Neuse River Foundation wins N.C. conservation award

The Neuse River Foundation was recognized as North Carolina's Conservation Organization of the Year for 2006. The award was presented during the 45th Annual Governor's Conservation Achievement Awards at the North Carolina Wildlife Federation Banquet held in Raleigh on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007.

The NRF staff -- including Neuse Riverkeepers Dean Naujoks and Larry Baldwin -- were honored for their work to preserve the health of the Neuse. Wildlife writer and award ceremony emcee Eddie Nickens offered the following remarks in their honor:

The particular achievements of the Neuse River Foundation are lengthy and noteworthy: The NRF generated more than 1,000 public comments on Butner's request to dump 61,000 pounds of nitrogen into Falls Lake each year. Its volunteer Air Force has documented hundreds of Clean Water Act violations. Working with the Waterkeeper Alliance, NRF help secure an agreement with Smithfield Foods to change hog waste disposal at more than 275 facilities. And the organization's annual River Cleanup is the state's largest. In four years, 53,000 pounds of trash have been collected from the river. That's equivalent to the weight of nearly five elephants -- or approximately 6.3 billion copies of the newly published History of the N.C. House of Representatives.

But perhaps the greatest achievement of the Neuse River Foundation is the way it has been able to convince an enormous number of North Carolinians who live far from the bank of a creek or stream that they are, indeed, the citizens of a river. It wasn't so long ago that most people in North Carolina figured the Neuse River was just a squiggly blue line on a map. Raleigh only nudged the river in a few places. Its connection to the coastal environment seemed tenuous at best. But residents of the Neuse River basin, though they may live 5 miles from the nearest kingfisher, no longer feel disconnected from this critical waterway. The Neuse River Foundation, through its activism, its Riverkeepers, and its consistent message that a region's river truly is the tie that binds, has raised the status of the Neuse, and has raised awareness of river conservation to a level unprecedented in this region.

We residents of Raleigh and other communities along the river are lucky to have an organization like NRF looking out for our interests. Congratulations to them for a much-deserved honor.

Renewable energy gains ground in state House

Legislation introduced this week in the N.C. House of Representatives would help move the state toward a safer, greener energy future.

The primary sponsor of H.B. 77 -- "Promote Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency -- is Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford), a longtime environmental advocate. The other primary sponsors include Rep. Grier Martin, a Raleigh Democrat.

The bill would mandate adoption of the "environmental portfolio standard" recently recommended to the N.C. Climate Action Plan Advisory Group. Under the proposal, North Carolina's electric utilities would have to get at least 20 percent of their generating capacity from renewable energy sources or energy efficiency by 2022. Renewable sources would include solar, wind, hydropower and biomass, and as much as half of the total amount could be met through energy efficiency measures.

According to information presented to the CAPAG last month, the proposal would result in substantial reductions of greenhouse gases emissions. It could also produce a net savings of $1.8 billion in electricity costs paid for by North Carolina consumers.

In other good news for the state's environment, the N.C. House has created a new committee devoted specifically to addressing energy and energy efficiency.