The NCAEP is offering scholarship opportunities for students to attend the NAEP Conference we are co-hosting in Durham March 27-30.  

If you know a student who might be interested in attending the conference please forward this information to them.  The application is due by February 15 and will cover the $200 registration fee and will include an NCAEP membership as well.

Click here to get to the scholarship site and get all the details.  Thank you!

I'm sure you've seen the emails, but we just wanted to remind everyone that we're co-hosting the NAEP Conference in Durham in 7 weeks. We look forward to having a strong contingent of North Carolina folks in attendance. The program includes some very interesting speakers, including Ted Boling from CEQ, Tim Profeta from Duke's Nicholas Institute, and possibly the new Secretary of NCDEQ. 

The conference website can be found at http://www.naep.org/2017-conference.

Please feel free to get in touch with any of the NCAEP Board members with questions! Look forward to seeing you there!

On 21 April 2016 Brock Hoegh, President of the National Association of Environmental Professionals, sent a letter to NAEP members and affiliated chapter presidents.  The letter summarized discussions re: NC HB2, during the April 2016 National Board Meeting in Chicago, which I attended.  In addition to complimenting the efforts of the NC chapter to plan the 2017 national conference in Durham, the letter stated:

"The Board wants to be clear in its position that it does not support discrimination or intolerance."

To read the entire letter, use this link. 

If you would like to comment directly to President Hoegh, please email him (naep@naep.org).  As I would like to document NCAEP member comments, please consider copying me (president@ncaep.org).

Ward Marotti

President, NCAEP

The Service is announcing a final rule that identifies Endangered Species Act protections for the northern-long eared bat. The final 4(d) rule, published in the Federal Register on January 14, 2016, identifies prohibitions that focus on protecting the bat’s sensitive life stages in areas affected by white-nose syndrome.

The Service listed the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in April 2015 and established an interim 4(d) rule. At the same time we opened a 90-day public comment period on the interim rule to gather additional information as we worked to refine and finalize it.

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/mammals/nleb/

Defenders of Wildlife analyzes ESA in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

"In contrast to conventional wisdom about section 7 implementation, no project was stopped or extensively altered as a result of FWS finding jeopardy or adverse modification during this period. We also show that median consultation duration is far lower than the maximum allowed by the Act...The results discredit many of the claims about the onerous nature of section 7 but also raise questions as to how federal agencies could apply this tool more effectively to conserve species."

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/12/01/1516938112

Staff of Moffatt & Nichol (John Dorney), Axiom Environmental (Sandy Smith) and NC Department of Transportation (LeiLani Paugh) will conduct a 4-day course on the latest version (Version 2.1) of the North Carolina Stream Assessment Method (NC SAM) for determining the condition of streams and other non-wetlands from November 3-6, 2015 in Raleigh, NC.  This lecture and field course will focus on the method which is the standard method formally adopted by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District in their Public Notice dated April 21, 2015. The authors were part of a multi-agency team of state and federal agencies who developed the method over the past several years and have previously taught this course using the same curriculum. The course will be taught at the Walnut Creek Wetland Center in Raleigh, NC and will focus on piedmont streams although a portion of the field work will be conducted on coastal plain streams. The fee for the course is $875 and includes lecture and field instruction, a copy of the most current NC SAM User Manual, field transportation, field drinks and snacks, as well as field lunches. Any interested parties should contact John Dorney at jdorney@moffattnichol.com or by phone at 919-522-6364 for additional information.

http://www.resourceinstituteinc.org/RI-education.html

Passed by the Senate (3rd reading) on 15 June 2015

RIPARIAN BUFFER REFORM

SECTION 13.(a)  Until the convening of the 2016 Regular Session of the 2015 General Assembly, the Environmental Management Commission and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall implement 15A NCAC 02B .0233 (Neuse River Basin: Nutrient Sensitive Waters Management Strategy: Protection and Maintenance of Existing Riparian Buffers) as follows:

(1)        Zone 1, as described in NCAC 02B .0233(4)(a) and Zone 2, as described in NCAC 02B .0233(4)(b) shall not be enforced.

(2)        The riparian buffer shall consist of the 30‑foot riparian area that formerly constituted Zone 1.

(3)        The activities and uses for the riparian buffer are those that could have occured in Zone 2.

http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/House/HTML/H44v3.html

This site provides interactive access to maps and data representing Natural Heritage resources and other conservation values in North Carolina.

https://ncnhde.natureserve.org/

Training:

https://ncnhde.natureserve.org/content/help

Raleigh: 27 May; 23 June; 20 July; 6 August

Asheville: 3 June

HOUSE BILL 795

AN ACT to reform and amend the State environmental policy act.

