Annual Conference

Every year, CCNC and CCNC Foundation co-sponsor an annual meeting in October on key environmental issues. At the conference, we generate informed discussion between citizens, environmental activists, and experts in the field to help guide our legislative agenda for the following year. We also give the annual Bill Holman Award to environmental activists at the conferences.

2001 Environmental Enforcement—"See No Evil: Why Aren’t Our Environmental Laws Being Enforced?"

We need better enforcement of clean air and water protections: Everyone knows you have to enforce the laws against theft and assault—but when it comes to enforcing the laws against pollution of the air we breathe and the water we drink, victims and environmentalists are often told, even by regulators, that they must step aside for economic development.

What do you think? Why are communities and families being threatened by dirty smokestacks, and pollution pouring into rivers and seeping into groundwater where laws clearly exist to protect them? Why isn’t our government enforcing these existing laws? How can communities help ensure that the government is able to do its job? What is the state of our state’s environmental enforcement?

Clean Water Fund of North Carolina (CWFNC) and CCNC/F co-sponsored "See No Evil" in High Point on October 6, 2001. The conference highlighted Alabama Environmental Council’s Watchdog Program, which uses a 1-800 call in line to gather information and complaints from citizens faced with environmental and health threats due to lack of enforcement. Discussions also covered NC environmental enforcement practices, how local citizens challenge poor enforcement, and strategies for how we can work together to improve enforcement in North Carolina.

CWFNC released a draft of their report, "A Citizen Toolkit for Protecting Your Environmental Rights." CCNC released a draft of our report, "See No Evil: Why Aren’t Our Environmental Laws Being Enforced?"

• See No Evil: Why Aren’t Our Environmental Laws Being Enforced [8k PDF]

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2000 Hurricane Recovery—"Son of Floyd: Lessons Not Learned"

Flooding has become a fact of life in North Carolina. No longer simply a danger in coastal areas, Hurricanes Fran and Floyd have demonstrated the devastating impacts such storms can have on all of North Carolina. From the vivid images of flooded homes and hog farms, to the millions of dollars spent on recovery efforts, North Carolina paid the costs for years of poor land-use decisions.

Despite these stark reminders of the need to protect our citizens and natural resources, North Carolina has done little to change the practices and policies that resulted in such devastation. Given the lessons not learned….how can we prepare for the Son of Floyd?

Conservation Council of North Carolina’s Annual Conference on October 14, 2000, "Preparing for the Son of Floyd: Lessons Not Learned," highlighted the progress already made in North Carolina, and the significant steps that still need to be made to ensure that our citizens are not faced with another season of flooding and long-term destruction like we were faced with after Hurricanes Floyd and Dennis. From the vivid images of flooded homes and hog farms, to the millions of dollars spent on recovery efforts, North Carolina is paying the costs for years of poor land-use decisions. And yet, the legislation passed in the last Legislative Session, "The Flood Hazard Prevention Act of 2000," (see Legislation Summary and Legislative History) did not go nearly far enough to ensure that our citizens would be spared in the next big flood.

• CCNC’s Lesson Plan for Hurricane Recovery [48k PDF]
• Excerpt from Summaries of Substantive Ratified Legislation 2000 (Research Division, North Carolina General Assembly)--FloodHazard Prevention Act of 2000 [31k PDF]
• Legislative History of SB 1361: Flood Hazard Prevention Act of 2000 [29k PDF]
  

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1999 Air Quality—"We All Live Downwind: Creating A Citizen’s Agenda on Air Quality"

Nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, toxic air pollutants, ground-level ozone, and particulates…Smog, haze, and acid rain…

Our Carolina skies are being increasingly bombarded with dangerous output from vehicles, industry, and power plants, and we’re all breathing the results. From changing our daily activities to changing state policies, we all have a role to play in keeping North Carolina’s air clear.

The conference dealt with a broad spectrum of air pollution issues, focusing on what citizen activists can do to leverage changes in state policies for better air quality. Highlights included discussions on ozone and acid rain, toxic pollutants, and community activism. The "Citizen’s Agenda on Air Quality" outlines a series of recommendations for improving air quality in North Carolina.

• A Citizen’s Agenda on Air Quality [61k PDF]
• 1999 Legislative Session Summary—Air Quality [43k PDF]
  
• NC At A Glance [75k PDF]
  
• A Primer on Air Quality [46k PDF]

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1998 Sustainable Agriculture—"Supporting Sustainable Agriculture in NC"

Corporate hog farms are proliferating in the coastal plain; agricultural pesticides and fertilizers are polluting our waterways; small family farms are being driven into bankruptcy or controlled by corporations, telling them what to grow and how to grow it; fields that used to grow food are being converted to housing developments.

