KERR LAKE WATER WITHDRAWAL APPROACHES DANGER LEVEL
It’s the 11th hour for Kerr Lake and the fast track, bulldoze effort against the citizens of Granville, Vance & Warren as the NC House meets tonight to push through HB 795 which nulls and voids petitions, public outcry and all the other rules that were previously changed to eliminate public scrutiny of the 10-million gallon interbasin transfer of water from Kerr Lake to Franklin County and beyond. “We say, the action of the water transfer is legal, but it is certainly not ethical as I mentioned in a citizen grassroots meeting in Henderson Thursday night, and as far as the actions of the General Assembly, I am not sure passing laws to keep the public’s legal right of review in itself is legal, and if those actions like tonight’s quick almost secret vote on HB 795 are legal, they shouldn’t be,” said KLPW’s Frank Timberlake. “I’ve never seen government work its tail off to push the public’s constitutional rights away. Where the hell is the ALCU and the NAACP? Why are they standing still for these poor counties to get thrashed by big money and politics like this?” Industries in Franklin County told Governor McCrory they must have water or they will move, and the Governor then told the secretaries of the Departments of Commerce and DENR that getting the Interbasin Transfer must occur in a hurry and to get legislators “to do what they have to do” to make it happen. Timberlake added, “We told the City of Henderson people the other night that they ought to slow the process and give consideration to having a full Environmental Impact Statement. They had no response.” “With a void of 31 percent of the capacity of Falls Lake when it was built, what should be done is a new higher dam with a highway across it that should be put at Falls Lake and there’s the Triangle’s water for the next 50 or 60 years. But you won’t hear a Triangle official recommend that,” added Timberlake. Unless Representative Nathan Baskerville and Senator Angela Bryant, neither who can be found, NC Attorney General Roy Cooper, or some judge intervene on behalf of the citizens of those counties and the group, “Preserve Our North Carolina Lakes Community” the NC General Assembly will quietly pass HB 795 tonight and allow no public comment or input. The lake preservation group is now attempting to ask the US Justice Department to intercede. One of the “ordinary citizens” working to keep Kerr Lake’s water from being taken by the KLWRS (City of Henderson) and selling it for profit outside the three county area is farmer John Hyson who sent out this urgent message this morning, “Thank you for attending the public meeting or signing a petition about what is being done to our lake. Congratulations. They have heard our voices, because they are now trying to pass more legislation in a night session today to revise the rules yet again – even before our April 30 deadline. They have decided to re-write some of what they sneaked through last November to now say any Inter Basin Transfer under 20 Million Gallons per Day can now be done with the stroke of a pen. (HB795 to pass GS113A-4{2A}). The trick is that one sentence, “The failure of that agency to provide comments….” Passed by default! No Environmental Impact Statement. No announcement to the public, much less public hearings. No economic review. They have also devised this bill so that there is no public input allowed on this bill itself. The Sierra Club which has been active for 44 years in partnership with our Legislature was told they could have only one minute to speak about the potential damage of these changes. We have got to stop this House Bill #795! Please take the time today to call/email our representative/senator to ask them to please support our poor counties versus the rich. Ask them to get more information before they vote. Do not neglect Tier One Counties. Do not cancel Environmental Impact Statements from DENR review.” Hyson added the contact info for legislators: Angela Bryant 919-733-5878 Angela.Bryant@ncleg.net Nathan Baskerville 919-733-5824 Nathan.Baskerville@ncleg.net Please also call the sponsors of this bill, all from Tier 2 Counties! John Torbett {Gaston} 919-733-5868 John.Torbett@ncleg.net Mike Hager {Burke} 919-733-5749 Mike.Hager@ncleg.net Chris Millis {Onslow} 919-733-9664 Chris.Millis@ncleg.net The gist of all of this is that the government of the State of North Carolina being the Governor and the General Assembly, for selfish reasons, maybe possible gain, have denounced the legal rights of the citizens of Granville, Vance and Warren Counties and have damned the voice of the citizenry. Is there not one person who knows a judge who will emerge from the third branch of the government to help those people and all of us who try to help Kerr Lake? Tick, tick, tick….