Is there any doubt? The retreat from fines to reassessment tells everything.
I haven't heard how much fiscal and environmental damage occurred either. There is an impoverished population that rely on rivers and fisheries to make a living. Under the previous governors, the state fisheries worked with Duke to secure a native species of oyster to insure the commercial oystermen/women had a viable living.
The native species had crashed in the late 1980s -early 1990s due to heavy sediments in the river and fisheries. Duke found the most viable species of oyster was the native oyster. Duke also found having breeding stock suspended under docks along the waterways returned the native oyster to abundance. That research occurred quite some time ago and was implemented around 2004. So, the sincere loss by this community of North Carolina citizens may be substantial. These folks won't have money to hire lawyers either, they are easily exploited because they don't have the power to retaliate.
Duke University Marine Division (click here) would have detailed information. The studies most likely are even in the public record as peer reviewed research. It was unique. Duke was actually seeking the most viable species that didn't necessarily mean the native species would do the best, but, everyone was pleasantly surprised at their findings and deployment of the strategy to return the oyster beds.
Michael Biesecker
Associated Press
February 13, 2014
...The subpoenas (click here) were issued the day after the AP reported that environmental groups have tried three times in the past year to sue under the Clean Water Act to force Duke to clear out leaky coal ash dumps. Each time, the state agency blocked the citizen lawsuits by intervening at the last minute to assert its own authority under the act to take enforcement action in state court.
After negotiating with Duke's lawyers in private, the state proposed settlements that environmentalists regarded as highly favorable to the company.
Duke, a company valued at $50 billion, would have paid fines of $99,111 for groundwater pollution leaching from two coal dumps like the one that ruptured in Eden. The settlement would have required Duke to study how to stop the contamination, but it included no requirement to clean up the dumps near Asheville and Charlotte.
Among the documents targeted by the federal subpoenas are the correspondence between Duke and the state environmental agency related to the proposed deal highlighted in the AP's story. On Monday, lawyers for the state asked a judge to disregard the agency's own proposed settlement in the wake of the spill.
Clean water advocates have long complained that state regulators are too cozy with the polluters they regulate. But they say that coordination and cooperation has become even more overt since the January 2013 inauguration of Gov. Pat McCrory, a pro-business Republican who worked at Duke Energy for 28 years. Records show McCrory has benefited from at least $1.1 million in political donations linked to his former employer since 2008....
I am not surprised the current governor is touting pay increases to teachers. Currently, the state universities, once considered some of the best in the nation, a huge statement about public universities, have Freshmen enrollments down by 40%. McCrory's abrupt change in policy and fiscal support to the state universities shows. I am very concerned about the state universities, they are among some of the backbone to the nation's brain trust.
McCrory's priority was to defund the public schools and universities and replace them with his friends like those at High Point University, a very expensive private university. I mean this guy is wickedly influenced by his donors and panders to supporting their fiscal viability to continue his political ambitions.
The US Attorney needs to consider reaching out to the Chancellor's of the state universities in reporting their fiscal disasters, the effect on enrollment, the status of the public universities to rankings among others and the future viability they see for their residential students that rely on loans and grants to attend. The students to the NC system, including the famed UNC, don't have families with ready cash to pay even residential tuition rates. These families survive by working two to three jobs and well over 60 hours per week.
JAMESTOWN — The proposal Gov. Pat McCrory (click here) announced Monday to raise the base pay for early-career teachers was met with praise and immediate questions about raises for those with more experience.
Under the plan, teachers with up to 10 years in the classroom – about 42,000 of them – would see their pay rise to $35,000 by the 2015-16 school year. The raises would cost the state about $200 million over two years.
The state’s beginning teachers are among the lowest-paid in the nation, and the current $30,800 beginning salary is not competitive with surrounding states.
“That’s not even enough to raise a family or pay off student loans,” McCrory said in announcing his plan. “How do we expect someone to pay that loan with that starting salary?”...
I wish everyone the best in finally turning around the deterioration of the state and it's precious conservation and environmental assets. The state of NC's economy relies on clean water and viable wildlife. It has a very long coastline, especially when one realizes it has a double coastline in the Outer Banks. The state government, under McCrory, defunded these important conservation and water trust funds. These state funded monies maintained and improved the status of NC's waterways, fisheries, beaches and wildlife areas, some of which contain endangered species. In the past when these monies were threatened by budget pressures, the people have opted for increases in income taxes.
One other aspect to the failure in funding to the state universities, is the fact a great deal of expansion of some of these campuses have occurred over the past decade placing their fiscal viability on the line as well.
The waters of North Carolina and the state universities are very important to the people of the state and they obviously have little to no knowledge of the treats to them and their current deterioration.
I thank the US Attorney for taking a sincere interest in these people and their important economy. I am sure with such competent conservation groups in the state it didn't take much alarm to launch this investigation.
