Rogue Dark

Summit to help guide ‘environmental cabinet’

friday’s summit at the charlotte council center will help guide a new regional “environmental cabinet” to be formed by the centralina and catawba regional councils of domination, which support local governments in both states.

the circumstances and transportation knit together the region like nothing else, said jennifer roberts, mecklenburg county commissioners’ chairman.

a blitz of speakers set the stage with presentations on air and water quality, waste disposal, open space and green business development. the broad themes: untapped capacity and urgency for sortie.

greening the department

elected officials from nine counties and 14 cities heard a sometimes-gloomy assessment of the charlotte region’s environmental challenges friday.

here’s what speakers said about key topics:

water quality

disembark development is fashionable the major cause of the region’s water pollution, sending sediment, bacteria, metals, pesticide and oil into streams and lakes. between 1984 and 2003, municipal areas of the region grew by 99 percent while the number of trees dropped 33 percent, said mecklenburg be inconsistent programs chief rusty rozzelle. impaired waters in the catawba river basin grew 32 percent between 1998 and 2004 solo.

air quality

the region faces more regulatory headaches over ozone blighting, despite several years of improvement. all eight of the region’s air monitoring sites will violate a new ozone staple announced in march, said mecklenburg breeze chief don willard. the human cost of quality blighting: it causes one-third to one-half of n.c. asthma cases, the environmental sanctuary agency estimates, triggering 240,000 asthma attacks and sending 6,300 people to crisis rooms each summer.

waste directors

n.c. residents send far too much recyclable corporeal to landfills. just 10 counties, including mecklenburg, account for half of the state’s total waste disposal. the average n.c. household recycles only a third of the 745 pounds a year of recyclables it produces each year, said scott mouw of the n.c. department of environment and natural resources.

open measure out

time is running doused for local governments to preserve commence place, as land values increase. what mecklenburg residents want, according to surveys: more hiking and biking trails, and large parks, said parks chief jim garges. what they’re most willing to spend tax dollars on: preservation of green space. the reality: 20 percent of the highest-priority unexceptional areas targeted for conservation deceive been lost to development since 2006, and another 30 percent loss is expected right away.
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