Transylvania County residents are breathing a sigh of relief after House Bill 62 became law last week.
The new law means the residents living along Boylston Creek and its tributaries won’t have to worry for now about attempts by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to impose stringent Class C Trout regulations on the creek.
Shifting Boylston Creek from Class C to Class C Trout would have required those living near the creek, in essence, to forfeit a 25-foot buffer zone along both sides of any bank or ditch associated with the waterway.
A letter provided to Carolina Journal by DENR Public Information Officer Susan Massengale chronicles the last-minute efforts of DENR’s General Counsel Mary Penny Thompson to persuade Gov. Bev Perdue to veto the new law.
In the missive, Thompson said the passing of H.B. 62 could usher federal environmental regulators into the picture.
“If the Boylston Creek legislation becomes law and prohibits the reclassification of the creek to reflect its function as Trout Waters, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may take action under its own duty to protect water quality and may go beyond what was proposed under the reclassification,” she wrote. “If the standards are blocked by legislation, North Carolina cannot implement the standards and EPA may choose to issue the standards directly.”
Boylston Creek resident and activist Gerry Hunsicker was troubled by the letter, saying it attempted to strong-arm the governor into vetoing the bill.
The effort did not work, however, and Perdue allowed H.B. 62 to become law without her signature.
“I have worked diligently on this issue for over a year and am thrilled that I was able to advocate on behalf of my constituents to bring resolve on this issue,” wrote the bill’s original sponsor, Rep. David Guice, R-Transylvania, in an email. “The reclassification would require a buffer that is a minimum of 25 feet from the top of the creek bank on either side of the creek and all of its tributaries. In my mind, this issue remains a private property issue.”
Guice added: “It is clear to me that decisions such as the reclassification of the Boylston Creek are made without any local involvement or consideration of those whose property the rule affects.”
Hunsicker said there’s not much doubt in his mind that a future lawsuit will be filed by DENR.
“Gov. Perdue did not sign [the bill] and they [DENR] are running scared,” he said. “We have won; however, their last minute push in the letter is an indication of how serious they are to take our property from us. That means we’re going to have to fight harder If they bring a frivolous lawsuit and sue, we’re going to have to sue back and fight it.”
Hunsicker said he actually would welcome the EPA stepping in because at least federal rules are concrete, full of details, intelligible, and reasonable.
He said there’s never been a problem with the need for rules to keep the waterways clean in the county; it’s just that DENR never has been clear about its intentions for the creek..
“I personally feel there needs to be some rules and the people need to be educated, not have things jammed down their throats,” he said. “We still don’t know DENR’s intent. Their rules are very severe and too vague. You ask one person in DENR to interpret the rules and then ask another and you get two different stories. They don’t even understand their own rule book.”
Hunsicker also is concerned that if DENR gets its hands on their waterways and tributaries, it would stock a larger, non-native trout in the streams, crowding out the smaller native trout population, as has happened in other areas of the state.
“My private property is no more private than anyone else’s,” he said. “We should all have equal rights that are safe from onerous and ridiculous rules.”
Karen Welsh is a contributor to Carolina Journal.