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Senate Ignores Governor's Mobility Fund

The 2010 Session of the NC General Assembly kicked off on May 12 with a review of the Governor’s proposed $19 billion budget. The Senate, which is the first chamber to release their budget proposal, immediately began crafting their own ideas in time to meet the shortened deadline of May 20th.  The final vote on the Senate budget was held yesterday with votes being cast mostly along party lines – Democrats in favor and Republicans against.  The House is scheduled to pass their budget by June 10 after which time both sides will appoint conferees to work out the differences and pass a budget before the end of June. 

The most notable difference between the Governor and the Senate budget proposals is the Senate’s omission of the Governor’s proposed Mobility Fund.  The Mobility Fund was created to address critical congestion bottlenecks and improve logistics capabilities and would serve as the only source of funding for projects of statewide significance.  The funding source for the Mobility Fund would come from a combination of minimal increases in various DMV fees and the reduction in the general fund transfer from the Highway Trust Fund – something transportation advocates have been working on for years.  The initial fund amount would be $95 million in 2011 but would grow to almost $300 by 2013.  The first scheduled project is the completion of the I-85 north section of the Yadkin River Bridge.   Future funds will be available for all state transportation modes including roads, aviation, ports, transit and rail.

PENC is working with other transportation stakeholders like NCGo! to encourage House budget writers to include the Mobility Fund in their proposed budget. 

Both the Senate and Governor’s budgets close a $1.2 billion budget gap through a combination of spending reductions and reliance on federal stimulus dollars.  The two sides agreed on targeted incentives for small business and other initiatives aimed at creating jobs. 

Both budgets also include $2 million for the Main Street Program which provides grants to communities to revitalize downtown areas and $3 million to match private monies through the Rural Center’s building reuse grant program.

Other highlights of interest to engineers included in both the Senate and Governor’s budgets include:

• $13.5 million in state match for the Clean Water Revolving Loan and Grant Fund

• $11.2 million for DENR Water Resources Projects

• $50 million for Clean Water Management Trust Fund

• Eliminates aid to local governments for the establishment of sediment and erosion control programs

• Provides for a one-time assessment on utilities for pay for Environmental Engineer to conduct dam safety inspections

• Eliminates positions in the Office of State Construction

Some differences in the two budget proposals include:

• The Senate budget includes over $18 million in UNC System Capital improvements that are not included in the Governor’s budget. 

• The Senate provides $3.0 million for the Energy Production Infrastructure Center at UNC-Charlotte which opens in 2011

• Senate included $200k to support the creation of certain school sites recommended by the Joining Our Businesses and Schools Study Commission – one of which is the Early High School focused on the Engineering Grand Challenges as promoted by PENC’s President, Pam Townsend, PE, who was appointed to the Commission by the Governor

• The Governor’s budget includes $5.0 million for biotechnology and biofuel initiatives.

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Basnight Announces Bond Bill

The NC Design/Construction Jobs Recovery Coalition comprised of representatives from AIA-NC, PENC, ACEC, AGC, NCSS and ASLA got good news today when Senator Basnight made known that he plans on unveiling a bond package in the coming days:

“Senate leader Marc Basnight says a bond package will be introduced in the chamber in coming days to support the improvement and expansion of engineering schools at the state's public universities. Basnight, D-Dare, didn't put a price tag on the borrowing bill, but called it a "small bond package." He said boosting engineering training in the state will support efforts to bring innovative, high-tech companies to the state. One such company, which he declined to name, is currently considering North Carolina and two other states, Basnight added.(THE INSIDER, 5/20/10). “

The Coalition has been making the rounds this week, talking to the State’s financial leaders  - State Treasurer, Janet Cowell and State Budget Director, Charlie Perusse, in hopes that a financing package to fund much needed infrastructure could be crafted this year in time for the legislative session.  

Our coalition has been working together since last November and has also met with several key members of the General Assembly and staff from Governor Perdue’s office. 

 

Join us on June 2 for Jobs Recovery Day at the Legislature!  Click here for more information and to register.

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Toll Transponders

The N.C. Turnpike Authority has signed a $7.9 million contract for technology that will enable the state to collect tolls electronically on the 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway. No cash-collection tollbooths are planned for TriEx, now under construction in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County. The state's first modern toll road is slated to open in RTP in 2011 and in western Wake in 2012. Dallas-based TransCore, a unit of Roper Industries, will provide car-mounted transponders for motorists who pay tolls by maintaining debit accounts with the turnpike authority. Electronic sensors will record toll-road trips. Drivers without transponders will be billed at a higher rate for tolls, based on photos of their license plates. "We are proud that North Carolina will have one of the most technologically advanced toll operations in the nation," state Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said. "The implementation of this wireless system will provide motorists with seamless travel by allowing them to pay tolls at highway speed." The contract also will enable North Carolina to collect electronic tolls from drivers who have E-ZPass transponders and debit accounts with turnpike agencies in northeastern states, and from those with transponders that use different technology in Florida, Texas and other southern states.(Bruce Siceloff, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/05/10).

