- Legislative Review
2010 Legislative Review
The 2010 North Carolina Legislative session ended early on Saturday July 10th after a long final session lasting almost 24 hours. In a year dominated by the budget, several positive bills were passed that aim to further protect clean water.
Special thanks to the North Carolina Conservation Network for the information used in this synopsis.
Senate Bill 836: Oil Spill Liability, Response, & Preparedness
With little to no opposition, the Assembly passed this bill that holds any responsible party for an oil spill into coastal waters or offshore waters, including oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, that causes damages to the territorial jurisdiction of North Carolina will be held strictly liable with no cap on damages. Additionally, the bill requires the State to be provided with detailed information and data requirements prior to any future offshore proposal.
House Bill 1743: Improve River Basin Modeling
This bill will help North Carolina develop the scientific information we need to manage water resources wisely. The bill charges NC's Division of Water Resources to prepare hydrologic models for each of the state’s 17 major river basins. The models will be used to predict how much water can be withdrawn for human use without injuring a river's health or existing uses (e.g. recreation, water supply, etc).. Whether the state actually decides to manage water wisely will be determined in a future session, when legislators consider whether to institute permitting of water withdrawals.
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