NC Environmental Groups Join Forces to Protect Against Drought and Water Pollution

NC Common Agenda: Priorities for the Environment Conveys Key 2008 Issues

RALEIGH, N.C. (June 11, 2008) – Protecting the public from the effects of drought is just one of the issues the environmental community is asking the General Assembly to take action on during the short summer session. An alliance of nine N.C. environmental groups is putting its collective energy behind this and three other measures. The package of legislative initiatives is called the NC Common Agenda: Priorities for the Environment. And 2008 marks the second consecutive year that the environmental community has set forth a shared list of priorities.

“The purpose of the Common Agenda is to let legislators know our priorities,” says Dan Crawford, director of government relations for the Conservation Council of North Carolina. “We want to ensure that clean water, air and beach initiatives stay at the forefront of issues facing the legislature. We want to be clear with legislators that these issues are particularly important to the citizens we serve.”

The nine organizations ask the General Assembly to take the following steps:
· Save our coastal waters. Do not repeal, delay or weaken North Carolina’s new coastal stormwater rules. Allow the rules to go into effect as planned.
· Keep our beaches public and natural. Retain the state’s prudent ban on hardened structures on the oceanfront and inlets. Defeat S599.
· Support strong drought responses. Protect North Carolina against future droughts by enacting Pass Water Conservation and Efficiency measures H2499/S1879, Drought/Water Management Recommendations.
· Curb global warming pollution. The Clean Cars program could reduce global warming pollution by as much as 10 percent by 2020. Lawmakers should pass H2526 to set North Carolina up to adopt the program in 2009.
“With the Assembly moving quickly toward the end of a short session this summer, it is imperative that they do not lose sight of the importance of the state’s communities, environment and the health of its residents,” says Crawford.

The collaboration of environmental groups are: Audubon NC, Conservation Council of North Carolina, Environment North Carolina, Environmental Defense Fund, NC Coastal Federation, NC Conservation Network, NC Sierra Club, Penderwatch & Conservancy and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

About The Common Agenda: Priorities for the Environment:
The Common Agenda: Priorities for the Environment is a joint statement created by an alliance of nine North Carolina environmental groups to bring attention to issues and challenges that advocates for the preservation of North Carolina’s natural resources are facing. The agenda is endorsed by Audubon NC, Conservation Council of North Carolina, Environment North Carolina, Environmental Defense Fund, NC Coastal Federation, NC Conservation Network, NC Sierra Club, Penderwatch & Conservancy, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. The organizations have several thousand members among them, ranging from the mountains to the coast of the state. For more information, e-mail Dan Crawford at [email protected].

Contacts:
Cindy Stranad
919.232.5008
[email protected]

Dan Crawford
919.539.1422
[email protected]