Preserve Rural Durham’s Post

Sign On to Protect Indiana Wetlands! Tell Gov. Holcomb to Act! 🚨 https://ow.ly/RNMT50QwTX4 We are stronger together! HEC is taking a stand against HB 1383, a bill that will further diminish our state's wetlands. Despite news reports highlighting the lack of stakeholder input and transparency in the development, HB 1383 has passed the House and is now being fast tracked through the Senate weeks ahead of a normal bill schedule. We can only assume this rushed schedule is in direct response to the opposition law makers are feeling to this bill. Governor Holcomb has called for a comprehensive study on Indiana's water resources and wetlands need to be part of any comprehensive water management plan. It’s crucial that the Indiana General Assembly does not move ahead with this bad wetland legislation during an ongoing water study. Please join your voice with HEC and sign on to a letter to Governor Holcomb, asking him to urge legislators to vote "NO" on HB 1383 while this vital study is underway. Add your name to the letter and send a clear message: Indiana must stop HB 1383 and consider all the facts before making decisions that could irreversibly impact our wetlands. 🖊️ Sign the letter now: https://ow.ly/RNMT50QwTX4 Our wetlands are at risk. Let’s rally together to ensure our wetlands are safeguarded for the health of our environment and future generations. #PauseHB1383 #ProtectINWetlands #ActionForWetlands

50 Years of MoDNR: In 1984, Missouri voters approved the Parks and Soils Sales Tax. The 1/10 of 1% sales tax to provide funds for the state park system and soil conservation efforts was the first of its kind in the nation. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gXAAVnQT. #MoDNR50

Wetlands "provide clean water, hold back floodwaters, stabilize shorelines, replenish aquifers, and provide habitat.” But now, wetlands and the people who rely on them are at risk. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gSniAZ4Z #wetlandsmatter #wetlandsconservation #wetlands

"To trust tap water is to trust the government. To distrust tap water is to distrust the government. And to distrust government is to distrust tap water." If you haven't had the opportunity to read Manny Teodoro's book, 'The Profits of Distrust: Citizen-Consumers, Drinking Water, and the Crisis of Confidence in American Government,' I highly encourage you to watch this video. Dr. Teodoro outlines data and conclusions looking at how distrust in government leads to a distrust in #tapwater and vice versa. Perhaps unsurprising, but important for those in the #watersector to continue to reiterate, is that bottled #water use in the United States is inversely related to income. Low-income folks are much more likely to consume bottled water. Wealthier folks are much more likely to drink tap water. Additionally, Black and Hispanic families are far more likely to drink bottled water than white families, even when they get their water from the same utility. "The greatest profits of distrust come not from the pampered and privileged but from the poor and the powerless." While Dr. Teodoro outlines the troubling trends in the increased reliance on bottled water, he also does a great job outlining how we can right this ship. "Fixing water builds trust in democratic governance." If we focus on improving our #waterinfrastructure, we can renew trust in our #watersystems and the local, state, and national governments that oversee them. He closes this great talk with a killer line that I wanted to share: "Those humble, ubiquitous pipes beneath our streets hold not only water but the promise and the chance for visionary leaders to restore trust in American democracy. Healthier water systems make a healthier Republic." #environmentaljustice #drinkingwater #waterpolicy

Housing Breaking News: Newsom's fire maps overhaul won't move forward this year 🔥 Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to overhaul the state’s wildfire hazard maps will not move forward this year after being held in a key legislative committee on Thursday. The proposal, introduced in June by Sen. Scott Wiener as CA SB610 (23R), would have replaced the state’s three hazard tiers with a single wildfire mitigation area and also standardized fire preparedness building and landscaping codes. The goal was to prompt people to do more to protect their homes and businesses, but environmental groups and local officials feared it would put more people in the line of danger. Why this matters: As property insurers flee the state’s record wildfire losses, angsty voters have increased their political pressure on elected officials. This year has also seen a particularly bad start to the fire season, with more than 800,000 acres burned so far. Click the link to read more. https://lnkd.in/guwKMVNu #BIASC #housing #breakingnews #firemaps #gavinnewsom

Views on revamped three waters reform https://lnkd.in/gFicTsbi

Views on revamped three waters reform https://lnkd.in/gFicTsbi

Water Buybacks – How Can Reasonable Governments Expect Communities to Plan in the Dark? It’s been a busy month for the Mayor and General Manager in the water advocacy space. While still generally supportive of the intent of the original Basin Plan, Council remains concerned about the way it’s being rolled out – especially since the passing of the Restoring Our Rivers legislation in January 2024. Restoring Our Rivers sees a further 450GL of water being pursued for recovery from the productive pool and, worryingly, with the requirement for proper socio-economic neutrality testing now removed. These legislative changes mean the Federal Water Minister needs to only ‘consider’ the socio-economic impacts not ensure they are neutral and, to date, those impacts relate to prices at the farm gate only, not the broader impacts on towns and regions. ➡️ Full details here: https://lnkd.in/gJmWnEAr 📸 Photo (left to right): Mayor Tony Reneker & Mark Lamb at the Murray Darling Association Conference in Tamworth in July 2024 #LeetonShireCouncil #CouncilNews #NewsUpdate

Ultimately the cost for suppression is passed on to tax payers. This includes ALL #tax payers in the US due to the #Federal Management Assistance Grants (FMAG) that are so often approved for state and local government assistance. These FMAGs are typically authorized for large and or damaging fires that occur on state and locally protected lands. #State legislators could help themselves by working with federal legislators to work together to be more efficient with existing funds and partnerships, much of what the latest #Congressional Wildfire Commision has advocated for. Our country as a whole lacks the capacity, and contracts needed to appropriately engage in successful initial attack that will limit fire size and duration during peak fire times. In addition our legislators could spend time figuring out how to award those being responsible to protect themselves and their properties. #Carbon tax credits and wildfire prevention incentives could be useful here.