Commission Proceedings 



attorney's fees to a State employee who prevails in a lawsuit related to actions taken in 

 the course of the employee's duties to enforce environmental laws. The ERC voted to 

 recommend both of the proposals to the General Assembly and gave staff permission to 

 combine them into a single legislative proposal. 



Notice to public of applications for mining permits 



Mr. Givens also explained a proposal to broaden the requirement that neighboring 

 property owners be given notice of any application for a mining permit. This proposal 

 was requested by ERC members concerned about a situation in which an applicant had 

 sought a permit for a mining operation on a parcel of land surrounded by other property 

 also owned by the applicant. The applicant was therefore not required to notify 

 neighboring land-owners of the application. The ERC voted to recommend the proposal 

 to the General Assembly. 



Licensing of septic tank installers (continued from May 4, 2000) 



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

 Lassiter, Legislative Liaison for the North Carolina Septic Tank Association, presented 

 proposed legislation that would require on-site wastewater system contractors to be 

 licensed by an independent licensing board. After adopting an amendment jfrom 

 Representative Cox to exclude General Contractors from the licensing requirement, the 

 ERC voted to recommend the proposal to the General Assembly. 



Billboard moratorium 



Jeff W. Hudson, Assistant Commission Counsel, explained proposed legislation to extend 

 by one year the moratorium on constructing and permitting new billboards along the 

 portion of Interstate Highway 40 from the Orange-Alamance County line to the 

 municipal limits of the City of Wilmington. The proposal had been requested by 

 Representative Hackney at the ERC meeting on May 4, 2000. The Commission voted to 

 recommend the proposal to the General Assembly. 



Timber harvest notice (continued from May 4, 2000) 



The ERC discussed a proposal presented by Senator Kinnaird at the May 4, 2000 meeting 



of the ERC to require a person conducting a commercial timber harvest to notify DENR 



prior to commencing land-disturbing activity related to the harvest. The ERC determined 



that this issue and other issues related to sustainable timber harvesting should be studied 



by the ERC in the interim following the 2000 Regular Session of the 1999 General 



Assembly. 



ERC Report to the General Assembly 



Hannah Holm, Research Assistant for Environmental Issues, presented the draft report 

 from the ERC to the General Assembly on ERC activities in the interim following the 

 1999 Regular Session. She asked that the ERC approve the report on the condition that a 

 summary of the current meeting, summaries of all recommended legislation, and edited 

 drafts of all recommended legislation be added to the report. The ERC voted to approve 

 the report with these conditions. 



26 



