North Carolina Now; Episode from 1999-04-07

It's Wednesday, April 7th, tonight taking action to improve the air quality in North Carolina now. Hello, I'm Marita Mitre, welcome to North Carolina now. On this Wednesday edition of our program, US Representative David Price will be our guest. The congressman will be here to discuss his concerns over the new federal budget currently under consideration. Also tonight, the Azalea Festival gets underway tomorrow in Wilmington. We'll preview the springtime ritual with a visit to the many beautiful Azalea Gardens gracing the port city. But at first tonight, we examine efforts to improve our state's air quality. At the first ever summit on mountain air quality held today in Asheville, Governor Hunt announced a seven-point plan to fight ozone. The plan includes, and in expansion of the state's current vehicle emissions inspection

program, it also requires that only low sulfur gas be sold in the state, and it provides tax incentives for alternative fuel vehicles. The new initiative also increases funding for mass transit and rail projects, and it expands air awareness and ozone action programs, which are public education programs on air pollution issues. The plan also requires the state's five largest power plans to reduce emissions by two thirds, and it encourages companies to reduce pollutants ahead of schedule. And this report produced by Ginger Long Mitchell Lewis examines the growing problem of ozone in North Carolina. On many hot and hazy tar hill days, there's more hanging in the air than just heat and humidity. Ozone, a primary component of smog, is at dangerously high levels. Ozone occurs particularly in the summer, because it is formed when pollutants react with sunlight. Brock Nicholson, chief of air quality planning at the North Carolina Department of Environment

and Natural Resources, explains. Well, ozone is a secondarily formed pollutant primarily, not exclusively, but primarily form two precursor pollutants, that being nitrogen oxides, which come from combustion and volatile organic compounds or hydrocarbons, if you would. And together in the presence of sunlight and it generally elevated temperatures, we have ozone formed. In the emergency room of a hospital, the effects of these high ozone days are graphically illustrated. West Wallace is attending physician in emergency medicine at UNC hospital. There have been remarkably consistent studies from around the country that show that in cities with high-owned zone levels, not only are the emergency department visits increased remarkably with respiratory problems, but also the admissions. That is to say, people bad enough have to stay in the hospital.

Well, the most common problems seem to be with people who have chronic asthma. That asthma is made much worse. Asma is more of a problem with children than with adults. Children breathe in much more air per pound of body weight than adults do, and they're more prone. In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a more stringent standard for ozone. The old standard had a limit of 0.12 parts per million. The new standard allows only 0.08 parts per million, but averages the level over a longer time period. Molly Diggins, state director of the Sierra Club, was part of the effort to change the standard. Well, the new ozone standard, I think, is long overdue. The health effects of ozone are among the most studied of all the major air pollutants, and I think that the concern over the rise of childhood asthma around the country prompted or spurred along this debate, and I'm glad that the EPA did go forward with a meaningful

standard. The science was fairly overwhelmingly strong that we needed to change our standard, and we did. We changed the standard so that it no longer just looks at the one highest peak hour in a day, but that it looks at a number of hours across the board. In fact, we're looking at an average of your highest eight hours of high ozone levels. The new standard, however, won't translate into laws for many years. North Carolina has four years to come up with plans, with full compliance due five years after that. This means that any immediate improvement in our air quality will have to be voluntary. In response, the North Carolina Division of Air Quality started a public education campaign called the North Carolina Air Awareness Program. Our main thrust in terms of our present strategy is really to get the public to understand that one, we do have an air quality problem, and secondly, to understand what they can do to help temper or reduce the problem on those days, in which we're likely to have the