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2015&BillID=h795&submitButton=Go

f.          Any irreversible and irretrievable environmental changes which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.

            For purposes of this subdivision, a direct environmental impact does not include impacts that are speculative, secondary, or cumulative with other previous actions or that occur outside of the State.

(7a)      "Significant expenditure of public moneys" means expenditures of public funds greater than ten million dollars ($10,000,000) for a single project or action or related group of projects or actions. For purposes of this subdivision, contributions of funds or in‑kind contributions by municipalities, counties, regional or special‑purpose government agencies, and other similar entities created by an act of the General Assembly and in‑kind contributions by a non‑State entity shall not be considered an expenditure of public funds for purposes of calculating whether such an expenditure is significant

HOUSE BILL 760

AN ACT to provide further regulatory relief to the citizens of north carolina by providing for VARIOUS administrative reforms, by eliminating certain unnecessary or outdated statutes and regulations and MODERNIZING or simplifying cumbersome or outdated regulations, and by making various other statutory changes.

http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/House/HTML/H760v2.html

PART III. ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE REGULATION 

AMEND ISOLATED WETLANDS LAW

(2)        Mitigation requirements for impacts to isolated wetlands shall only apply to the amount of impact that exceeds the thresholds set out in subdivision (1) of this section. The mitigation ratio for impacts of greater than one acre exceeding the thresholds for the entire project under 15A NCAC 02H .1305(g)(6) shall be 1:1 and may be located on the same parcel.

(3)        For purposes of Section 54(b) of this section, "isolated wetlands" means a Basin Wetland or Bog as described in the North Carolina Wetland Assessment User Manual prepared by the North Carolina Wetland Functional Assessment Team, version 4.1 October, 2010, that are not jurisdictional wetlands under the federal Clean Water Act. An "isolated wetland" does not include an isolated man‑made ditch or pond constructed for stormwater management purposes or any other man‑made isolated pond.

(4)        Impacts to isolated wetlands shall not be combined with the project impacts to 404 jurisdictional wetlands or streams for the purpose of determining when impact thresholds that trigger a mitigation requirement are met.

AMEND STORMWATER MANAGEMENT LAW

(2)        Vegetative buffers adjacent to intermittent streams shall be measured from the center of the stream bed.

RIPARIAN BUFFER REFORM

(b1)      Exceeding Minimum State Requirements. – The Commission may approve a delegation application proposing a riparian buffer width that exceeds that required by the State for the type of surface body of water and the river basin or basins in which the unit of local government is located only in accordance with the procedures of this section:

(1)        Units of local government may request exceedances in riparian buffer widths from the Commission when submitting an application under subsection (b) of this section. Exceedances in buffer width enforced by units of local government under an existing local ordinance may not be enforced after February 1, 2016, unless the unit of local government has either received approval for an exceedance under the procedures set forth in this subsection or has an application for an exceedance pending with the Commission. Under no circumstances shall any existing local ordinance be enforced after June 1, 2016, unless the Commission has approved the exceedance. For purposes of this subdivision, an "existing local ordinance" is a local ordinance approved prior to August 1, 2015, that includes an exceedance in riparian buffer width from that required by the State.

(2)        The Commission may consider a request for an exceedance in riparian buffer width only if the request is accompanied by a scientific study prepared by or on behalf of the unit of local government that provides a justification for the exceedance based on the topography, soils, hydrology, and environmental impacts within the jurisdiction of the unit of local government. The Commission may also require that the study include any other information it finds necessary to evaluate the request for the exceedance.

(3)        The Commission shall grant the request for an exceedance only if it finds that the need for the exceedance in riparian buffer width is established by the scientific evidence presented by the unit of local government requesting the exceedance in order to meet the nutrient reduction goal set by the Commission for the basin subject to the riparian buffer rule.

(4)        For purposes of this subsection, "existing local ordinance" shall include a zoning district, subdivision or development regulation; comprehensive plan; policy; resolution; or any other act carrying the effect of law

(e3)      Limitation on Local Government Riparian Area Restrictions. – Units of local government may impose restrictions upon the use of riparian areas as defined in 15A NCAC 02B .0202 only within river basins where riparian buffers are required by the State.

HOUSE BILL 639

AN ACT to establish the clinical exercise physiologist licensing act.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=H639

HOUSE BILL 141

AN ACT to authorize cities to undertake activities within their stormwater management programs to implement flood reduction techniques that result in improvements to private property.

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2015&BillID=h141

HOUSE BILL 186

AN ACT to require the Environmental ReVIEW Commission to conduct a study of water resources availability in the Cape Fear River Basin.

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2015&BillID=H186

http://www.smithenvironment.com/