H484 Update | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Stan:

    This is an update on H484 -- which is setting up the first statewide permitting process for industrial wind energy.

    This should be of interest to ALL NC citizens, as everyone will be directly affected (economically and environmentally) by the outcome here.

    Wednesday it was heard by the House Utility Committee, and they approved an updated version of the bill: H484v3.

    The good news is that (at our insistence) they removed the "Whereas" section at the beginning of the bill.

    This part initially had several false and misleading statements about wind energy [e.g. "Whereas, North Carolina has abundant wind resources throughout the State"].

    The bad news is that:

    a) there are still no human health safeguards, and
    b) there are still no genuine environmental protections, and
    c) there are still no real protections for NC military bases.

    Although the changes needed are simple and easy to add, this situation exists because almost no NC citizens have formally objected to these omissions. One of the bill's sponsors said that they opposed adding any of these as "it would make wind implementation more difficult." !!

    In other words lets sacrifice the health of NC citizens, the NC environment, and the NC military for the sake of some foreign conglomerate!

    Is that mentality OK to you??? I've written an Executive Summary of what should be done.

    Our number one need right now is to get two or more NC citizens to speak up at the last House Committee hearing on this bill, which will most likely be next Wednesday in Raleigh.

    I will be glad to provide a short statement to read, and am willing to personally pay for your gas to attend.

    At this week's Utility Committee hearing on H484 (from what I understand): a representative from the wind industry spoke to the Committee, along with two attorneys and an accountant. No one addressed the health, environmental, or military deficiencies that this bill has!

    The ONLY way for this situation to be fixed is to have citizens to speak about this, on the record, at the next committee meeting.

    Please let me know how you can help make this happen!



    PS -- If it is impossible for you (BCN's readership) to attend next week's committee, then please call all of the bill's primary sponsors to object to the three major omissions stated in red, above. Use your own words. Those legislators are;

    Representative John Bell: (919) 715-3017
    Representative Chris Whitmire: (919) 715-4466
    Representative Pat McElraft: (919) 715-6275
    Representative Jimmy Dixon: (919) 715-3021
    Senator Harry Brown: (919) 715-3034 [Note the senate version is #S491, so reference that number when calling him]

    Regards,

    John Droz, Jr.
    Physicist & Environmental Advocate