Rep. Robin Hayes (R): Dirty Dozen 2002
North Carolina's 8th House District

2001 LCV Environmental Rating = 0%

LCV Rating = 9%

View Robin Hayes' Race At A Glance page.Representative Hayes is completing his second term in the House of Representatives. During this time, he voted to protect the environment only four times out of 44 opportunities on the LCV Scorecard, for a lifetime LCV score of 9 percent. Robin Hayes' record shows that he votes against protections for the health and the environment of the residents of North Carolina's 8th Congressional District.

Hayes has voted against stronger air quality protection
Despite the real health risks presented to the citizens by the District's air quality, Hayes voted against the right of communities to know about their compliance with smog standards under the Clean Air Act.

Air pollution is increasing in the District. In 2002, Charlotte ranked 9th among the American Lung Association's top 25 metro areas for ozone pollution. Also, both Cumberland and Mecklenburg counties received an F from the American Lung Association for the number of days with high, unhealthy, smog levels. Cumberland had 49 code orange days, when air is unhealthy for sensitive groups while Mecklenburg had 86 orange days, 15 red (unhealthy air for everyone) days and 1 purple (very unhealthy) day. Ozone, a primary component of smog, is linked to increases in asthma attacks and a variety of other respiratory problems. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of smog, particularly when playing outdoors. The new 8th District includes portions of Mecklenburg, Cumberland and Union Counties, where over 14,000 children are at risk of an asthma attack as a result of high levels of ozone. 

Hayes Fails To Protect North Carolina's Quality of Life
Hayes voted for legislation that would make it more difficult for communities to curb sprawl, thus limiting their ability to control growth. In 2001, Hayes voted against legislation that would have helped voluntary efforts to protect farmland near cities from development by expanding the federal Farmland Protection Program (FPP), which buys development rights from willing farmers in suburban fringe areas facing development pressures. Overall, this amendment to the 2002 Farm bill would have meant an increase of over $12 million in funding for farm conservation programs for the 8th District, including FPP, the Wetlands Reserve Program, and the Conservation Reserve Program. 

Despite the fact that Charlotte and Fayetteville are among the fastest-growing areas in North Carolina, Hayes voted for legislation that would interfere with the ability of local government to limit growth by allowing developers to sue communities for zoning restrictions and other potential �ings�rectly in federal court. Between 1982 and 1997 the amount of urbanized land in the Charlotte area increased by over 70 percent, while the population only grew 35 percent. A study of voters in the southeast found that six of ten voters supported more effective management of growth, and a majority support new laws for local control of growth. 

Hayes Fails to Protect Drinking Water
Robin Hayes has also voted against safe drinking water quality for North Carolina families. Despite the fact that monitoring in the 8th District of North Carolina has detected arsenic in the water of at least ten public water systems,  Hayes voted twice against letting EPA proceed with the new, more protective standard to reduce arsenic levels in drinking water.

According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), arsenic in drinking water can cause bladder, lung and skin cancer and reproductive problems. The NAS study concluded that the original drinking water standard for arsenic was not sufficiently protective of public health. In 2001 the Environmental Protection Agency issued a new, more protective standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for arsenic in drinking water. At least four systems with detectable arsenic have levels above this new standard. 

Hayes has voted against jobs and the environment
Despite the importance of the textile industry in the 8th District and the potential impact of trade agreements such as NAFTA on environmental protection, Hayes voted in favor of giving the President authority to negotiate new trade agreements. The bill would allow new trade agreements that undermine U.S. environmental laws and fail to include environmental protection provisions.

There have been 30,000 jobs lost in the District in the four years that Hayes has been in Congress. Free trade agreements have sent many of these jobs to Mexico and overseas, and have put the environment at risk. For example, MTBE was added to gasoline to improve air quality starting in 1979, but has also contaminated groundwater around the country, including in North Carolina. An effort by California to ban MTBE in 1999 in order to stem groundwater pollution led to a trade action by the Methanex, a Canadian MTBE producer, for nearly a billion dollars in damages. Such cases, permitted by a provision in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), could have a �lling effect� future environmental protection. Yet Robin Hayes voted for a trade bill in 2001 �ill that passed by only one vote �t would allow the President to negotiate more agreements like NAFTA. With his vote, Hayes has put corporate interests ahead of the economic and environmental health of the citizens of the 8th District.