S3 and Hog Droppings
I went out to see about the environmental groups who still had concerns about S3, the renewable energy bill.
That bill passed without much resistance out of the House Public Utilities Committee this morning.
The enviros' news conference really was more of a push-back against legislation they saw as enabling more hog lagoons. Those at the news conference made two visual points:
First, they illustrated by way of a big check that Duke Power and Progress Energy gave a whole lot of money to legislators.
They also brought milk-jug-sized gallon containers of hog waste, with Speaker Joe Hackney's and Gov. Mike Easley's name on them.
Visual aids aside, expect to see S3 move through to the House floor before too long.
Comments (2)
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Mark,
I have been reading your blogs, but I have found nothing about the legislature deciding what to do with the old Dorothea Dix campus.
It seems Deborah Ross and Jennifer Weiss believe it is better to sell this land and raise money for the mental health trust fund.
Selling this land is not going to solve the mental health crisis, they are only going to raise enough money to cover 2 weeks of expenses for DHHS.
Selling this land is not the best thing for the people of NC, it may earn a developer or two a lot of money, but most of us will not benefit.
Selling this land to build an office park for DHHS or to build a strip mall with condos and apartments is a terrible use of the land.
We need members of the legislature to step up and work to create a 306 acre park district that will create a central park for NC.
Just go to downtown Charlotte to see what happens to a downtown when you forget to save room for parks.
Posted on July 25, 2007 5:26 PM
Beckton:
You're right, I don't write much about the Dix campus and I'm not likely to start any time soon. My newspaper circulates in Greensboro and the Triad, so issues local to there gets first priority. Next on my list are issues of an over-riding state interest, such as the state budget. Next on the list are bits of insider news that might be interesting to a statewide or informed-non-insider audience, if that makes sense.
Although I know you feel differently, Dix just doesn't meet any of those criteria and so I can't justify spending a whole lot of time on it.
Posted on July 25, 2007 5:35 PM