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I-95 Toll

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has asked federal highway officials to establish tolls on Interstate 95 near the North Carolina border to pay for repairs that he says are sorely needed along the busy interstate. The tolls of $1 or $2 for each axle would generate $30 million to $60 million annually, McDonnell wrote in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Virginia would be the only state south of Maryland to charge tolls on the interstate, which runs from Maine to Florida. "Interstate Route 95 is one of the nation's largest and most important transportation corridors, linking commercial and economic centers and tourist destinations up and down the East Coast," McDonnell wrote in the letter, dated April 30 but released Monday. "Currently, however, significant portions of Interstate Route 95 have deficient pavements and structures," McDonnell added.

In his letter to LaHood, McDonnell noted that VDOT has seen budget reductions of $4.6 billion over the past two years. He said toll revenue would allow Virginia to redirect maintenance dollars to other transportation projects in the state. McDonnell said he and Connaughton "believe that the imposition of tolls on I-95 is the most efficient and timely method to generate the much-needed revenue to make these improvements to the corridor." North Carolina highway officials did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment. If approved by federal highway officials, a proposed toll area would have to undergo an environmental review. The McDonnell's office said the earliest a toll would be established is 2012.(THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5/10/10).

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UNC Coal Use

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will stop using coal in its power plant within the next decade, Chancellor Holden Thorp said. Thorp accepted all recommendations that he received last week from a task force studying energy issues. The school's cogeneration facility will test co-firing coal with biomass later this spring. By May 2020, the school aims to end all coal use. In the fall, Binghamton University in New York state made a similar pledge. In February, UNC students protested their school's power plant as part of a national campaign by the Sierra Club. Campaign coordinator Kim Teplitzky said Chapel Hill's commitment is a sizeable victory in the campaign to cut coal use on campuses.(THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5/04/10).

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Wind Farm Regulation

Legislation to regulate large-scale wind farms isn't likely to gain traction this year, some lawmakers say. A proposal approved by the Senate 42-1 last year would establish regulations for where wind turbines can be built, but also banned energy-generating windmills from Appalachian ridges -- a move seen as protecting mountain vistas key to the region's tourism industry. But advocates for the state's growing alternative energy sector want to keep from walling off territory that could be exploited to generate clean energy. Lawmakers say they may be at an impasse. "I think we plan to leave it alone because anything we try to do, the Senate will put a ban in it," the House Energy Committee chairwoman, Rep. Angela Bryant, D-Nash, said Tuesday. "So we are hoping that nothing will happen." The House Energy Committee's vice chairwoman, Rep. Pricey Harrison, believes the ridge-top ban is a bad idea at a time when wind-power companies want to operate in North Carolina and electric utilities are required to get more of their energy from renewable sources. "I think we are reluctant in the House to move a bill that is perceived as being anti-wind at a time when our energy policies are attracting a lot of interest in renewable energy providers," Harrison, D-Guilford, wrote in an e-mail.

The bill would require a state permit to build wind farms. They could be blocked if they harm navigation, wildlife or the views from any state or national park. Wind-power advocates recently proposed a compromise that would pare about 140,000 acres of windy elevations west of Interstate 77 down to about 10,000 acres with good potential for generating power, said Brandon Blevins, wind program coordinator for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. The remaining sites are away from the vistas offered from federal and state lands, off bird flyways, yet near existing transmission lines and roads, Blevins said. But Senate Majority Leader Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe, insisted Tuesday that mountain peaks are no place for turbines that may stand 40-stories tall. "When you look at where the wind energy is, it's on the coast, it's in the Midwest, it's in the Gulf," Nesbitt said. "The wind energy across the mountains is spotty at best." Nesbitt's view has the backing of Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare. "I agree with him. We should not put those turbines on top of the mountains," Basnight said. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, working at the General Assembly's request, last year reported the state's Outer Banks holds strong potential for utility-scale wind energy production that could create thousands of jobs.(Emery P. Dalesio, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5/11/10).

