"Ash Spill Shows How Watchdog Was Defanged"
Ash Spill Shows How Watchdog Was Defanged
By TRIP GABRIEL at the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/us/coal-ash-spill-reveals-transformation-of-north-carolina-agency.html?hp&_r=0
"SNIP.......................................
RALEIGH, N.C. Last June, state employees in charge of stopping water pollution were given updated marching orders on behalf of North Carolinas new Republican governor and conservative lawmakers.
The General Assembly doesnt like you, an official in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources told supervisors called to a drab meeting room here. They cut your budget, but you didnt get the message. And they cut your budget again, and you still didnt get the message.
From now on, regulators were told, they must focus on customer service, meaning issuing environmental permits for businesses as quickly as possible. Big changes are coming, the official said, according to three people in the meeting, two of whom took notes. If you dont like change, youll be gone.
But when the nations largest utility, Duke Energy, spilled 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River in early February, those big changes were suddenly playing out in a different light. Federal prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation into the spill and the relations between Duke and regulators at the environmental agency.
.....................................SNIP"