Karen Chávez

kchavez@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE - When Amy Knisely looks across the serene farmland and forests of the Warren Wilson College campus, she reflects on the recent elections, the sweeping change at top levels of government, and ponders the potential environmental impact.

Knisely, professor and chair of the environmental studies department at Warren Wilson College, and those who work in environmental policy and protection, worry over how that change will affect air quality, land conservation, forest protection and climate change mitigation in Western North Carolina.

Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s has said he wants to repeal Obama administration rules on the environment, such as the recently adopted Clean Power Plan. The appointment of a new Environmental Protection Agency chief might also work to unravel environmental regulations in a way that could harm the country as a whole, as well as the mountainous region of North Carolina, she said.

But Knisely sees possible silver linings with the new administration, as well as the election of Democrat Roy Cooper as North Carolina’s new governor.

Speeding up climate change, slowing alternative energy?

Rolling back the Clean Power Plan is perhaps the most immediate environmental concern, Knisely said, since it will have the far-reaching and negative impacts on clean air, quality of life and climate change.

The plan, adopted by President Barack Obama and the EPA in August 2015, set historic goals for reducing carbon pollution from power plants, which are the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States and make up about one-third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenhouse gases are those that disrupt the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to climate change, or an overall warming of the Earth’s temperature, something scientists say increases the likelihood for extreme weather and natural disasters.

The Clean Power Plan aims to cut greenhouse gases from 2005 levels by 32 percent by 2030.

North Carolina has already seen the benefits of cutting pollution from power generation with passage of the 2002 North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act, which required that coal-fired plants drastically reduce emissions harmful to human health and air quality.

“North Carolina’s power plants are relatively clean because of state law, but that has made us subject to pollution drift from neighboring states,” Knisely said.

A lawsuit Cooper filed while attorney general resulted in a $11.2 million settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority in 2011. The agreement forced the utility to cut pollution from coal-burning power plants.

Both the settlement and Smokestacks Act led to fewer hazy days in the mountains and cleaner, clearer views.

But executive orders such as the power plan can be quickly changed by a new president, said Ken Brame, political chair of the Western North Carolina group of the Sierra Club.

The good news, Brame said, is that environmental regulations take a lot of time and effort to change, which would be a lengthy process the Sierra Club would fight in court.

“For example, if the EPA decides not to enforce a law against polluting water, we would file suit under the Clean Water Act saying a company needs to follow the law, and we’d go to court to enforce it,” he said. “If we don’t enforce water protection, it can impact trout streams and drinking water, for thousands who get their drinking water from streams and rivers, like the French Broad River.”

Brame said the Obama-led EPA has for the most part been proactive about enforcing environmental protection laws, but a big unknown is how a new EPA director will lead the agency.

Knisely is also concerned about the recent Paris Climate Change Agreement among nearly 200 countries, which would require or create incentives for developed nations to further invest in alternative energy.

“If the Trump administration decides to rescind the climate treaty, or remove itself from the treaty, that can reduce a source of impetus for us to put more time, money, and energy into alternative energy in North Carolina, which has one of the fastest solar generating capacities in country,” Knisely said.

Growth in reliance on clean energy sources such as solar and wind might get curtailed under Trump, but the incoming president deserves a chance to see what he can do, said Jay Gerlach, associate professor of political science at Western Carolina University and director of the Public Affairs Department.

WNC has “a bit of an out,” he said, with a relative abundance of clean water. And it’s not a hotbed of natural gas or coal, as are other southern Appalachian states such as West Virginia.

“I think we’ll see less enforcement of the Clean Water Act and I think coal is going to be here to stay for the foreseeable future,” Gerlach said. “Natural gas is certainly here to stay. As far as resource extraction, I would not expect to see fracking come to the region.”

A new administration should not affect the region’s movement toward cleaner energy production, Duke Energy spokesman Sean Walsh said.

“Our carbon emissions have been reduced by 28 percent since 2005,” Walsh said.

Over the past decade, he said, the company has invested more than $9 billion to retire 40 of its older coal units across the Carolinas and the Midwest and is replacing those plants with the most advanced generating facilities, he said. The utility also has expanded use of wind and solar energy and built highly efficient natural gas plants, Walsh said.

The Lake Julian Power Plant in Skyland is being converted from coal to natural gas.

“Over 40 percent of the electricity we generated in 2015 was from carbon-free sources, including nuclear, hydro, wind and solar. Our future plans include even more investments in renewable energy (including battery storage) in the coming years,” Walsh said.

Protecting clean air and water

The EPA’s 2014 coal ash rule and new rules for coal combustion facilities that affect water pollution might come undone it EPA leadership changes hands, said Katie Hicks, associate director for Clean Water for North Carolina based in Asheville.