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Titan America

A judge's ruling that a comprehensive environmental review must be completed before Titan America moves forward with a proposed cement plant in Castle Hayne could "set an anti-industry precedent," Titan officials said. Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens ruled Monday that because the company has accepted $4.5 million in state and local incentives, the state Environmental Policy Act requires the project to undergo a comprehensive review before the company can receive any permits. In a statement released Wednesday, Titan officials said they are "evaluating next steps" in the wake of the ruling. The decision was a victory for environmental groups and residents concerned that the plant would be built before the full environmental costs of the plant - from air pollution to wetlands destruction - were known.

Titan officials said the company had followed the process "to the letter of the law" and that they intended to conduct a comprehensive review before construction began. However, they said they wanted to receive the air permit first. The statement said Bob Odom, the project manager for Titan's local subsidiary, could provide additional information, but a public relations strategist for Titan said that Odom would not do interviews. Company officials have said they need the air permit first so they can begin the long process to plan and purchase equipment. Mike Giles, a coastal advocate for the N.C. Coastal Federation, said Titan is trying to get the permit before more stringent federal regulations come down from the Environmental Protection Agency, and as a "divide and conquer" strategy to get their permits piecemeal.

Besides the impacts on Titan's own project, company officials say the court decision has broader implications because it "sets an anti-industry precedent that could put future commerce of North Carolina at great risk." But environmental opponents stress that even if an industry receives incentives, the only projects that will be delayed by SEPA are ones that could have a serious effect on the environment. "It's designed to make sure that particular industries fall under a thorough review," Giles said. "Why would you want to bring an industry that is going to pollute without a thorough review?"(Chris Mazzolini, WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS, 5/05/10).

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Coal Ash

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules that could classify coal ash as hazardous waste. Ash contains metals that in high levels can cause cancer and other health problems. For decades, utilities have mixed it with water held in ponds. Dry ash is stored in landfills, or it's used to prepare construction sites or in such products as cement and wallboard. But a massive 2008 spill of ash sludge in Tennessee prompted the EPA to try to prevent a repeat disaster. "The time has come for common-sense national protections to ensure the safe disposal of coal ash," agency administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. The EPA will take public comments for 90 days on two options for regulating ash. One option would place it under federal rules that regulate hazardous waste, the other under rules for nonhazardous waste such as garbage. The EPA estimates it would cost utilities nearly $1.5 billion a year if ash is regulated as hazardous waste, and $587 million if not.

Duke Energy said it will urge the EPA to classify ash as nonhazardous, the option likely to be less costly. "Obviously if we're required to retrofit existing ponds with liners, that would be a tremendous cost to our customers," said Duke spokesman Andy Thompson. Environmental groups called for the more stringent approach. "The industry-backed option of regulating coal ash as household waste ... is not sufficient to keep arsenic, lead, chromium, cadmium and other toxic heavy metals from contaminating water," said Upper Watauga Riverkeeper Donna Lisenby. Both options would require that liners be installed in existing ash ponds, an expensive process intended to prevent groundwater contamination. EPA said it would encourage utilities to close their ponds and store dry ash in lined landfills.(Bruce Henderson, CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/05/10).

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Global Climate Change

North Carolina state government should create a strategy on how it will adapt to changing weather patterns and climate in response to global warming, according to a legislative panel wrapping up four years of work. A majority of members attending the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change meeting approved the panel's final report to the General Assembly. The report offered seven ideas to the Legislature, including urging agencies to consider how to reduce carbon-based emissions. The panel also wants shoreline maps drawn so climate-related changes can be monitored. The panel agreed climate changes are under way and projected to grow. It earlier agreed that human activity is a factor in these changes. It also recommended creating two permanent global climate panels.(THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5/06/10).

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Catawba Water

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster announced that Duke Energy and South Carolina have reached an agreement that will keep an even flow of water and improve oxygen levels in the Catawba River. The agreement comes as the Charlotte, N.C.-based power company seeks to relicense its hydroelectric power plants on the South Carolina portion of the river. The Catawba River travels 225 miles through the Carolinas. It supplies drinking water for more than 1 million people and is a major source of electricity generation for twice that many residents. Duke Energy will maintain a continuous flow of water from the Lake Wylie dam and will take steps to improve the oxygen levels of water downstream. In exchange, McMaster will drop his opposition to the company's water quality case as part of its dam relicensing process. "We hope this settlement will expedite the resolution of the South Carolina water quality certification," said Catherine Heigel, president of Duke Energy's South Carolina operations. The agreement, however, does not affect the 2007 lawsuit McMaster filed to stop a plan to allow two North Carolina cities to pump up to 10 million gallons a day from the Catawba and Yadkin river basins, both of which cross the state line with South Carolina. That case is being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.(THE STATE, 5/07/10).