The Voice of Business, Industry & the Professions Since 1942
North Carolina's largest business group proudly serves as the state chamber of commerce

Communications

Position: NCCBI encourages the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) and other related departments, divisions and commissions within state government to provide the public with balanced, scientifically based information on a regular basis about the state of the environment in North Carolina.

Explanation: There is a growing perception that DENR, EMC and other related state bodies readily disseminate bad news concerning the environment while making little if any effort to provide the public with information about the many successes achieved in protecting and enhancing air and water quality. While DENR gathers this information and annually prepares a State of the Environment Report, the state as a whole is rarely exposed to the positive information about how North Carolina’s environment is improving.

NCCBI recognizes that it is vitally important that everyone in North Carolina, most specifically  the regulated community, continue to protect and enhance environmental quality. NCCBI also believes that much good work has been accomplished in environmental protection, and that state regulators should make a more conscious effort to tell this “good news.”

Many examples of this “good news” can be found in DENR’s 1997 State of the Environment report, which disclosed that:

  • The overall cleanliness of the state in the state’s 17 river basins is 65 percent better than in the 1970’s.
  • Only 3 percent of the surface waters in the state don’t at least partially support their “highest and best” use.
  • Emissions of all six of the toxic chemicals that cause air pollution are either unchanged or are down significantly from 25 years ago.
  • Only 4 percent of the land covered by maritime forests on the Outer Banks has been sacrificed to development in the past seven years.
  • The tonnage of materials recycled through local government programs increased 225 percent from 1990 to 1995; used oil collections rose 230 percent and the number of scrap tires going into landfills fell 425 percent.

If you have comments on any of the NCCBI positions or other issues,
please click here for a feedback form

Administrative Procedures Act / Regulatory Reform
Air Quality
Brownfields Redevelopment
Endangered Species/Critical Habitats
Environmental Protection Policy
Environmental Justice
Executive Summary
Pollution Prevention, Waste Reduction, And Energy Management
Risk Management
Sustainable Development and Growth Planning
Science Education
Water Quality Protection
Wetlands Protection
 

Visit us at 225 Hillsborough Street, Suite 460, Raleigh, N.C.
Write to us at P.O. Box 2508, Raleigh, N.C. 27602
Call us at 919.836.1400 or fax us at 919.836.1425
e-mail:
info@nccbi.org

Co_pyright © 1998-2001, All Rights Reserved