A House committee looking at river quality unanimously approved a bill on Thursday to address unregulated chemicals in North Carolina’s drinking water supplies by seeking better calculations of the pollution levels that would do no harm.
The committee is taking action following the recent public disclosure that for decades, The Chemours Co. had been releasing GenX, a chemical used to make Teflon and other coatings, from its Bladen County plant into Wilmington’s main water supply.
The proposal doesn’t contain additional funds for state health and environmental regulators to pay for more chemical testing, high-tech equipment and discharge permitting, which Democratic Gov.
House Republican leaders say separate spending legislation is still being worked on.
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Cooper said that bill failed to address underlying issues with emerging contaminants, whose health effects not well understood.
GenX is just one of tens of thousands of unregulated chemicals that are routinely being discharged into drinking water supplies nationwide under a federal discharge permit program.
The Department of Environmental Quality said in a release later Thursday it has "no issue with the study legislation, but a short-term solution requires funding as the state works to address emerging contaminants."
Thursday’s bill in part would: — direct the Department of Health and Human Services to work with science advisers to the health and environment department secretaries on how to set better "health goals" for contaminant levels.
— order DEQ to study and recommend improvements to the state’s administration of the federal discharge permit program, which allows industrial operations like Chemours to release chemicals into bodies of water.

Katy Burns: Welcome to the post-competence GOP.
His experience in education policy?
Not that Sununu 2.0 seems to have any use for public schools either.
Lack of knowledge doesn’t daunt Edelblut.
But his grasp of labor law, labor issues?
And Sununu isn’t an outlier in the GOP these days.
Former Texas governor Rick Perry is heading Energy, the department charged with the responsibility of overseeing, protecting and managing the nation’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.
They were sober and serious people of substance who believed in government, if smaller government.
Now the Grand Old Party gives us Donald Trump.
And Chris Sununu.

Obradovich: Can’t fix stupid: The 2017 Legislature in three words.
But Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, responded that lawmakers "can’t fix stupid.” He said, “You’re right, there’s nothing we can do down here, we can’t legislate away stupid people and the actions they’re going to take.
Iowa lawmakers can’t fix stupid, so the GOP majority has decided this year to make a lot more of it legal.
Now, I’m not saying the entire legislative session was idiotic.
Lawmakers made some wise decisions.
Some of them were even made with bipartisan support.
They gutted collective bargaining rights for public employees, forgetting that these days some union members are GOP voters.
Hint: Not the working people of Iowa.
I have never seen a legislative session do more to engage — and enrage — so many Iowans.
Republicans will have to decide next year whether to start fixing some of the stupid before voters decide to fix it for them.

The plan includes a $5 billion bond for clean water projects and the creation of a new institute of public health experts, scientists and state officials that would set standards to address water contaminates.
The Senate and Assembly are both scheduled to pass budgets this week and must negotiate a budget compromise before April 1.
Creation of a New $5 Billion Clean Water Bond Act To help begin making real progress in addressing the state’s ongoing infrastructure crisis, the Senate is proposing a new $5 billion Clean Water Bond Act.
The Bond Act would provide critical funds for many different types of projects to prevent contamination that endangers public health and safety, clean up pollution, protect water sources, and promote the growth of the economy through infrastructure investment.
Support for the Proposed $2 Billion for Clean Water Infrastructure The proposal of a $5 Billion Bond Act is in addition to the Senate’s support of $2 billion allocated in the Executive Budget.
Establishment of a New Drinking Water Quality Institute A new Drinking Water Quality Institute is proposed by the Senate to address emerging contaminants affecting water supplies.
Creation of the Emerging Contamination Monitoring Act To help better protect public health and establish safety thresholds for drinking water contaminants, the Senate proposal establishes the Emerging Contamination Monitoring Act.
Support for $300 Million Environmental Protection Funding The Senate’s budget proposal continues the state’s record commitment to the protection of natural resources by concurring with the $300 million proposed in the Executive Budget for the Environmental Protection Fund.
Continued Funding for the Water Quality Infrastructure Investment Program For the past two years, Senate Republicans succeeded in securing additional funding above the Executive Budget proposal for critical water and environmental infrastructure improvements in the final budget.
Continued Funding for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds The Senate’s budget proposal continues support for state-administered programs that continue providing low-cost financing and grants for the construction of water system projects and drinking water improvements in disadvantaged communities.