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26 <br /> Environment <br /> Approved Goals <br /> ENV-1: Support legislation to increase funding for the Clean Water Management Trust <br /> Fund for water and sewer infrastructure projects. <br /> ENV-2: Support legislation to study and address air quality matters relating to the <br /> removal and treatment of coal ash deposits. <br /> • Legislation related to coal ash clean-up during the 2015-16 session did not <br /> address issues related to the ash's effect on air quality when removed. <br /> ENV-3: Support legislation to provide for and fund a comprehensive statewide <br /> approach to noxious aquatic vegetation control in public water reservoirs. <br /> • Rapidly growing aquatic weeds have spread among many of the state's water <br /> sources, inhibiting tourist and recreational activities and clogging water <br /> treatment plants. <br /> • Recent legislation expanded uses for state funds to help control weeds in lakes <br /> and rivers, but eradication is still expensive and difficult for counties. <br /> Environment Guiding Principles <br /> • Public policy on environmental protection must recognize that all physical human <br /> activities have an impact on the environment, and provide recognition that there <br /> must be a balance between those activities and the environment. <br /> • Enhancements to the environment laws of North Carolina should be justified by <br /> sound science and information and based on a clear rationale and purpose for <br /> regulatory change. <br /> • State agencies responsible for developing administrative rules to implement federal <br /> and state policies should involve local governments in the process at the earliest <br /> stages of development and should proceed only after thorough analyses of health, <br /> environmental and fiscal risks and impacts. <br /> • State agencies issuing permits for activities that affect the environment should give <br /> local governments ample opportunity to comment on proposed permits for <br /> consistency with local plans and policies. <br /> • If state law delegates responsibility to local governments for implementing, <br /> monitoring and enforcing environmental policy, the state should provide optimum <br /> flexibility and discretion in setting fees at the local level to carry out these <br /> responsibilities. <br />