greatest ozone problem, and some of these are fairly common-sense items drive less, and do certain things during certain times of the day, but not other times of the day. Carpool to work, for example, don't go out at lunch, emissions during certain hours of the day are actually more critical to the formation of ozone. The Air Awareness Days program issues ozone alerts letting people know when the high ozone days come, so that people can plan their activities accordingly. If there is an exceedance of the new standard in two or more of the metropolitan areas of the state, it is an orange alert. A red alert means an exceedance of over 20 percent. During July of last year, the state recorded several red alert days and 20 days of orange alerts. Well, it's certainly something we never expected to see in North Carolina. I don't think people normally associate warnings for unhealthy air like that with places like Southern California, Los Angeles, that have a reputation for bad air, and I don't think

people in North Carolina think of us as having air quality problems serious enough to warrant that kind of a red alert, so I think it will really be kind of a wake-up call. The ozone levels are at their highest in the Triad, the Charlotte area, and the Triangle, but ozone is not restricted to these areas. The division of air quality estimates that more than half of North Carolina citizens live in counties where ozone levels will violate the new standard. I think the air awareness program makes people think about alternative ways of doing things that might help improve air quality, but it will not in and of itself solve the problems. According to Governor Hans Office, North Carolina is leading the nation in air quality control by being one of the few states to develop a long-term statewide plan for meeting the new stricter federal standards for ground-level ozone and fine particles. While coming up, Congressman David Price, but first, here's Mitchel Lewis with a summary

of today's statewide news. Hello, Mitch. Hi there, Marita. Good evening, everyone. A three-term state lawmaker is leaving the General Assembly to make a run at the Governor's Office. Wake County Republican Representative Chuck Neely announced his resignation from the state legislature today in order to pursue his party's gubernatorial nomination. Something he says will require his full-time dedication. Find to be an effective candidate and an effective governor. I must take the time to meet with North Carolina citizens all across the state. It's vital to understand their concerns for North Carolina and their ideas of how to make our state and communities a better place to live to work and to raise our families. Neely is expected to make a formal campaign announcement April 20th. So far, House Minority Leader Leo Doctrie and former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinrute are the only two Republicans who have formally announced their campaigns for governor. State Attorney General Mike Easley, Lieutenant Governor Dennis Wicker, and State Transportation

Secretary Norris Tulson are all weighing the possibility of seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nod. Local governments would be prevented from filing lawsuits against gun manufacturers under a bill introduced in the state house. The measure would exempt gun makers from being held responsible for the illegal use of their firearms. Lawsuits filed in Chicago and New Orleans are seeking to hold manufacturers liable and claim that legally purchased guns, used in crimes, represent a public nuisance and cost police and hospitals millions of dollars. In this state, the Durham City Council is set to be discussing a similar suit. A bill requiring companies to provide insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives has been amended to exclude controversial morning after pills. The action by the House Health Committee specifically eliminates any required coverage of the drugs are you 486 and Preven, which can prevent pregnancy if taken after sex. The State House Health Committee also wrote in an exemption for non-profit religious groups that object to the contraception on religious grounds.

Tobacco farmers in North Carolina and 13 other states won't be able to count on the five billion dollar industry settlement this growing season. Industry and government leaders say payments could be as late as December. Industry attorney Phil Carlton and State Attorney General Mike easily say the stall in payments is due to cash flow problems and the size of the trust fund. Growers and allotment owners in North Carolina stand to receive about $140 million this year. Convenient stores and their clerks will soon face citations instead of just warnings if they are caught selling tobacco products to youngsters. Agents with the state division of alcohol law enforcement will quit issuing warning starting April 15th. Under state law it is a crime to sell cigarettes to persons under the age of 18. Over the past year state law enforcement agents have been working to spread the information to retail outlets and clerks. The party is most likely affected by stepped up enforcement of the law. State prison officials are considering a ban on smoking in all state prisons in North Carolina.

