Latest news with #AgricultureandEnvironmentCommittee
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Utility-scale solar projects in North Carolina could see 500% property tax increase
A bill that would raise taxes on utility-scale solar facilities in North Carolina by 500% is moving through the Statehouse. House Bill 729, known as the Farmland Protection Act, passed the Agriculture and Environment Committee Wednesday morning. Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R-Duplin) introduced the bill in early April as a way to address concerns about North Carolina losing productive farmland. The latest version of the bill repeals an 80% tax abatement on utility scale solar projects over four years, ultimately eliminating the abatement entirely. PAST COVERAGE: Is solar threatening North Carolina farms, or is there room for cooperation? Stakeholders with the sustainable energy industry and farmers who have chosen to lease to solar companies expressed their concerns that the bill would unfairly penalize a single industry for farmland loss, which occurs primarily through housing development, while interfering with agreements property owners and solar companies entered in good faith. Before the debate and public discussion in the comittee, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler voiced his support of the bill. 'We know that solar development has exceeded the amount of farmland we could protect with the Farmland Preservation Trust fund that we have,' he said. 'So, it is time to take a look at this.' A 2020 report from the American Farmland Trust ranks North Carolina second in states with the most-threatened agricultural land, but the report claims the biggest threats are from urbanization and sprawl from low-density residential land use. It does not mention solar development. The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association released a report in 2022, claiming solar occupies 0.28% of agricultural land in North Carolina. Dixon also emphasized the potential financial boon this bill could provide local governments as they start to collect additional tax revenue, particularly in Tier 1, or the most economically distressed counties in the state, which host a disproportionate number of large-scale solar facilities. According to a note from the Fiscal Research Division, this could add an additional $60.4 million in local revenue annually by 2030, one of the primary reasons the County Commissioners Association expressed their support for the bill. Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort), who voted to move the bill through the committee called the tax abatements on these projects 'corporate welfare,' arguing solar developers need to pay their fair share if they want to continue doing business in the state. 'We are subsidizing the solar and wind industry through these tax cuts,' he said. 'Now I'll hear the argument that we subsidize other businesses. Okay, let's stop that, too. Let's make everybody pay an equal amount of taxes, because that's what we're supposed to do under the Constitution.' Joel Olsen, who runs an agrivoltaics facility in Montgomery County that Channel 9 visited earlier this month, spoke at the committee hearing, taking issue with the idea that he is not paying his fair share in taxes. 'When I bought the land, we paid $972 a year in property taxes,' he said. 'Once we completed the solar farm, we paid three years of back taxes. We paid 100% of the real property taxes, and we paid over $100,000 in personal property taxes.' He said he built his solar project with agriculture in mind, with sheep grazing alongside the panels. Olsen said this bill and rhetoric pitting solar against farming doesn't take farms like his into account. The bill was reported favorably with a clear voice vote majority and will move to the Energy Committee for further consideration. This is a revised version of HB 729, original language in the bill would have also increased regulatory constraints by requiring the North Carolina Utilities Commission to refuse to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a utility-scale solar project if the project is to be sited on land currently being used for agricultural production and also required all solar facilities to submit a decommissioning plan to the state. VIDEO: Agriculture Committee weighs N.C. bill to disincentivize solar on farmland
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Lively debate erupts over fluoride in drinking water systems
A Senate committee Thursday moved to advance a controversial fluoride bill after hearing from supporters and opponents and from those who assert system-wide injection of fluoride into drinking water violates bodily autonomy and self-will. Sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, the measure would prohibit the introduction of fluoride into public drinking water systems in Utah, but allow prescriptions for the substance by pharmacists. Two counties, Salt Lake and Davis, put fluoride in their water, as does Brigham City in Box Elder County. The 5-1 vote before the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on SB81 now delivers the bill to the full Senate, with Sen. Dave Hinkins, R-Orangeville, emphasizing the issue has attracted so much attention it should be heard by the full body. Under her bill, Gricius said those who want fluoride for their dental health would be able to get it from a pharmacy, while those who don't would not have to be exposed to it in their drinking water. 'So this bill is fairly simple. It simply removes the addition of fluoride, hydrofluoric acid, from our public water systems. It also deregulates the prescription so that anyone in the state of Utah who wants to have fluoride can go into a pharmacy and get a prescription from the pharmacist without having to go to a doctor or a dentist,' she said. In her introduction of the bill, Gricius had Max Widmaier, 17, sit by her and explain the medical nightmare he suffered — and still has to cope with to this day — due to what he said was the Sandy overfeed of fluoride that happened in 2019. 'I remember my first snowfall in fourth grade. And in sixth grade, I remember sleepovers with my new best friends. In eighth grade, I remember crafting my first successful speech, one that led me before you today,' he said. 'But I don't remember fifth grade. That year, it's just a gaping hole where memories should be. That is because I drank the fluoridated water on that day Sandy City broke its line into the public water.' Widmaier went on to describe the other adverse effects he attributes to the overfeed. 