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He could also have been talking about the NC Senate's propensity for attaching special anti - environmental riders as special provisions in the budget— without proper review and debate by substantive area committees or the public. They did it again this session, and some of those anti - environmental riders made it into the final budget version passed by both chambers and sent to the governor last week. We'll take a closer look at the entire budget over the next week, as well as other late - passing rules "reform" provisions that hit environmental protection. For now, we'll mention one of the riders that stands out as a special problem: rule changes delaying and weakening pollution clew in the Falls of the Neuse and Jordan reservoirs. This provision represents the "compromise" version which came out of the House /Senate budget conference committee's negotiation over the Senate's sweeping assault against key clean water standards from the mountains to the coast. While we appreciate the efforts of House negotiators to apparently keep parts of that assault out of the final budget bill, the provisions which remain still create new problems. Among other effects, they cancel the cleanup plans adopted for those two key water supply reservoirs and require another start-over. They also interfere with local governments' ability to implement stormwater management protections that they are required to provide under the federal Clean Water Act. These items may easily result in yet another federal court smackdown of the scofflaw legislators of North Carolina. ampa g `dIch.- A New Wind; NC' in Play A New Wind: Renewable energy advocates have seen with alarm the increasingly aggressive efforts by some state legislators to protect their patrons in the fossil fuel industry by creating additional barriers to the development of new wind energy projects. That makes especially timely the recent formation of a new player in the political energy debates. American Wind Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group, launched last week with its announcement of plans to spend m9ney in Congressional and state legislative races to "inform and educate the public on the many benefits that wind energy brings to our nation and communities across America." The new organization is partisan with connections to major actors in the wind power development industry. NC in Play: Signs are strengthening that North Carolina is regarded as very much "in play" in the presidential, gubernatorial, and US Senate races this fall. Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton will visit the state for a major campaign event tomorrow (July 5) for the second time in three weeks. The event, to be held in the Charlotte Convention Center, features the first 2016 joint campaign appearance by Clinton and President Barack Obama. That major campaign rollout had been previously scheduled to take place in Wisconsin, but was delayed after the mass shooting in Orlando last month. By the time the campaign was ready to reschedule, national polls had shifted in Clinton's direction, and North Carolina had emerged as arguably the closest presidential swing state. The decision to re- locate such a politically significant event here reflects an apparent decision by the Democratic ticket to take the offense in stretching the political map not only in the presidential campaign, but in the contest for control of the Senate as well. Both Democratic Senate nominee Deborah Ross and gubernatorial nominee Roy Cooper are expected