How can North Carolina help sustainable agriculture—economically viable, environmentally responsible, and socially just agriculture—thrive in this environment?

CCNC’s 31st annual meeting and conference focused on what environmentalists need to know about sustainable agriculture, and what North Carolina state government can do to support sustainable agriculture.

• A Dialogue Between the Environmental Community & Farmers [44k PDF]

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1997 Transportation—"Driving Over the Line: A Blueprint for Transportation in NC"

From Manteo to Murphy the road to North Carolina’s future is more frequently paved with asphalt. In the wake of new road construction, communities are left dismantled, the landscaped scarred, and toxic pollutants pour out of an increasing number of tailpipes. As millions of additional tax dollars are funneled into new roads every year many of us are left wondering...
Are we doing the right thing? Or are we driving over the line?

• Blueprint for Transportation Reform [107k PDF]
• Portraits of the Problem [30k PDF]
  

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The Bill Holman Award for Environmental Advocacy

CCNC and CCNC Foundation established the Bill Holman Award in 1997 to recognize the remarkable service and leadership Bill Holman gave the environmental community for almost two decades as a lobbyist for CCNC and the Sierra Club. Mr. Holman was consistently ranked by legislators as one of the most ten influential lobbyists on the floor. CCNC recognizes individuals who make outstanding contributions to the environmental issues and policy each year. Recipients receive a plaque and a financial award at CCNC’s annual meetings.

2001:

Nat Mund, CCNC’s own lobbyist since 1997, was awarded this year’s Holman Award for his years of dedicated service to CCNC and the environmental community. Nat spent long hours at the General Assembly and other state agencies and commissions making the case for clean air, clean water, more funding for enforcement, and a host of other critical policy issues. His policy analysis, insight, and negotiating skills brought us significant wins on river buffers, hog odor rules, air quality, and more.

CCNC’s President’s Award went to Catherine Sloan, long time board member and friend of CCNC. Catherine, who helped establish the South River Association, is an effective and passionate advocate for the environment, especially on river and waste issues. She has spent many hours on the South River and other local rivers and talking with government officials, making sure post-hurricane clean up efforts were done environmentally soundly.

2000:

CCNC presented Joyce and Jerry Starr with the 2000 Bill Holman Award. Jerry Starr was a participant in CCNC’s 1999 annual conference on air quality, relating his own community activism efforts in organizing their own community into the Neighbors Against the Cullasaja Asphalt Plant. Jerry and Joyce Starr have fought and lost, and fought and won, significant battles against the serious air quality impacts being imposed by the asphalt plant, but continue to work on behalf of the public and environmental health of their community. CCNC supports these efforts.

The 2000 President’s Award went to Jane Sharp McRae for her life-time of service and dedication. Jane was the first environmental lobbyist for the League of Women Voters. The CCNC office was in her basement for years. She was the primary advocate of Pollution Prevention Pays and efficient lightbulbs. When Jane speaks, it pays to listen. She now heads up the recycling program at Carolina Meadows, and is working to expand it into other retirement centers.

1999:

Sally Jones of Winston-Salem was presented with the 1999 Bill Holman Award. On behalf of the NC Alliance for Transportation Reform and Friends of Forsyth, Sally helped fund the successful NEPA lawsuit against the NC Department of Transportation on the Northern Loop around Winston-Salem. As CCNC Board member, Marsh Smith said, "Not many of our number will sacrifice as much, take such risks, and work as hard as Sally has."

A newly designated award, the President’s Award, went to David Martin this year, for "25 years of being right." David was a leader in CCNC’s opposition to the Shearon Harris nuclear plant. One of the principal arguments against nuclear power was that there was no safe solution to what to do with the waste. By 2000, this question remains unanswered, and if anything, the problem of nuclear waste still looms over our heads as low-level multi-state compacts disintegrate, and spent fuel pools fill up.

1998:

In 1998, the Holman Award went to Harry Huberth, a land conservationist in Moore County.

1997:

The first winner of the Bill Holman Award was Michelle Nowlin, staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill. Michelle provided all of us concerned about factory hog operations with invaluable support and technical resources. She worked successfully with CCNC and other environmental groups to seek a legislative remedy to the environmental and community problems resulting from the unbridled growth of the NC hog industry, and still does.

Bill Holman himself received a special honorarium and lifetime membership to the Conservation Council of North Carolina for his years of commitment.

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