Jordan Lake rules agreement

It now appears that there is an agreement between environmental groups and others (particularly Durham) on the Jordan Lake rules.

The agreement will be unveiled this afternoon at the meeting of the NC House Judiciary I committee. The committee will meet at 3pm in room 1228.

The Environmental Management Commission released a set of rules to reduce the nutrient pollution in Jordan Lake. The rules were approved by the Rules Review Commission. After approval, the rules were on hold because of "disapproval" bills in the General Assembly. These bills, if they passed, would have prevented any of the rules from going into effect.

One bill, HB 239, was introduced by Reps. Allen and Gibson as a disapproval bill. However, the disapproval language was replaced with language that would approval all rules other than the "existing development" or "retrofit" rule. That language was the subject of negotiations between representatives of the environmental community and Durham and other upstream communities.