NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES--SHAME ON YOU!!

There are some serious questions which have been raised by investigators with regard to the prosecution of violations of laws and regulations which were enacted by the legislature to protect the public environment. Our "watchdog agency", the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) has recently been caught "with its hands in the cookie jar", politically speaking. The first example of impropriety is the "expedited" permitting by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, wherein approval of a "quickie" permit for a multi-million dollar ethanol plant was granted. A high ranking DENR official was fired and disciplined for accepting bribes after this misconduct was discovered. Another instance of this misuse of power involves a former governor who is being investigated by a federal grand jury. Six high ranking NCDENR staff members are being subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury concerning favorable permitting treatment for wealthy land developers. Why does NCDENR choose to ignore such flagrant violations of the law, and instead elect to harass and prosecute cases involving ordinary citizens, who cannot defend themselves against the might of the North Carolina Department of Justice? An elderly Bladen County, N. C. couple filled in a one-acre portion of their back yard which NCDENR classified as "wetlands". When the landowner contested the wetlands ruling, NCDENR then imposed fines and penalties against them totalling $75,000.00. Good faith attempts to work out a reasonable settlement were ignored by NCDENR. The details of this miscarriage of justice are set out in the attached links.

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