RALEIGH -- Governor Jim Hunt today announced an aggressive clean water budget plan to continue the state's fight against pfiesteria and water pollution and to strengthen marine fisheries protection.
"My number one environmental priority is restoring and protecting our state's water quality," Hunt said in announcing the budget. "If our children aren't drinking clean water and breathing clean air, then we haven't done our job. North Carolina has done a great deal in the last few years to clean up our waters, but we have much left to do to prevent water pollution, to clean up pollution and to strongly enforce water quality laws."
The plan, included in the Governor's $101 million environmental budget, focuses on three key components -- prevention, detection and response -- to combat water pollution. The budget includes critical funding to reduce nutrients and sediments in North Carolina waterways, expands coastal recreational water quality monitoring to inland waters, support the state's river basin planning program, provide more aggressive responses to fish kills and boost the state's compliance and enforcement efforts.
Hunt's $34.9 million clean water initiative includes $2.1 million to reduce sedimentation and $4.1 million to implement the Fisheries Reform Act passed by the General Assembly last year. The fisheries request will support the development of plans to improve our coastal fisheries habitats, improve data collection and management, and restore and protect fisheries stocks. The budget calls for $4.5 million in Agricultural Cost Share funds to provide technical assistance to farmers and support their efforts to use best management practices (BMPs) to reduce run-off.
Hunt's budget also includes funding for other pressing environmental and natural resources needs.
"Our state's environment is one of the most diverse in the country," Hunt said. "We must work to preserve and protect these special resources for our future."
To support that effort, Hunt's budget includes funding for the long-term protection of some of the most valuable, diverse and unique areas in North Carolina. It also includes funding to increase public awareness and education about North Carolina's natural heritage and to promote the responsible use of our resources.
Hunt's capital budget includes $55 million for environmental protection, natural resource preservation and restoration, public health and safety needs, and waterway navigation.
The budget calls for:
As Governor, Hunt has pushed to protect and restore North Carolina's waterways. Last month, he announced a $2.9 million plan to step up water quality monitoring, invest more in pfiesteria research and improve fish kills response.
Last year, he signed into law the Clean Water Responsibility Act, which includes a moratorium on hog facilities, allows counties to zone large hog farms, cracks down on animal waste, and limits nutrient levels in rivers and streams. The bill also authorizes the state to develop a plan to improve the quality of North Carolina's waterways.
Hunt fought for fisheries reform, environmental education efforts, improved animal and municipal waste operations, safer drinking water and stepped up enforcement for those who violate water quality regulations. At Hunt's direction, the state's Environmental Management Commission approved a plan at the end of last year to reduce the amount of harmful nutrients being released into the troubled Neuse River by 30 percent.
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