Durham County asked its legislative delegation to block new water-quality rules for Jordan Lake, but some other legislators beat Durham's to the punch.
On Wednesday, Reps. Cary Allred of Alamance County and Darrell McCormick of Iredell, Surry and Yadkin filed a bill to disapprove all 12 of the proposed rules. Today, it was referred to the House committee on rules, calendar and operations.
That committee's membership has not been named, according to the General Assembly Web site.
The "Jordan Lake Nutrient Management Strategy," approved by the state Environmental Management Commission last year, include stringent new standards for reducing pollution running into the lake, which provides drinking water for Chatham County and several Wake County communities.
Jordan has been listed as "impaired" since 2005, requiring the state to devise plans for improving and protecting its water quality.
Durham County and the City of Durham have particularly objected to a regulation that would require local governments to pay for retrofitting existing developments with improved stormwater controls.
John Cox of the city public-works department has estimating retrofits would cost Durham taxpayers between $330 million and $600 million.Throughout the lake's watershed, he estimates the cost to taxpayers running as high as $2 billion.
The state Division of Water Quality estimates a lower cost.
