The General Assembly's all-out assault on the environment will affect us in many ways — in the quality of the water we drink and the air we breathe. But, mostly, we won't see these downgrades. Out of sight may mean out of mind.
But one legislative move to help big business at the expense of our environment will be painfully obvious in March when the billboard industry begins implementing new state rules regarding the clear-cutting of trees on public lands adjacent to their signs.
Why the state ever allowed billboard owners to cut trees on state property is beyond our understanding of ownership rights. Trees along our roads belong to all of the people of this state, not to those who own the property next to those roads. Yet the state has long allowed a limited program of tree clearance along the roads so that signs are visible.
The legislature passed the new state law in June and it became effective in October, but the rules implementing it had to work their way through the administrative-review process. The N.C. Department of Transportation tried to write rules that would be less harsh on our roadside vistas, but the billboard industry fought back. It has pursued tree-clearing legislation for years and, after finding soft hearts and sympathy for sharp chainsaws among the Republican majorities of both houses last year, it isn't in any mood for compromise.
The industry knows that if it can quickly cut those trees along our highways, it won't have to worry about voter repulsion, about a change in policy. The trees will be gone, and it will take years, and a lot of money, to replace them. And they aren't required to plant replacement greenery, either.
The state is estimating that 200,000 trees will be felled under the new law, a tremendous loss of scenic beauty and the air quality to which trees contribute.
As we drive the highways this spring and summer, we'll see the crews cutting the trees and turning a pleasant trip in the country into an unsightly mess of ugly billboards. Legislators may well hear an outcry from their constituents.
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