'I didn't realize it then, but I later learned that I had come home that day with a sick stomach and had told my parents the water tasted metallic. I was so sick to my stomach that I didn't even want to go to the district science fair — something completely unlike me. I remember a strange soreness in the corners of my eyes. What I don't remember is blacking out, but my parents do. They remember my head dropping over and over, my face seizing up every 45 seconds.' The teenager ended up in the emergency room, subject to a vast number of tests. 'It is something I barely remember because for three months I was gone. When I came back, I wasn't the same.' He said his hands still shake when he holds them up, the corners of his eyes feel strained and the 'tick' in his body returns if he drinks any tap water or even food cooked with tap water. 'That glass of water cost my family $26,000. That was the economic cost, but the price of that drink wasn't just physical. It took a mental and spiritual toll on us all. It cost us time as a family. We paid in stress, grief and betrayal. I was 12 and I suffered catastrophic heavy metal poisoning.' Several dentists, joined by the Utah Medical Association, argued against the bill, saying they have witnessed firsthand the positive impact on children who live in communities with fluoridated water. Dr. Brent Larson, a dentist in Salt Lake City, said the difference he sees in his young patients who drink fluoridated water is astounding. 'The difference in my experience was astronomical. We used to see kids come in with four, six, eight cavities. We almost never saw someone come in with no cavities in their fillings in their mouth. Once we started fluoridating the water, that all changed. We now see lots of kids with no fillings, no cavities, some will have one or two. This is not a unique experience to me.' Larson asserted the benefits of fluoridated water is 'settled.' Dr. Boyd Simkins, another dentist and the public policy advocate for the Utah Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and an oral health advocate for the Utah Academy of Pediatrics, also extolled its benefits. 'The No. 1 reason for missed schools is dental caries. The No. 1 reason for missed hours of work is dental caries (cavities or tooth decay). Anything we can do at a public policy level to reduce this is advantageous, especially when the research shows that it is safe.' But Elaine Oaks, a trustee with the South Davis Water District, said it is a matter of choice. 'I do not refute that fluoride helps strengthen teeth with the appropriate concentration,' she said. 'It is neither the role of government, nor is it proper for a majority of people to determine that the entire population require medication in publicly provided drinking water. It is incumbent upon each individual and the rights of parents in determining what medical treatment is best for them and their children.' Hydroflurosilicic acid as a concentrate in its undiluted form is classified as a hazardous, poisonous material. While it contains fluoride, it also contains arsenic, lead, copper, manganese, iron and aluminum. It is a byproduct from phosphate mining operations. Several system operators testified for the bill, with one man asserting he was gassed by the acid in its undiluted form from faulty hoses. 'I spent six hours in the emergency room. I spent weeks after that going to the health department, Davis County and back, trying to figure out what they could do for me, what could be done,' said J.D. Watt. 'Nothing. As of this day, they don't know what they can do for me. At the site during the accident, the fire department didn't know what to do, the emergency room didn't know what to do. I sat there on oxygen for 6½ hours, and to this day, I still can't go into a public pool because of the chlorine that's high in the area affects my lungs.' Members of the medical community countered that too much of anything can be harmful. .
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill to prohibit fluoride in public drinking water systems advances
Fluoride in public drinking water systems fostered a robust debate before a legislative committee with supporters extolling its benefits to dental health and opponents decrying its dangers due to needless overdoses of the 'waste product' that can cause neurological development problems, especially in growing fetuses and young children. HB81, or Fluoride Amendments by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, passed the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on a 10-3 vote on Thursday, with the majority of those people testifying in favor of individual choice rather than mass 'medication' of drinking water The bill would prohibit the introduction of the chemical in public drinking water systems by the end of May and upends current systems that practice fluoridation of their water, including Brigham City, Salt Lake and Davis counties. The sponsor said the bill stems from a federal district court ruling in September which said that .7 milligrams of fluoride introduced into drinking water systems causes unreasonable risk. The ruling directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue guidance. The judge said, 'The 'optimal' water fluoridation level in the United States of 0.7 milligrams per liter is nearly double that safe level of 0.4 milligram per liter for pregnant women and their offspring. In all, there is substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health.' Both Davis and Salt Lake County passed voter initiatives to introduce fluoride to drinking water, but it did not mean all residents wanted it. A South Weber resident in Davis County said no one in her community wanted it, but they were outnumbered. Ronald Martinson, who holds a doctorate degree and is chair of the South Davis Water District Board, had this to say: 'As an elected board member, it's my duty to provide safe, clean drinking water to my fellow citizens and to ensure a safe workplace for our workers. Mandatory water fluoridation doesn't allow me to do that now. HB81 is especially needed because the current statute says that once a citizens initiative mandating water fluoride passes, it can only be changed by vote of the people. The elected officials have no control over this,' he said. 'As a district, we have no control, and that takes all the decision making about fluoride out of our hands, even though we're elected water board members, and it leaves our districts liable for any harm done by adding fluoride to the water,' he continued. 