Carolina Journal Editor-in-Chief Rick Henderson and John Locke Foundation Chairman John Hood answer host Tom Campbell’s questions about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. These exchanges took place during the Dec. 17, 2017, edition of “N.C. Spin.”
The final footnote of decades-long legal battles over coastal land adjacent to Hammocks Beach State Park in Onslow County ended Tuesday when the state released a master plan expanding the park. The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation’s plan includes a 290-acre mainland addition the state acquired in 2015. The park, on the Intracoastal Waterway...
Federal environmental regulations are battering farmers, and public policy research analyst Darren Bakst believes there is a mechanism to address the plight. It’s the next version of the federal Farm Bill, now in its early stages, said Bakst, a former John Locke Foundation researcher now with the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation. The regulatory burden is...
A newly released report from the Environmental Working Group — a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization — found farmers are double-dipping federal farm subsidies, costing taxpayers billions. Some North Carolina farmers took advantage of the practice. (Read the report here.) The double-dipping has cost taxpayers almost $23.9 billion, based on research conducted by EWG’s Anne Weir Schechinger,...
North Carolina already trails Virginia in claiming more than $92 million from a lawsuit settlement involving automaker Volkswagen. A constitutional separation-of-powers lawsuit filed by Gov. Roy Cooper against the General Assembly could add to the delays. With application deadlines looming, members of the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy debated Wednesday over North Carolina’s share...
House Bill 589, passed earlier this year by the General Assembly, could put allies of North Carolina’s renewable energy industry somewhat at ease, said Randy Wheeless, a spokesman for Duke Energy, at a Nov. 1 meeting of renewable advocates. The new law lets the utility offer rebates to its customers when they install rooftop solar...
North Carolina House Bill 56 got a lot of press earlier this fall when the General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto of the legislation. But most of the discussion was about GenX, an industrial chemical that had been found in the Cape Fear River, and the associated health concerns. However, tucked away in that legislation...
From Carolina Journal Radio Program No. 755: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will not move forward with the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. While some environmental activists decry the EPA’s reversal on the power plan, Jon Sanders believes the decision represents good news. The John Locke Foundation’s director of regulatory studies explains why the plan...
State Attorney General Josh Stein has latched onto national campaigns designed to resist Trump administration policies. Jon Guze, John Locke Foundation director of legal studies, analyzes Stein’s actions. Guze assesses whether North Carolinians stand to benefit from Stein’s anti-Trump stances. Most of us rely on experts to help guide at least some of our decisions....
Jon Sanders, John Locke Foundation director of regulatory studies, discusses the Trump administration’s plan to repeal the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. Sanders offered these comments during an interview with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.
Dee Stewart was in Raleigh this spring to disclose poll results lauding renewable energy. It seemed a bit odd that a seasoned Republican campaign strategist would praise an industry laden with special interest subsidies. But the Conservatives for Clean Energy event was just another sign of the increasing politicization of green energy. “If I...
