At a packed house Air Quality/Transportation Summit August 14, Sen. Dan Clodfelter said bluntly that if the local governments in the Charlotte Region do not collectively decide to deal with “non attainment” air quality by ceding some road/land use authority to a regional decision making body, then the State of North Carolina will do it. Failure to attain acceptable air quality designation by the EPA, would significantly burden current and future businesses by limiting their expansion or relocation.

Clodfelter referenced the situation which faced Atlanta about 10 years ago which had deteriorating air quality, and as a region, was unable to deal with taking corrective action. The State of Georgia created a governing entity which overrode local government authority and forced the necessary intergovernmental cooperation. Today, Atlanta is within air quality attainment guidelines.

The Charlotte region, by geography near the Blue Ridge mountains, has a more stagnant atmospheric system which results in higher nitrous oxide (NOX) and thereby ozone, than does many larger regions, including Atlanta. Clodfelter recently introduced Senate Bill 910, signed into law by the Governor, which permits local government to create an authority to make air quality improvement decisions. However, this level of interlocal leadership may be difficult to achieve, as Gaston County leader Joe Carpenter observed, “It’s not human nature to give up our authority, unless we get a mandate from the State.”