Commission Proceedings 



Stormwater management 



Coleen SuUins, Section Chief of the Water Quality Section of the Division of Water 

 Quality in DENR, reported on the implementation of stormwater runoff rules and 

 programs, including new federal standards that will require smaller municipalities to 

 manage stormwater. This presentation was followed by a discussion of issues related to 

 the outcome of the Smith Chapel Baptist Church v. City of Durham case, in which the 

 Supreme Court of North Carolina agreed with the church's challenge to the city's 

 authority to levy a fee to cover the administration of its stormwater program. Rick A. 

 Zechini, Assistant Commission Coimsel, presented background information on the case, 

 and Andrew L. Romanet, Jr., General Counsel to the North Carolina League of 

 Municipalities, spoke about the potential impact of the decision on municipal 

 governments. The ERC then discussed recommending legislation to clarify that local 

 governments have the authority to levy fees to administer their stormwater programs. 



Coastal water quality 



Doima D. Moffitt, Director of the Division of Coastal Management in DENR, reported 

 on rulemaking by the Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) to require the preservation 

 of 30 foot vegetated buffers along rivers and streams throughout the coastal counties in 

 order to protect water quality. She noted that the 30 foot buffer rule was a substitute for a 

 more ambitious plan to require wider buffers and expand the area subject to the 

 permitting requirements of the CRC under the Coastal Area Management Act. The more 

 controversial plan was opposed by many local governments, and the CRC convened the 

 North Carolina Estuarine Shoreline Protection Stakeholders Group to develop an 

 alternative proposal. Eugene B. Tomlinson, Chair of this stakeholder group, stated that 

 coastal water quality protection is the responsibility of everyone, not just those who live 

 in the coastal counties. The stakeholder group's recommendations include extending 

 riparian buffer protection and land-use planning requirements upstream from the coastal 

 counties. 



Water quality in drinking water wells 



Dr. Rick L. Langley, Medical Epidemiologist in the Occupational and Enviroimiental 

 Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Health and 

 Human Services, and Arthur Mouberry, Chief of the Groundwater Section of the Division 

 of Water Quality in DENR, reported on the contamination of groundwater by methyl 

 teriary-butyl ether (MTBE). They reported that 6-9% of all North Carolina drinking 

 water wells are contaminated by MTBE to some degree and noted that the Environmental 

 Management Commission (EMC) was acting to lower the standard for MTBE in drinking 

 water. There was significant discussion about how the standard for contamination was 

 set and the practical effect of the standard. ERC members also asked how many people 

 had been made ill in North Carolina from drinking MTBE-contaminated drinking water. 

 This information was not available. 



Linda C. Sewall, Director of the Division of Environmental Health in DENR, reported 

 on broader issues related to the quality of drinking water from wells. She recommended 

 establishing a statewide program for well inspections. 



