Page 22 - Tree Line - NCFA - First Quarter 2020

LEGISLATIVE/ASSOCIATION NEWS
(l-r) NCFA Executive Vice President Dr. John Hatcher, Congressman G.K. Butterfield, Nancy Thompson of Weyerhaeuser and Kenneth Lin of International Paper.
NCFA Highlights
Key Legislative Issues that Impacted Forestry in 2019
The North Carolina General Assembly’s 2019 Long Session adjourned on October 31, 2019. With approximately 14.5% of the 1,733 bills filed becoming law, you might think that not much has been done in Raleigh. But compared to the
20-year average of 3.4% of bills filed per legislative session in Congress becoming law, the work done at the state level looks productive. In 2019, the North Carolina Forestry Association (NCFA) also worked closely with several North Carolina regulatory agencies and the NC Congressional Delegation on key issues that affect our industry.
comment period is scheduled to run February 2 to April 3, 2020 for the amended proposal. The EMC is set to take final action on this issue at the May 14, 2020 meeting. The NCFA supports the amended version of the proposed rule, and will be filing comments on our members’ behalf.
FEDERAL ISSUES
Transportation
A number of North Carolina’s state highways have or are currently in the process of transitioning into the federal interstate system. While this transition has great potential for stimulating commerce, it creates a major problem for forestry and agricultural sectors.
In 2012, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation granting agriculture and forestry producers
a 10,000-pound variance due to the variable weight of agricultural and forest products leaving the farm and the forest. This 10,000-pound variance for agriculture and forestry will no longer be honored on the roads transitioning into the federal interstate system
unless Congress decides to grandfather them in. The NCFA, along with some of your fellow members, conveyed
this message to the North Carolina Congressional Delegation, resulting
in the incorporation of grandfathering language into U.S Senate Bill 2302, America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019. The NCFA is hopeful that this language remains intact as the bill makes its way through the legislative process. We will provide updates on this issue as they arise.
H-2B Guest Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor proposed new rules that would move forestry
from the H-2B visa program to the H-2A program. While this proposal contained some benefits, the proposed changes would have ultimately increased the costs for H-2B visa employers relative to the existing H-2B program. The final rule is scheduled to be completed in April 2020. The NCFA’s national counterpart,
STATE ISSUES
Cartway Paths
North Carolina’s cartway path law was first established in 1798 to provide a means for landowners with landlocked parcels to obtain a temporary easement in order to conduct necessary agricultural, forestry and mining activities. North Carolina’s General Statutes clearly define the process by which a landowner can legally obtain
a cartway path (N.C. G.S. 136-69). Passage of Senate Bill 353 in the 2019 Long Session of the General Assembly amended the cartway path law to allow up to a maximum width of 30 feet in order to accommodate modern agriculture and forestry equipment.
Timber Theft
The aim of this bill was to strengthen North Carolina’s timber theft laws. Senate Bill 327 passed the Senate, but was held up in the House Judiciary Committee. NCFA will continue to
monitor the proceedings for any updates on this particular piece of legislation.
REGULATORY ISSUES
Methyl Bromide
The Department of Air Quality (DAQ) notified log fumigation operators of its intent to modify their air quality permits during the summer of 2018. Later that year, the NCFA and other interested parties successfully lobbied against the adoption of temporary rules restricting the practice of log fumigation. DAQ
then proposed permanent rules on log fumigation and an amendment to the toxic air-pollutant guidelines rule.
At press time, the rulemaking process for the regulation of methyl bromide emissions from log fumigation is still ongoing. On January 9, 2019,
the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) voted unanimously to amend the proposed rule, and send the amended rule back out to public comment. Tentatively, the public
20 ncforestry.org / FIRST QUARTER 2020