board of commissioners, and the officer, commissioner, employee or member having such interest therein shall not participate on behalf of the authority in the authorization of any such contract or on behalf of the governing body of the county in the approval of the bonds to be issued by the authority to finance the project

Must be disclosed, and cannot participate. It's pretty simple. If you're in violation of this, pack your bags, buddy. Somehow, someway, we'll found out, and roast you on the public spit. Believe it.

Back to the State-level requirements:

(b) Findings. The Secretary shall not approve any proposed industrial project or pollution control project unless the Secretary makes all of the following, applicable findings:

(1) In the case of a proposed industrial project, that the proposed project will not have a materially adverse effect on the environment.

(3) In the case of an industrial project or a pollution control project, except a pollution control project for a public utility,

a. That the jobs to be generated or saved, directly or indirectly, by the proposed project will be large enough in number to have a measurable impact on the area immediately surrounding the proposed project and will be commensurate with the size and cost of the proposed project

It is my opinion, legally unqualified it may be, that both Titan Cement and the PCS Phosphates projects far exceed the negative environmental impacts this Statute was enacted to prevent, and any State employee engaged in the facilitation of these projects is breaking the law. Period, exclamation point.