I haven't heard how much fiscal and environmental damage occurred either. There is an impoverished population that rely on rivers and fisheries to make a living. Under the previous governors, the state fisheries worked with Duke to secure a native species of oyster to insure the commercial oystermen/women had a viable living.
The native species had crashed in the late 1980s -early 1990s due to heavy sediments in the river and fisheries. Duke found the most viable species of oyster was the native oyster. Duke also found having breeding stock suspended under docks along the waterways returned the native oyster to abundance. That research occurred quite some time ago and was implemented around 2004. So, the sincere loss by this community of North Carolina citizens may be substantial. These folks won't have money to hire lawyers either, they are easily exploited because they don't have the power to retaliate.
Duke University Marine Division (click here) would have detailed information. The studies most likely are even in the public record as peer reviewed research. It was unique. Duke was actually seeking the most viable species that didn't necessarily mean the native species would do the best, but, everyone was pleasantly surprised at their findings and deployment of the strategy to return the oyster beds.
Michael Biesecker
Associated Press
February 13, 2014
...The subpoenas (click here) were issued the day after the AP reported that environmental groups have tried three times in the past year to sue under the Clean Water Act to force Duke to clear out leaky coal ash dumps. Each time, the state agency blocked the citizen lawsuits by intervening at the last minute to assert its own authority under the act to take enforcement action in state court.
After negotiating with Duke's lawyers in private, the state proposed settlements that environmentalists regarded as highly favorable to the company.
Duke, a company valued at $50 billion, would have paid fines of $99,111 for groundwater pollution leaching from two coal dumps like the one that ruptured in Eden. The settlement would have required Duke to study how to stop the contamination, but it included no requirement to clean up the dumps near Asheville and Charlotte.
Among the documents targeted by the federal subpoenas are the correspondence between Duke and the state environmental agency related to the proposed deal highlighted in the AP's story. On Monday, lawyers for the state asked a judge to disregard the agency's own proposed settlement in the wake of the spill.
Clean water advocates have long complained that state regulators are too cozy with the polluters they regulate. But they say that coordination and cooperation has become even more overt since the January 2013 inauguration of Gov. Pat McCrory, a pro-business Republican who worked at Duke Energy for 28 years. Records show McCrory has benefited from at least $1.1 million in political donations linked to his former employer since 2008....
I am not surprised the current governor is touting pay increases to teachers. Currently, the state universities, once considered some of the best in the nation, a huge statement about public universities, have Freshmen enrollments down by 40%. McCrory's abrupt change in policy and fiscal support to the state universities shows. I am very concerned about the state universities, they are among some of the backbone to the nation's brain trust.
McCrory's priority was to defund the public schools and universities and replace them with his friends like those at High Point University, a very expensive private university. I mean this guy is wickedly influenced by his donors and panders to supporting their fiscal viability to continue his political ambitions.
The US Attorney needs to consider reaching out to the Chancellor's of the state universities in reporting their fiscal disasters, the effect on enrollment, the status of the public universities to rankings among others and the future viability they see for their residential students that rely on loans and grants to attend. The students to the NC system, including the famed UNC, don't have families with ready cash to pay even residential tuition rates. These families survive by working two to three jobs and well over 60 hours per week.
February 10, 2014
JAMESTOWN — The proposal Gov. Pat McCrory (click here) announced Monday to raise the base pay for early-career teachers was met with praise and immediate questions about raises for those with more experience.
Under the plan, teachers with up to 10 years in the classroom – about 42,000 of them – would see their pay rise to $35,000 by the 2015-16 school year. The raises would cost the state about $200 million over two years.
The state’s beginning teachers are among the lowest-paid in the nation, and the current $30,800 beginning salary is not competitive with surrounding states.
“That’s not even enough to raise a family or pay off student loans,” McCrory said in announcing his plan. “How do we expect someone to pay that loan with that starting salary?”...
I wish everyone the best in finally turning around the deterioration of the state and it's precious conservation and environmental assets. The state of NC's economy relies on clean water and viable wildlife. It has a very long coastline, especially when one realizes it has a double coastline in the Outer Banks. The state government, under McCrory, defunded these important conservation and water trust funds. These state funded monies maintained and improved the status of NC's waterways, fisheries, beaches and wildlife areas, some of which contain endangered species. In the past when these monies were threatened by budget pressures, the people have opted for increases in income taxes.
One other aspect to the failure in funding to the state universities, is the fact a great deal of expansion of some of these campuses have occurred over the past decade placing their fiscal viability on the line as well.
The waters of North Carolina and the state universities are very important to the people of the state and they obviously have little to no knowledge of the treats to them and their current deterioration.
I thank the US Attorney for taking a sincere interest in these people and their important economy. I am sure with such competent conservation groups in the state it didn't take much alarm to launch this investigation.
