CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, opened its Chapel Hill office in 1987 to help protect the natural resources and public health of North Carolina and South Carolina. Using law and policy advocacy, SELC has since played a central role in virtually every major environmental issue in the Carolinas over the past two decades. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary this spring, SELC's Carolinas Office is reflecting on the key elements of its success -- and preparing to meet and counter the upcoming challenges associated with the projected and accelerating growth and development in North Carolina and South Carolina.
"We are proud of our past successes, but we also see unique challenges in the coming years. Energy demand and how we meet it and growth are going to be the largest issues in our region," says Carolinas Office Director Derb Carter. In April, SELC won a unanimous decision in the United States Supreme Court in its enforcement suit against Duke Energy. "For seven years, we pursued and built a strong case that utility companies cannot continue to ignore the Clean Air Act and extend the lives of dozens of the oldest, dirtiest coal-burning power plants without installing modern pollution controls." The Duke Energy decision sets a far-reaching precedent and is an affirmation of the need for fundamental environmental safeguards and their enforcement.
"Since the most immediate, direct step in addressing global warming is retiring or replacing old, outdated power-plant technology, SELC's Duke Energy case sets the stage for important climate-change progress in the Southeast," adds Carter.
SELC addresses the most pressing issues that impact the South's air and water, mountains, forests, coast, countryside, and community character across six states: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Over 20 years, SELC has collaborated with more than 100 local, state, and national partner groups and handled about 500 projects and cases with significant success. SELC's North Carolina/South Carolina team currently includes 13 attorneys who have devoted their top notch credentials and careers to preserving and protecting this special, and especially threatened, region.
"From our mountains to the coast, North Carolina has some of the most valuable natural resources and beautiful landscapes in the South," says former North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt. "For 20 years, the Southern Environmental Law Center has worked to protect these places and ensure that North Carolinians can enjoy our waters, coasts, mountains and forests for generations to come."
SELC milestones in North Carolina and South Carolina include: -- Fighting back the U.S. Navy's proposal to construct a massive fighter- jet training facility on North Carolina's Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula - site of the highest concentration of wintering waterfowl on the East Coast and of a successful re-introduction program for endangered red wolves. -- Joining forces with the Governor of North Carolina, The North Carolina General Assembly, utility companies, physicians, and conservation/health groups to pass the North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act of 2002. This model legislation will cut power plant emissions statewide . equivalent to removing 4.5 million cars from the road. -- Establishment of an improved management model for North Carolina's beloved Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests that virtually eliminated clearcutting, reduced logging, and improved protection of old-growth forest and sensitive species habitat. -- Passage of a moratorium on new or expanded industrial hog factories in North Carolina to control pollution of waterway and estuaries; and creation of proactive regulations in South Carolina that prevented hog pollution from becoming a major crisis in this state. -- Closing one of the most egregious Clean Water Act loopholes that had allowed developers to ditch, drain, and convert tens of thousands of acres of native wetlands to monoculture pine tree plantations in both North and South Carolina. SELC's settlement protected eight million acres of the highest-quality southern wetlands from conversion for the first time . at a cost of five cents per acre. -- Successfully pushing for stronger regulations in North and South Carolina to control mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants. In both states, SELC's work has led to regulations that are stronger than federal requirements for this dangerous neurotoxin.
"The Carolinas have the Great Smoky Mountains, with their old-growth forest, trout streams, and incredible vistas, along with unique coastal areas, including the Outer Banks, the Pamlico-Albemarle Peninsula, and the Lowcountry," sums up Carter. "These native ecosystems support a vast array of wildlife, as well as traditional ways of life. In between are the rivers that supply our drinking water, the piedmont countryside, and the towns and cities where we live. The coast has vast areas of wetlands and dynamic barrier islands. These special areas are ours and they need protecting."
Carter was North Carolina's Conservationist of the Year in 2004 and winner of the 2000 National Wetlands Award.
Senior Attorney Vickie Patton at Environmental Defense, a frequent SELC partner group, adds, "The importance of the Southeast really can't be overstated. By working together with SELC, we believe we can be much more effective in finding solutions that are durable in addressing some of the tremendous human health and environmental challenges. SELC helps us make the most of our resources to achieve greater results."
SELC's current North Carolina and South Carolina initiatives include: -- Promoting a cash settlement by the federal government to Swain County, NC as a better alternative to blasting the wasteful $604 million "road to nowhere" through the most wild, undisturbed part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. -- Fighting a 3,500-acre phosphate mining project bordering the Pamlico River that would result in the largest-ever wetland destruction in North Carolina. -- Promoting energy efficiency and adoption of cleaner technologies-such as coal gasification, which would reduce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide-instead of constructing of additional power plants in the Carolinas using the same old, dirty technology. -- Strategic legal action seeking strong controls for stormwater pollution for North Carolina's fast-growing coast. Polluted runoff -- debris and chemicals from construction sites, streets, and parking lots -- is the #1 source of water pollution in the Carolinas -- and throughout the Southeast. -- A powerful partnership with The Nature Conservancy of South Carolina, Coastal Conservation League, Lowcountry Open Land Trust, and Ducks Unlimited to help state and local officials plan for growth in the ecologically sensitive Lowcountry region. -- Working with local groups, elected officials, businesses, and community leaders to implement "Clean Air Blueprints" for Charlotte, the Triangle, and the Triad in North Carolina; and Greenville/Spartanburg and Columbia in South Carolina in order to help bring these fast- growing cities into compliance with health-based air quality standards.
Bill Schlesinger, Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and professor of biogeochemistry at Duke University adds, "SELC is one of the most effective environmental groups in the Southeast. They deal with regional issues that we live with every day, and I am impressed with their impact and approach. They have made it their point to understand the ecology and science as well as the law and policy." Schlesinger is a member of both the American and National Academies of Science, and is trustee and board member of Environmental Defense in North Carolina. His climate change research has been featured in Capitol Hill hearings, television and radio programs, and top publications.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, which charges no fees for its advocacy services, funds its $8.25 million regional budget through charitable gifts from individuals, families, and foundations.
About the Southern Environmental Law Center
Southern Environmental Law Center
