Issues & Actions: Fall 2005

State Budget Increases Oyster Efforts by Almost $1.2 Million Per Year: The NC General Assembly approved a state budget that includes almost $1.2 million in additional recurring funds to bring back oysters in North Carolina. The money will be split between the NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) and the state’s three aquariums. According to Craig Hardy with the DMF, it represents the largest increase in state funding for oyster activities in more than 30 years.
     The NC Coastal Federation (NCCF) led the successful legislative campaign to bring back oysters in North Carolina. Together with the Oyster Steering Committee, NCCF developed a legislative platform, solicited legislators to introduce seven bills in the General Assembly and organized a legislative reception at the Museum of Natural History in Raleigh at which North Carolina native oysters were served.
     Through the new state budget, DMF will receive an additional $575,000 per year to double the number of oyster restorations in state waters that are open to harvesting and to create more oyster sanctuaries. Oyster sanctuaries serve as natural seed stock for oyster reproduction in open waters, but are themselves off limits to harvesting.
     The budget also includes four new staff positions in DMF to assist with its oyster sanctuaries and to coordinate oyster shell recycling efforts in the state. The Oyster Rehabilitation Program funds were originally included in Gov. Mike Easley’s budget request. The House Appropriations Committee incorporated the majority of Easley’s request in its budget with the help of committee chairman Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank.
     The aquariums will receive $600,000 a year in 2005-06 and 2006-07 to plan oyster hatcheries at each of the aquariums and to develop a public education component for the hatcheries. The oyster hatcheries initiative was included in the budget at the request of Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, D-Dare. Sen. Julia Boseman, D-New Hanover, was the primary sponsor and Sen. Scott Thomas, D-Craven, the cosponsor of a Senate bill that proposed oyster hatcheries at aquariums.
     The Division of Aquariums is assembling a planning team that will determine the feasibility and plan for the construction of a hatchery or hatcheries. The planning team will consist of representatives from the three aquariums, DMF, NC Sea Grant, Carteret Community College, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, UNC Coastal Studies Institute at Manteo and NCCF. The team will visit oyster hatcheries in other states and produce a final report to the legislature by January 2007.
     In other legislation, the General Assembly approved and Easley signed a bill that prohibits the disposal of oyster shells in landfills. Rep. Danny McComas, R-New Hanover, and Sen. Charlie Albertson, D-Sampson, introduced separate bills earlier in the year in an effort to encourage the recycling of oyster shells in the estuary.
     The measure finally passed during the closing days of the legislative session when Boseman offered the amendment to a related House bill on the Senate floor. The ban does not go into effect for several years, giving citizens, businesses and local governments plenty of time to comply with the new law.

Easley Signs Global Warming Bill: Easley signed a monumental bill (SB 1134) creating a Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change. The 34-member commission will examine the causes and effects of climate change in North Carolina, including economic opportunities for agriculture and forestry in an emerging world marketplace for carbon credit trading. The commission also may recommend a global warming pollutant reduction goal.
     The commission represents the first state effort of its kind to address climate change in the Southeast. Membership on the commission includes designated seats for utilities, businesses, legislators, scientists, citizens and environmental groups, including a named seat for the NCCF. The commission will make its recommendations to the General Assembly by November 1, 2006.
     The NC Environmental Defense, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and NCCF worked jointly on the bill. Basnight and Albertson, Rep. Carolyn Justice, R-Pender, Rep. Alice Underhill, D-Craven, Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange and Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, played key roles in the bill’s passage.

Legislature Approves $100 million for Clean Water Projects: The legislature finally approved $100 million in recurring funds for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF). The CWMTF has been authorized to receive $100 million for the past several years, yet it received just $62 million last year.
     The CWMTF was established in 1996 to help finance projects that enhance or restore degraded waters, protect unpolluted waters, and/or contribute toward a network of riparian buffers and greenways for environmental, educational, and recreational benefits. CWMTF estimates that more than $10.5 billion is needed to protect and restore water quality in North Carolina.