[Update] McCrory signs bill loosening restrictions on landfills, draws criticism

Gov. McCrory signs regulatory overhaul bill

From WRAL:

Raleigh, N.C. — Gov. Pat McCrory on Friday signed a bill that will loosen environmental safeguards for landfills while also signing an executive order that will allow local officials to cite leaky garbage trucks.

The environmental provisions were part of a sweeping regulatory reform bill approved in the closing days of the legislative session last month that also creates a plan for getting rid of unneeded administrative rules in state agencies.
…
The provisions would allow landfills to be built at the edges of state parks, wildlife refuges and gamelands and ease rules regarding how landfills must cover their trash and maintain systems that keep liquid coming from the landfill from leaching into nearby groundwater supplies.

Read more here.

Raleigh’s News and Observer also wrote about the regulatory overhaul:

… But the 68-page bill, called the Regulatory Reform Act, includes dozens of other provisions ranging from allowing landfills to be built closer to state gamelands to the number of meals a bed-and-breakfast can serve to a requirement for carbon monoxide detectors at hotels. The bill establishes a three-tiered process for evaluating the rules and regulations that state agencies impose based on laws the General Assembly passes. All agencies are now required to determine whether the thousands of rules they impose are necessary but controversial, necessary and not controversial, or unnecessary.

The NC Sierra Club issued a statement Friday saying the legislation would put both people and the state’s drinking water at risk.

More here.