New facilities already prohibit indoor smoking with inmates and workers allowed to smoke outside. Correction of officials say the ban may be extended to encompass all 84 prisons in the state. Prison authorities say the statewide ban is part of an effort to reduce health problems and soothe fears about second hand smoke raised by some inmates. A measure endorsed by a Senate committee would make district court judge elections nonpartisan. The bill's sponsor said the changes would make district court elections consistent with superior court elections, which became nonpartisan in 1998. The bill would establish a May primary for all judicial candidates and the two with the highest votes would appear on the November ballot. The proposed changes would take effect with the 2000 elections. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather, mountain highs will be in the mid to upper 70s. The rest of the state should see highs in the lower 80s, partly sunny to partly cloudy skies, a forecast for the entire state. In business news, a labor shortage could slow growth in North Carolina's construction industry.

According to a new economic index, the index predicts legal immigration would not provide enough new workers and mostly Latino migrant laborer will help fill the demand. The UNC Charlotte professor who developed the index says contractors should do all new hiring before the summer and work to keep current workers. A decision by computer software giant Microsoft will keep almost 1000 employees working in Charlotte. In fact, Microsoft is searching for additional office space in Mecklenburg County to expand its East Coast product support operations. South Carolina used millions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives and an unsuccessful campaign to lure Microsoft out of the Tar Heal state. All varieties of Peroniform smoked salmon dip are being recalled because they may be contaminated with Listeria, a possibly life threatening bacteria. The dip was sold in stores in North Carolina and 11 other states. The germ can cause severe or even fatal infections in young children, the elderly or people with weak immune systems. If you believe you may have purchased the dip, you can contact the company by calling

1-800-750-6190. A triple digit jump for the Dow Jones industrials pushed the big board back into 10,000 territory again. Let's take a look at the numbers. Let's take a look at numbers. This month Congress is expected to vote on the final federal budget resolution for fiscal

year 2000. There are certain provisions in that spending plan that don't sit too well with this evening's guest. Here to talk about his concerns over the federal budget and other issues is U.S. Representative David Price of North Carolina's fourth Congressional District Congressman Price. Welcome back to the program. Thank you. Glad to be here. Before we talk about the federal budget, which is of course important, I would like to touch upon the situation in Kosovo and get your thoughts about what is taking place there. Is the United States on the right track? Well, it's hard to say to what extent our military strategy in that of our allies is going to succeed. It's pretty clear what we're trying to do. We're attempting to raise the cost to President Milosevic to unacceptable levels of what he's trying to do in Kosovo, namely wiping out whole villages, sending the population out of

the country, many massacres and killings, ethnic cleansing. It's totally unacceptable to the international community and to our standards of conduct. So we're attempting to prevent a further humanitarian catastrophe. We're attempting to stabilize the situation so that the conflict doesn't spread to other parts of Europe. And of course, we're trying to assert a decisive role for NATO with the United States as a linchpin of NATO. And all of those are worthy objectives. But with the air war that we're undertaking, some of these conditions have become worse in the short term. And we are just going to have to persevere and make the cost to Milosevic unacceptable so that we can get the situation stabilized and put a peacekeeping force there and turn this around. But it is a very difficult and dangerous situation. And I think it's very hard to say right now that it's been successful. It's been a mixed result and one that we're very much hoping to bring in the right direction.

All along, President Clinton has made a commitment not to send in ground troops, but people are talking, well, maybe if the air war doesn't work, this might be a direction we have to go. Has there been talk there on Capitol Hill about the possibility of sending ground troops? There's been talk. And of course, most people, myself included, would very much want to avoid introducing ground troops because that takes the conflict and our role in it to a new level, a different level. And I hope we can avoid that. I hope the air war strategy, as we now wipe out the air defenses and do more to stop those Serbian troops there on the ground as they do their damage. I hope that will succeed. Now we are committed to having some peacekeeping forces there once a settlement is reached. But of course, that's a very different issue than the issue of introducing ground troops to actually bring about a settlement.

