The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill to protect state whistleblowers from retaliation. Senate Bill 127, which heads to the House, would bring North Carolina in line with laws in dozens of other states. Senators said the bill didn’t arise from any specific situation. But they acknowledged it would apply to a showdown lawmakers...
Gov. Roy Cooper proposed a $25.2 billion General Fund budget for 2019-20 that would increase spending by more than $1.3 billion over the current fiscal year. He recommends spending $25.9 billion in the second year of the budget cycle. “We have to be determined to be bold,” Cooper said at a Wednesday news conference. He...
As the specifics — and many of the absurd objectives — of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal have come to light, the common refrain from Democrats who support it is that the plan is “aspirational.” In other words, they believe that the world Ocasio-Cortez envisions is somehow ideal. It is the world we all...
Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC was formed in 2014. The consortium would build a 600-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia and North Carolina. The next year, ACP filed an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; ACP would also need environmental permits in each of the three states and applied for...
Gov. Roy Cooper’s second State of the State address included plenty of proposals liberals and Democrats cheered. But Republicans and conservatives, who dominate the General Assembly that would put these policies into effect, aren’t likely to embrace many of them. The governor’s speech focused on rural economic development, along with higher spending for traditional public...
Bladen County Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser approved a consent order Monday holding the Chemours chemical manufacturer accountable for release of GenX and other PFAS emerging contaminants which have polluted the Cape Fear River Basin and surrounding groundwater. “Today’s ruling means real relief for people who have wondered for too long when the pollution in...
As the Cooper administration engaged in negotiations involving the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a national governors’ group warned a Cooper adviser against a state agency taking action comparable to extortion. The warning came in a Dec. 8, 2017, email from a National Governors Association staffer to Cooper energy policy adviser Jeremy Tarr. The email came to...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released Thursday a long-anticipated federal action plan to address chemical pollutants such as GenX. But critics immediately voiced disappointment the report offers few details about the relief affected communities can expect. The 23-point plan is heavy on describing how to navigate regulations under a variety of federal environmental acts. It...
Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses the newly unveiled Green New Deal resolution. Kokai offered these comments during the Feb. 8, 2019, edition of UNC-TV’s “Front Row with Marc Rotterman.”
Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration could risk violating a state law protecting whistleblowers if it has threatened retribution against employees who want to cooperate with a legislative probe of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline deal. Cooper has told state employees not to speak with investigators the ACP subcommittee hired. The workers were involved in the pipeline permitting...
Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration told legislative leaders investigating the Atlantic Coast Pipeline last week it won’t allow private investigators hired by the General Assembly to interview state employees. The investigators are former federal agents who were hired in December by a special ACP subcommittee to look into the ACP permit process and the creation of...