“But to undo those rules, they would still have to go through a public process and hold hearings,” Hicks said.

“The coal ash rule ended up being weaker than a lot of environmentalists would like. It enabled coal ash to be stored in landfills or capped as opposed to more secure storage methods. The 2014 N.C. Coal Management Act is considered in some ways to be stronger. But in 2016 another law passed in Raleigh putting N.C. on a trajectory where Duke can cap and store coal ash at some of its largest coal ash pits.”

“We don’t expect there to be anything stronger coming out of EPA,” she said.

On the state level, Hicks said she will be watching to see what a Republican controlled General Assembly will do with Cooper as governor.

“In WNC, agricultural runoff and sediment are already a problem in our waterways," Hicks said. "We’re seeing the stress the extended drought has put on our waterways, and flooding. We’re seeing how climate and weather patterns are straining on some waterways.”

The state legislature will still have control over environmental regulations weakened under the current administration, said Josh Kelly, public lands biologist with environmental nonprofit MountainTrue.

“It would be hard for things to get much worse than they already are," Kelly said. "There’s that infamous law that no state regulatory law will be more stringent than a federal regulation. It basically abdicates all environmental enforcement to federal law."

"It could be better with a new governor who actually believes that the state Department of Natural Resources should protect people more than they should protect corporations.”

Kelly said he fears most federal conservation laws will be under attack, including the Clean Water Act, the Air Quality Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Most were enacted during the 1970s, when the EPA was also created.

Saving forest, parks and open spaces

However, Kelly does see an ally in Republican Sen. Richard Burr’s re-election.

“Burr has been the foremost champion of the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is money derived from offshore oil and gas leases. This allows land trusts to save ecologically important lands that protect watersheds.”

Kelly said he is concerned about whether the GOP will push to privatize public lands, such as national parks and national forests, in which WNC is rich.

“I’m hopeful that Burr and other lawmakers will stand up to ... lawmakers who want to privatize public lands or turn them over to the states,” Kelly said. “More than absolute giveaway of public lands, the first thing we’ll see is reduction in funding, reduction in trail maintenance, the speed at which they can manage public lands and a decrease in their ability to fight wildfires. They will have a lot of effects.”

The move toward more land protection, especially private holdings in national forests and parks, might get a boost with a new governor, the re-election of state representatives Susan Fisher, D-Buncombe, and John Ager, D-Buncombe, and Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson. All have been supportive of protecting ecologically important state land and farmland.

The re-election of Republican Sen. Burr and Rep. McHenry should also help to continue the work of land protection, said Jay Leutze, president of the board of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, an Asheville-based land trust.

“Gov. McCrory was a big supporter of state parks, in particular, and worked hard to pass a bond package that will benefit our parks in perpetuity," Leutze said.

Cooper has been supportive of the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund as a member of the General Assembly and during his tenure as Attorney General, Leutze said.

“We are hopeful that his budgets will continue to prioritize land and water conservation. The state's population continues to boom and it is critical that we offset some of that growth and sprawl with places to camp and hunt and fish for the future,” he said.

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy project to convey the 95-acre Lost Cove property on the Nolichucky River in Yancey County to the U.S. Forest Service serves as an example of work land trusts perform that are dependent on Clean Water Management Trust Fund dollars.

Known as “one of eastern America’s most legendary ghost towns,” and popular for whitewater rafting, it also serves as a habitat for several endangered species. The conservancy owns the property but needs more funding to convey it to Pisgah National Forest.

Making the small inholding part of the Pisgah National Forest would make it easier to reduce risks of fires that can do grave harm to people and homes, Leutze said.

Carolyn Ward, executive director of the nonprofit Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, which raises funds for building projects and park programs, said she is concerned about a National Park Service budget reduction, and Trump’s plan for a hiring freeze on all federal employees, except for those that work in public safety.

“There is already a 34 percent staffing vacancy on the parkway. If there is any additional loss of staff and a hiring freeze, it could have tremendous impacts on the parkway,” Ward said.

The parkway, which stretches 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Cherokee, N.C., has one of the highest maintenance backlogs in the country.

A report released in February shows the parkway has $516.6 million in deferred maintenance, which includes work on infrastructure, roads and bridges, visitor centers, trails and campgrounds that has been delayed for more than one year.

Ward said she hopes the national attention on the parks this year during the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary will help make lawmakers aware of the parks’ importance on many levels.

“The parks and public lands belong to all of us. It doesn’t matter if you’re Democratic or Republican or your religious background. These are our great cathedrals, they are what set us apart, and are unique American inventions,” she said. “I hope they are not used to play political volleyball. They are supposed to be the great unifier that brings us all together.”

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