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The County Commission, by contrast, offered little support for joining the lawsuit. Some indicated they were in favor of the lawsuit personally, but none supported it in an official capacity.
"In my role as County Commissioner, I am reluctant to take any formal action with respect to this issue that has not been approved by a majority of the Board of County Commissioners," said Parks Helms. "However, I would encourage the Attorney General to join in the lawsuit raising the issue of the impact of the "routine maintenance' clause on the air quality of the entire Southeast region of the US, not just in North Carolina. While much of the debate revolves around "adversarial speculation,' the consequences of failing to act at this time may ultimately prove to be devastating in terms of air quality for this region. I believe the emissions rules need to be based upon scientific evidence, not on slick lobbying or on favor-trading at any level of government -- at the expense of the air that we breathe.
"As a practical matter, intervening in the pending lawsuit may result in some common sense compromises that will benefit both citizens and power generators," Helms continued. "I never cease to be amazed at our inability to understand an issue such as this -- that such far-reaching policies do not only affect bottom lines of corporations and price-to-earnings ratios for stockholders. These policies affect human beings now and for generations to come. "Routine maintenance' won't really matter if our air becomes too unhealthy to breathe -- both for power generators and ordinary citizens."
County Commissioner Bill James said that one of the biggest problems contributing to our air quality is a lack of political will. "The problem with most EPA legislation is that it provides exceptions and fails to clamp down on pollution. Proposals are designed to go around the edges of the problem instead of hitting the problem directly. Communities that still rely on coal and other hard burning fossil fuels generate pollution and that pollution drifts into our area. Government lacks the will to clean up the problem because of the business implications, including jobs at stake, if tough regulations were adopted.
As to whether I would vote to join a lawsuit against action, I don't have enough information to make an informed decision. If the disadvantages to our area outweigh the advantages I might."
County Commissioner Dumont Clarke says Charlotte would be better served by focusing on local recommendations rather than national developments. "We can spend a lot of time getting involved in disputes that are national in nature, and over which we have limited impact, or we can put our time, energy, money and credibility into taking steps on the local level on which we have control," Clarke says.
Specifically, Clarke says we should be focusing on the Breathe initiative, a set of air quality recommendations established by a group of stakeholders appointed by the Board of County Commissioners. The Breathe stakeholders came up with a list of 17 recommendations designed to address everything from utility and industrial pollution sources, area sources (ranging from barbecues to lawn mowers) and mobile sources (cars and trucks), which the group deemed to be the primary source of our dirty air.
Charged with implementing these recommendations is the Air Quality Commission (AQC), a citizen advisory board established in early 2003 by the County Commission. The AQC also played a major role in the county's recent action -- or inaction, if you will -- regarding the EPA lawsuit. The county presented the AQC with the question as to whether the new EPA rule changes would have an adverse impact on Charlotte Mecklenburg's air quality. They also posed the question of whether the county should consider a resolution to join in the lawsuit against the EPA.
"Environmental groups say it (EPA rule changes) will have a tremendously adverse impact," says Steve Weber, an environmental lawyer and Chairman of the AQC. "The industry groups say it will help the environment, because it will allow them to do badly needed repairs. So after studying the issue listening to all sides, we concluded, "Who knows?' Not only who knows, but you can't know at this point. Ultimately, we felt like we need to focus less on the national issue -- which will be litigated in any event -- and focus more on the Breathe initiatives."
"We figured that if the AQC and our own staff didn't know, then it wasn't appropriate for us to tell the state what to do," said County Commissioner Ruth Samuelson, who is also chair of the Natural Resources Committee, which is responsible for the protection of Mecklenburg County's natural areas.
