Editorial

Environmental Permits

The thing that makes business people the maddest, or so they tell me, is when legislators assume they will rape the earth if the state averts its regulatory gaze for even a second. Some legislators, certainly not all, seem to believe that you just can’t trust a business person to do what’s right, even if that’s also what’s good for business.

An example of this thinking has been on display in the General Assembly for a couple of years now during consideration of an NCCBI-backed measure that would simplify the process of getting required air and water discharge permits. Under current law, when a company expands an existing facility or builds a new one you can’t turn the first shovelful of earth until you are in possession of every permit the plant will need after construction is completed and the facility goes online. That may sound good in theory but in practice it often results in artificially inflated construction costs.

We’ve heard many horror stories of businesses who told their contractors, subcontractors and real estate people to be on site and ready to start a project in six to eight weeks — when the state said the air or water permits would be granted — only to learn at the last minute that there will be a delay of a few weeks in issuing the permits. You’re caught in a trap. You can’t start work without the permits and you can’t send the crews home. So you wait it out while everyone’s expense clocks run.

NCCBI has tried repeatedly to get the law changed to say that you could go ahead with construction before obtaining air and water permits, but you couldn’t begin operating the facility until all permits were in place. Our first real success came in June when the Senate unanimously approved legislation that would do exactly that.

The legislation does not change any air quality standard; does not allow a facility to operate without meeting all state and federal requirements and receiving all needed permits; and does not affect any federal requirement nor relieve any business from preconstruction or construction prohibitions imposed by any federal requirement. In so many words, the legislation says: If you’re confident enough in your planning to begin construction not knowing for sure that what you build will pass environmental muster, then go right ahead.

The bill limits construction at new facilities to clearing and grading; development of access roads, driveways, and parking lots; installation of underground utilities; and construction of accessory structures that are not part of the pollution control equipment such as fences and office buildings. A new facility can do these things without giving advance notice to DENR.

As the General Assembly shuffled toward adjournment last month, we were pleased to see that the bill also passed the House before going back to the Senate for concurrence. Hopefully the General Assembly reached an agreement and forwarded the bill to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature. -- Steve Tuttle

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