Although I am grateful for the additional documentation of our ongoing criminal conspiracy which passes for state government, “the environment” does not stand in the crosshairs of such wheelin’ and dealin’. Lawful North Carolina property owners do.
The N&O’s green blinders miss the obvious here.
The primary purpose of land permitting regimes — or what should be the primary purpose — is trying to make sure that one landowner’s plans for his or her property do not adversely impact, give or take, his neighbors. It is an imperfect, imprecise thing sometimes requiring much give and take. For someone to be able to slam a stormwater permit through in a couple days because they cut a $50K check to a political party is fundamentally wrong regardless of the impact on the environment.
Property owners without the means or inclination to grease the palms of sweaty little governors are harmed and disadvantaged as a result of not paying to play. We don’t need to go hunting up horror stories of beaches fouled by runoff or sewage, although one senses that the N&O is busy doing just that for next week.
However, none of this is to say that properly designed land use regs and enforcement cannot protect both private property rights and the larger environment. They can. First step, federal prison for those responsible for perverting the effort in this state.
