The N&R’s Travis Fain reports Guilford County Rep. Marcus Brandon’s break with Democrats on the House vote to delay the Jordan Lake Rules. Brandon’s statement, and note the interesting development:

“After careful consideration on SB515 concerning the Jordan Lake Rules I supported the bill. There was no evidence that the rule we are currently under actually improved the quality of water, the City Council and the mayor unanimously advocated in favor of this bill. The biggest reason why I supported is that before I subject the taxpayers to $300 million tax bill then we need to have concrete evidence that what we are doing is working.”

I support Brandon’s vote, but Fain later reports Brandon took issue with his original hed —Brandon breaks with Dems (again) on Jordan Lake Rules” —because –get this — “Democrats on the Greensboro City Council are also in favor of delaying the rules, and former state Rep. Maggie Jeffus, D-Guilford, voted for delay last year.” I’m sure Brandon’s issue with the N&R’s hed has nothing to do with his higher political aspirations.

Never fear, environmentalists, the federal government is more than happy to come to the rescue:

Brandon may be close on the cost of implementation, but it’s not clear that upstream communities, including Greensboro, won’t have to spend that money – or more – anyway. The rules are just a means to an end, the end being cleaner lake water and adherence to various federal clean water rules.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent the state a letter earlier this year, saying it was concerned about the potential rule delay, and intimated that it might become more heavily involved if it feels North Carolina isn’t diligent enough about cleaning the lake.

Meanwhile, Sen. Trudy Wade’s Guilford County school board bill still has life.