Environmental Protection Policy

NCCBI recognizes that conservation of natural resources and protection of the environment are essential to the welfare of North Carolina citizens. Accordingly, the Committee encourages members to conduct their operations in an environmentally responsible manner and in compliance with all duly enacted standards, regulations and permit conditions.

NCCBI believes that as a business protects the environment, it preserves the quality of life for its employees and their families, as well as for all citizens of North Carolina. Protecting the environment is not an option - it is essential to sustainable growth for North Carolina.

NCCBI believes that the state of North Carolina should provide and encourage opportunities for new business and industry and for the expansion of existing firms, and should provide a healthy foundation for industrial development. It is imperative that we maintain a strong economy in order to sustain effective environmental protection.

It is NCCBI policy that environmental laws, regulations, and standards should be established only after proper economic and scientific studies have been completed.  Such studies must show that the environmental benefit to be obtained is clearly needed and cost-justified. Further, NCCBI believes that the total environment and economic well-being of the citizens of North Carolina are both achievable, and are not mutually exclusive objectives.  Accordingly, NCCBI will:

1.    Encourage North Carolina legislators and regulatory agencies to enact and administer pollution abatement and control programs in a decentralized manner (on a regional or local basis, if possible) that rely to the greatest extent possible on incentives and voluntary compliance.

2.    Be an active participant on behalf of its members with national, state and local regulatory agencies to ensure that the development of new environmental laws, standards, and regulations are based on sound and sufficient risk assessment, risk management, and risk policy analysis are cost-justified; are not arbitrary or capricious; and offer measurable environmental improvement. NCCBI will oppose any laws, standards, or regulations which do not meet the foregoing criteria;

3.    Encourage members to participate in the legislative and regulatory rule-making process so that business community concerns, as well as support, is heard for proposed environmental policies and programs. Further, members are encouraged to offer assistance to the state legislature and regulatory bodies as they carry out their statutory duties.

4.    Promote an awareness among the general public through school education, seminars, or other appropriate means, of the critical need to create a balanced approach to economic growth. Such a balanced approach will focus on environmental protection, business development and full employment opportunities, recognizing that environmental protection and economic growth can only be optimized when all of North Carolina’s citizens understand the relationship between the two.

5.    Encourage members and business in general to continue efforts to maximize the amount of waste produces, as well as to reduce, to the maximum extent practicable, the volume and toxicity of wastes taken off-site for treatment and disposal. Members are encouraged to participate in North Carolina’s voluntary Pollution Prevention Pays Program;

6.    Continue to encourage members to implement voluntary initiatives which go beyond already stringent requirements of the law. Members are encouraged to employ corporate policies, environmental audits, and industrial cooperative efforts, understanding that such efforts do not impose legal obligations on any entity to go beyond mandates but recognize the benefits of doing so.

Administrative Procedures Act / Regulatory Reform
Air Quality

Brownfields Redevelopment

Communications

Endangered Species/Critical Habitats

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