Preserving and Protecting our Environment

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House Bill 77 aims to reduce the harms of environmental pollution by giving affected communities a voice in the matter. If an environmental permitting decision may affect the air and water quality around your home, this bill would give you a chance to express your thoughts at a public hearing. The bill also gives the related department the option and the choice to protect you from harmful permitting decisions. The department could deny an environmental permit if there would be a disproportionate harmful impact on a low-income community or a minority community. 

Industrialized octopus farming practices create issues of animal welfare, threats to coastal ecosystems, and potential economic impact to fisheries. Octopi are highly intelligent, curious creatures that suffer under confined, unnatural conditions. 

Our cities should allow for safe and efficient pedestrian and bicycle travel. HB282 opens up funding opportunities for bicycle and pedestrian improvements to meet the needs of our growing municipalities.

Many states have enacted programs where you can exchange cans and bottles for cash back. This bill would encourage recycling by requiring distributors to accept beverage containers for redemption, and calculating that redemption cost to add to the price of the beverage.

 A bill to establish that nature has a right to exist in our state. It would create a way for North Carolinians to conduct lawsuits on behalf of nature if this right is being denied.

A sustainable future that allows for continued growth and development requires investment in our public transit services. HB735 would expand the opportunities for public transit projects to receive state and non-state funding.

Last legislative session, the General Assembly left our wetlands vulnerable to pollution and development. Wetlands are essential to flood prevention and also mitigating the effects of climate change. They also filter our drinking water. This bill would undo these rollbacks and restore the protection of this valuable resource.

PFAS is a group of man-made, forever chemicals linked to human health conditions. They are most known in North Carolina from their pollution of the Cape Fear River by the company Chemours. This bill is a sweeping range of provisions to eliminate non-essential PFAS uses, study health effects of exposure, require industries to disclose and remove PFAS and 1,4-dioxane discharges, and address indirect contamination routes, such as biosolids and landfill leachate. This is a repeat of a bill we have been filing for several years. 

Producers have a responsibility to ensure that their packaging for food and beverages does not contain toxic chemicals or pollute our environment.  This bill would ban PFAS in food packaging and create a level of responsibility for any contamination of packaging. It would also encourage the use of reusable materials rather than plastic.