'In addition, the current statute empowers a minority of eligible or registered voters to mandate the addition of prescription medication to our water because it doesn't have a minimum voter turnout, so if only 10% turnout, they can pass fluoride.' Gricius stressed that fluoridation tablets would still be available by prescription for those who want it, so her measure does not eliminate personal choice and the money would be better spent on public education. Both general managers of the Jordan Valley Water District and Weber Basin Water District testified in favor of the bill. Because Weber Basin serves both Weber and Davis counties, Paxman said his district had to invest millions in eight stations to deliver the fluoridated water to Davis County residents only to bypass other customers not involved in the voter movement. Brigham City's water district had to spend $100,000 for its effort, but not all that water is being used to drink and instead is used for toilets, washing machines and lawns — meaning there is very little return on the taxpayers' money, the city's mayor, D.J. Bott added. Rod Thornell, a Herriman dentist and current president of the Utah Dental Association, said a statewide resolution voted on by all the delegates unanimously favored keeping fluoride in drinking water systems. 'We recognize community water fluoridation is the most effective and equitable method for delivering the appropriate therapeutic level of fluoride to prevent tooth decay,' he said. To not add fluoride would have disastrous effects, another dentist added. 'The effects are staggering from a health and a financial impact standpoint. Dental disease is still the most chronic disease among children and adults, and a major reason why school days are missing, work days are missed,' said Brent Larson, a recently retired dentist. 'Fluoridation is the most effective tool bar none to fight and to prevent dental disease. As wonderful as dental treatment is, prevention is better. Water fluoridation decreases dental disease by 25%.' Lorna Rosenstein of Utah Water Watch has been tracking fluoride in water systems for more than two decades and pointed out the regions that passed fluoridation of water were handed unfunded mandates and told to react quickly. She asserted the result was well meaning people getting involved in the science of mass medication of a substance that comes from hydroflurosilicic acid that as a concentrate in its undiluted form is classified as a hazardous, poisonous material that, while it contains fluoride, also contains arsenic, lead, copper, manganese, iron and aluminum. It is a byproduct from phosphate mining operations She said residents were falsely assured mechanical leaks would be an impossibility, even though she knows of at least nine — including a 2019 Sandy overfeed that sickened dozens and ended up with a lot of finger-pointing. An independent investigation found failure at all government levels for the accidental overfeed that was not publicly acknowledged for days. In some instances, residents were told there was a problem with their water heater that was causing the ill health effects. Salt Lake County, which passed the voter mandate, said the failure was not its fault because it was the city's delivery system. Sandy said it was not their fault because the health department should step in. It was 10 days after the overfeed that the state Division of Drinking Water ordered the city to issue a 'no drink' order.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bills would provide more Utah campgrounds options, acquire federal land advance
A pair of land bills advanced on unanimous votes from the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on Tuesday that would set up a mechanism to create state campgrounds and then to also facilitate up to 30,000 Bureau of Land Management acres for Utah to purchase or lease. The bill by Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, gives the state the ability to create campgrounds — not a full blown state park — through a bottom-up process. Utah state parks received more than 1.3 million visitors in fiscal year 2024 and are often packed. Eliason spoke of how he sought to make a reservation at one particular park early in the season, but it was already booked during prime camping time. His bill, HB34, would give the state the ability to create state campgrounds but only with the approval of the local governing body such as a city council or county commission. The campground proposal would also need buy-in from the state representative from the area as well as the state senator. 'This bill does not create any state campgrounds. It simply creates the process by which we would evaluate and potentially approve state campgrounds,' Eliason said. 'It is a bottom up approach versus top down, which we are all too familiar with.' Eliason pointed to the example presented by the Utah Raptor State Park, due to open later this year. It moved forward by cobbling a number of landowners parcels together, including the school trust lands administration, the Division of Fire, Forestry and State Lands, as well as the federal government. This sort of cooperative approach was enshrined in a bill last year that had unanimous support, but Eliason said the Senate simply ran out of time to get it passed. 'There are all sorts of opportunities,' with state campgrounds that can alleviate to an extent the pressure valve on state parks, he stressed. Another measure directs the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office to conduct a survey of federal lands that may be suitable for lease or purchase. It caps the acreage at 30,000 acres per year and would have to be for the purpose of providing public good. SB158, introduced by Sen. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, sets up a process to facilitate a survey of federal lands that if acquired would accomplish a beneficial public purpose. Counties have worked in tandem with the federal government for such purposes, such as putting in a landfill, a park or fire station. 'What this bill does is it's an information gathering and a unifying voice within the state, under direction of PLPCO to track and provide resources and allow that (information) to be drawn upon,' Stratton said. 'We need to track that and have that information available if we're desiring to continue and continue the course of wise stewardship of the resources in our care.' Redge Johnson, director of PLPCO, said the mechanism has been used with success before with the federal government with success using provisions in the federal Recreation Public Purposes Act. 'But I don't think anybody knows exactly how many acres we've gotten, so I think this is a good bill to get in and track and see how many we have,' he said. The bill does not preclude private nongovernmental organizations from making purchases or leases.
