Energy & Environment - Carolina Journal

Tightly contested Western HD 115 features Democratic incumbent Ager, GOP businesswoman Evans

N.C. House District 115 (Buncombe County). • Amy Evans. Republican. Education: Business and management degree, Connecticut College. Career highlights: Served as an ambassador for the Coast Guard for 16 years; senior executive assistant to the CEO of Berg Electronics; corporate assistant to the president of Baxter Healthcare International. Occupation: Retired. • John Ager (two-term incumbent)....

Julie Havlak

Weathering the storm through bold leadership

If we learned one thing during the devastation and recovery from Hurricanes Florence and Michael, it’s that setting aside more than $2 billion in savings for a rainy day was a very good idea. But that $2 billion didn’t just magically appear. It came from hard decisions, focused priorities, bold leadership, and fiscal discipline. Thank goodness we...

Becki Gray

Caring about sound science: Carbon is not carbon dioxide

From Merriam-Webster: Carbon dioxide. A heavy colorless gas CO2 that does not support combustion, dissolves in water to form carbonic acid, is formed especially in animal respiration and in the decay or combustion of animal and vegetable matter, is absorbed from the air by plants in photosynthesis, and is used in the carbonation of beverages. Carbon. A...

Holding, Coleman square off in debate over tightly contested 2nd CD

2nd U.S. Congressional District (includes all of Franklin, Harnett, and Nash counties, and portions of Johnston, Wake, and Wilson counties.) George Holding, Republican. (one-term incumbent, served two terms in 13th Congressional District). Education: Wake Forest University degrees in classics and law. Occupation: Congressman. Career highlights: Member of House Ways and Means Committee. Former legislative counsel...

Power grid cost deserves attention

Duke Energy’s $13 billion plan to modernize the power grid would raise average residential bill by 25 percent, or roughly $26 a month per household.

John Hood

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We can’t go back, and that’s the problem

During the “dog days” of summer, in what was likely an opening salvo of the 2020 presidential campaign, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts introduced a proposal to alter American capitalism radically. If enacted, large firms would have to incorporate at the federal level and live by a charter that forces them to consider the interests...

Andy Taylor

Municipal sewage overflows from Florence dwarfed hog waste discharges

Municipal sewage systems jettisoned tens of millions of gallons of untreated human waste into Hurricane Florence floodwaters, dwarfing the hog manure lagoon discharges state and national media cited as public health and environmental hazards. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality issued preliminary estimates Wednesday, Oct. 10, showing municipal sanitary sewer systems disgorged 26.7 million gallons...

New Elon Poll shows North Carolinians concerned about climate change, hurricanes

A new poll from Elon University shows some North Carolina voters have changed their minds about climate change as this hurricane season continues to bring strong winds and massive flooding. The Elon University Poll surveyed 848 North Carolina voters between Oct. 1 to Oct. 4. Instead of a margin of error, the poll has a...

Lindsay Marchello

Cooper asks NCGA for $750 million Florence relief ‘down payment’

Gov. Roy Cooper has asked the General Assembly to authorize $1.5 billion to cover the state’s portion of what initial estimates show is nearly $13 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Florence. In a statement issued Wednesday, Oct. 10, Cooper said he wants the legislature to make $750 million available when lawmakers return in special...

‘Mitigation’ money from Atlantic Coast Pipeline nowhere in sight

Eight North Carolina school districts tapped to split $57.8 million from Atlantic Coast Pipeline developers aren’t likely to see that money anytime soon. Pipeline partners haven’t paid the state because a memorandum of understanding negotiated with Gov. Roy Cooper includes conditions that haven’t been satisfied. Court challenges against pipeline construction filed by environmental groups threaten...

General Assembly unanimously passes first Hurricane Florence relief package

State lawmakers told tales of destruction of and struggles in hurricane-battered communities before unanimously approving $56.5 million spread over two emergency response bills. Debate was muted as members voted on the bipartisan measures, which House and Senate appropriations subcommittees approved earlier Tuesday, Oct. 2. With schools and roads still closed, residents homeless, businesses inoperable, and...