NORTH CAROLINA — Under a recently introduced bill, state regulators would only have five days to review and approve certifications for projects that discharge dredge or fill material into public water bodies. This would apply to activities including developments in wetlands and pipeline construction.
READ MORE: Brunswick County manufacturing project gets greenlight after loosened wetland protections
Under the Clean Water Act, projects that discharge dredge or fill material into federally protected waterbodies must receive Section 404 permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Applicants in North Carolina also need to receive a 401 water quality certification from the Department of Environmental Quality.
Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson), Sen. Tom McInnis, (R-Cumberland), and Sen. Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson) introduced S.B. 472 last month — titled Amend 401 Certification Permits — a bill that would require the Department of Environmental Quality to expedite its reviews.
DEQ would need to approve or deny water quality review applications for projects that received a nationwide permit within five days of receipt. If DEQ fails to meet the five-day shot clock, it would need to waive certification requirements.
“This is an impossible time frame for complex water certification processes,” Southern Environmental Law Center legislative counsel Brooks Rainey Pearson wrote in an analysis of the bill. “The true goal of this legislation is to force DEQ to waive permitting on big projects that it cannot possibly review in five days.”
Pearson noted water quality reviews are often used for large-scale projects expanding across multiple water bodies. She expressed concerns the bill would eliminate the public’s ability to provide public comment and limited staffing at DEQ would force the agency to yield its review authority.
North Carolina’s monopoly utility Duke Energy is planning to connect its new natural gas plants with major pipeline proposals the Department of Environmental Quality is expected to review soon.
In December 2023, Duke completed preliminary agreements to purchase gas from the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate extension in Rockingham County to help fuel new NC infrastructure. This comes after DEQ twice denied water certifications for the proposed MVP extension due to water quality concerns in 2020 and 2021; MVP has faced over $2 million in fines for water quality violations in Virginia and West Virginia.
Additionally, Duke signed agreements to become the biggest contractor for Transco’s proposed Southeast Supply Enhancement project in February 2024.
“DEQ cannot approve a project that large in five days,” Pearson said, “and would likely be forced to waive permitting authority under this legislation.”
The bill comes after years of regulatory rollbacks affecting the USACE and DEQ permit approval process. A 2023 bill, H.B. 600, required DEQ to approve water quality certifications within 60 to 90 days.
Additionally, the definition of “Waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act has been restrained in recent years. Conservation groups, including the Southern Environmental Law Center, favor an expansive definition to put environmentally sensitive areas under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ jurisdiction.
A broad range of industry groups including the U.S. Home Builders Association, National Realtors Association, Farm Bureau, and Chamber of Commerce advocate a more narrow definition, arguing excessive regulations hurt business and constitute federal overreach.
The Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 ruling in Sackett v. EPA removed federal authority of wetlands without a “continuous surface connection” with other bodies of water — known as isolated or non-jurisdictional wetlands. The Department of Environmental Quality estimated 2.5 million acres could lose protection after the General Assembly-passed S.B. 582 in June 2023; the bill barred the state from regulating isolated wetlands that lost federal protection from the Supreme Court ruling.
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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