North Carolina has a proud history of environmental protection. A generation ago the state was a regional leader in environmental protection. Between 1967 and 1985 the state passed fifty-nine environmental laws to protect everything from headwaters of the Blue Ridge to coastal submerged lands.1 These efforts were supported by governors and legislators from both sides of the aisle. With environmental disasters across the country – from Love Canal to acid rain – dominating the news, citizens demanded these laws and lawmakers responded. However, from the beginning, powerful interests within the state, from large electric utilities to the burgeoning hog industry, worked to see that the laws on the books would not be enforced – at least not enforced on powerful interests.
At the same time grassroots groups around the state sprung up to protect their local streams and rivers. In 1974 the Cape Fear River Watch formed to protect quality of life in the state’s largest watershed by conducting environmental and economic analyses.2 The Neuse River Foundation followed in 1980, the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation in 1981 and the Haw River Assembly in 1982. Since then, this network of citizen water protection groups has grown to a membership base of thousands and fights to ensure that the rights to clean water, enshrined in our state constitution and federal laws, are protected. In 1999, Waterkeeper Alliance, an umbrella organization promoting water protection groups worldwide, was formed and has since grown to over 290 grassroots member organizations protecting watersheds from the Appalachians to the Himalayas. In 2012, North Carolina’s Riverkeepers came together to form Waterkeepers Carolina to better address statewide issues. This report documents how, in 2016, Riverkeepers worked with citizens to demand protection for their rivers and drinking water. While our legislators were pushing bills to bury coal ash in unlined pits next to rivers or strip away clean water protections, Riverkeepers were documenting the contamination those coal ash pits caused upstream of major cities3 and the fish kills occurring on our coastal rivers.4
As Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Heather Deck notes in her report, enforcement of sediment pollution has dropped like a rock, “From 2010 to 2014, 25 positions were eliminated and the remaining staff conducted 10,000 fewer inspections; a reduction of more than 40 percent.” Let this be clear: Riverkeepers respect the work done by the scientists and on-the-ground staff in state government. Those hardworking professionals deserve our appreciation. More than that, they deserve to be funded and supported by their politically-appointed leaders so that they can enforce the laws on the books. If time has shown us anything it is that the less our politicians support enforcement of our environmental laws, the more work Riverkeepers have to do.
1 The Evolution of Modern North Carolina Conservation and Environmental Legislation, Milton Health, 29 Campell Law Review 535
2 www.capefearriverwatch.org
3 “What to Know About Arsenic in Charlotte’s Water Supply” www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article88187512.html
4 “Thousands of Dead Fish Near Neuse River Frustrating Community” July 14, 2016 wnct.com/2016/07/14/thousands-of-dead-fish-near-neuse-river-frustrating-community/