Agenda - 04-05-2016 - 5-a - Orange County's Proposed 2016 Legislative Agenda

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Environment Goals & Guiding Principles Guiding Principles • Public policy on environmental protection must recognize that all physical human activities have an impact on the en- vironment, and provide recognition that there must be a bal- ance between those activities and the environment. • Enhancements to the environment laws of North Carolina should be justified by verifiable scientific evidence and based on a clear rationale and purpose for regulatory change. • State agencies responsible for developing administrative rules to implement federal and state policies should involve local governments in the process at the earliest stages of de- velopment and should proceed only after thorough analyses of health, environmental and fiscal risks and impacts. • State agencies issuing permits for activities that affect the environment should give local governments ample opportu- nity to comment on proposed permits for consistency with local plans and policies. • If state law delegates responsibility to local governments for implementing, monitoring and enforcing environmental policy, the state should provide optimum flexibility and dis- cretion in setting fees at the local level to carry out these responsibilities. Goals ENV-1: Seek legislation to study and fund a comprehen- sive statewide approach to control invasive aquatic noxious weeds in the state's waters. • This rapidly growing aquatic weed has spread among many of the state's lakes, inhibiting tourist and recreational activi- ties and clogging water treatment plants. Eradication is ex- pensive and difficult. 2015 Legislative Goals 8 North Carolina Association of County Commissioners