In NC, who needs the legislature when you have the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)? DENR is asking the Environmental Management Commission (EMC), a state commission that adopts environmental regulations, to approve the regulation of carbon dioxide (CO2).
It doesn’t matter that there is no statutory authority or that the legislature has made it clear that it wants to study CO2 regulation issues, DENR wants to preempt the legislature and regulate CO2.
Tomorrow morning, the EMC will decide whether to approve DENR’s request–the EMC is known for doing whatever DENR wants so the odds are good that NC will take the major step of regulating CO2 without the legislature ever approving it. DENR doesn’t believe in representation of the people–as long as some bureaucrats want to advance their political agenda, that’s all that matters.
The regulations that will be considered tomorrow morning would require certain facilities to report CO2 emissions. This is a big deal because it would lay the groundwork for far costlier CO2 regulation.
Even if weak statutory authority is found, the EMC would be taking inappopriate action:
Magnitude of the Issue
On an issue of this magntiude, an unelected and unaccountable body shouldn’t be deciding for the state whether CO2 should be regulated (without clear and express legislative approval).
Preempting the Legislature
The legislature has specifically decided to study CO2 regulation, including whether CO2 emissions should be reported–the EMC would be preeempting the legislature and its work.
Unless the EMC members hear from a lot of people against these regulations today, global warming extremists in DENR and the EMC will take priority over the state constitution and separation of powers.
The legislature should be insulted by DENR’s actions–of course, this is the same legislature that doesn’t believe it needs to comply with United States Supreme Court decisions.