Congressman, let's move now to the budget discussions that we're going on there on Capitol Hill and we have a vote coming up later in the month. You have expressed some concerns about certain provisions in that budget. Things that aren't necessarily going the way that you would like to see them go. If you could briefly outline those concerns for us and then we'll talk about them individually. Well, there's some major differences in the budget, which the Republican leadership pushed through and the budget proposals, which the President made and which the Democrats adapted somewhat and made into our proposal. The differences are in the area of how much we're going to be able to reduce the national debt. Both budgets, fortunately, do some of that, but the Democratic budget would reduce the national debt more. The Democratic budget would transfer assets into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, thereby extending the life of those trust funds. I think that's a vitally important feature. I think the real priority ought to be, especially now that we're running a surplus, to get the debt down and to ensure the long-term future of Medicare and Social Security.

Then when you come to governmental priorities, there are differences there, too. The Democratic budget does a great deal more for education, not just for maintaining our current effort, but also new initiatives like getting class size down and school construction. Neither the President's budget nor the Republican budget are adequate for veterans' health care, and our Democratic budget got those numbers where they need to be to keep our commitment to the people who've served our country. I think that's an important area of difference. Major research initiatives, the National Institutes of Health, research on major diseases, the Democratic budget is far superior. What the Republicans will say, of course, is that they have a much deeper tax cut across the board tax cut, and that's true. They spend a lot more of their budget on a tax cut, which is why they can't do these other things, like debt reduction, unlike investing in education and health research. The trouble, I think, is that that tax cut is not very well distributed. It benefits the wealthiest people in this country, and there are other ways to do tax cuts

that are less costly. The Democratic tax cuts go for such things as people paying for long-term healthcare, they go for school construction, tax credits, they go for the research and development tax credits, so important here in the triangle. We have targeted tax cuts, but overall, the dollar amount is less. Those are the major points of difference. We have passed the budget resolution. We've had a good debate. These are always very partisan debates. I don't think this battles over. I think as we now turn to the specific appropriations bills and to no doubt some kind of tax bill, a lot of these issues will come back and will have a chance to debate them in more detail. Let's talk about a battle that I know that is important for you to fight. You and Congressman Etheridge are really big on this school construction amendment as something particularly important to North Carolina. Tell us a little bit about what you're proposing and where we are in all that. Well, Bob Etheridge has introduced that, and I with him, this school construction act,

and that was one of the issues in the budget to debate. I got up on the floor and said, we need to make room for this in this budget. Unfortunately, that viewpoint for the moment has not prevailed, but we're going to keep pushing because we happen to come from districts where thousands of students are going to school in hundreds of trailers, and students are having to eat lunch at 10.30 in the morning because they have so many shifts for inadequate lunch room facilities. There is study after study, and of course, people know it just by experiencing the situation that students do so much better, perform so much better when they're in first-rate facilities. We need to wire our classrooms for the Internet and for modern equipment, and we need to build more schools. And what Bob and I are trying to do is to put the kind of tax incentives in place that will let local school authorities extend their bonding capacities. We're not trying to tell them when and how and where to build schools. What we are saying is that the federal tax code ought to be used to extend their bonding

authority and make those dollars go further. And we come from areas where people readily appreciate the need for that, and the need to make room in the federal budget for that kind of initiative. All right. Congressman, unfortunately, we're out of time. Hope you're recovered from the Duke loss. Oh, we're trying. Okay. Thanks very much. Glad to be with you. Thanks for being here tonight. Now, Congressman Mike McIntyre from our state's seventh district, which encompasses Wilmington will be our guest on Monday, April 12th. The 52nd annual North Carolina Azalea Festival gets underway tomorrow in Wilmington. To get you in the mood, videographer Simone Keith focuses her eye on the beautiful Azalea

and the gardens of Wilmington. Thank you very much. .

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. And this year's Asalia Festival runs from April 8th through the 11th. And that brings to a close tonight's edition of North Carolina now. Please join us tomorrow when Mitchell Lewis profiles the career of an NC State scientist who's done research looking into the effects of pesticides and drugs on the food we eat. Have a great evening. Good night. .