Gov. Roy Cooper has signed an energy bill that includes provisions supporting the solar energy industry. At the same time, the governor signed an executive order designed to blunt the impact of an 18-month wind power moratorium. Cooper had been weighing a potential veto of the legislation because of the provision targeting wind power. “A...
Ron Heiniger just wanted to be a farmer. He encouraged research to avoid solar industry encroachment on North Carolina’s prime farmlands. But because of his academic study, the respected crop and soil scientist has become an unwilling poster child for anti-solar activists, vilified by the solar lobby, and chastened by his employer, N.C. State University....
The Trump administration has pushed an energy policy based on the notion of American self-sufficiency and energy “dominance.” Daniel Fine, associate director of the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy and senior policy analyst for the New Mexico State Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources, explored the Trump team’s plans during a presentation to...
Government is bigger and more expensive than it needs to be, thanks to an economic concept called the “special interest effect.” A recent John Locke Foundation Spotlight report explains how the concept drives energy policy, health insurance mandates, and sugar subsidies. The report also suggests ways to fight negative consequences tied to the special interest effect. “It’s a...
In 2011, Gary Salamido joined the North Carolina Chamber, a nonpartisan business advocacy organization, as vice president of governmental affairs. Salamido heads the chamber’s lobbying efforts at the North Carolina General Assembly, representing the interests of 35,000 businesses that employ 1.26 million workers across the state. Before joining the Chamber, Salamido spent 19 years with GlaxoSmithKline, the final decade as GSK’s director of state government affairs. He has a...
UPDATE: Gov. Roy Cooper says he is “considering all of the options” when it comes to House Bill 589. Cooper told reporters Tuesday morning that he fully supported the original House version of the bill but has concerns about the bill as approved. The governor plans, “in the next week or so,” to hear from...
Round one of this year’s legislative session is over. But they’ll be back. At 1:49 Friday morning, the House passed a resolution to adjourn (temporarily), almost an hour after the Senate wrapped up its business. A statement issued early Friday by Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, noted that the long session’s adjournment date is the...
From Carolina Journal Radio Program No. 736: As N.C. state government continues to consider policies that benefit the solar energy industry, residents of one Beaufort County community are fighting a proposed 600-acre solar facility planned near a local school. Rick Henderson, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, explains why people in Terra Ceia are raising concerns about the...
As N.C. state government continues to consider policies that benefit the solar energy industry, residents of one Beaufort County community are fighting a proposed 600-acre solar facility planned near a local school. Rick Henderson, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, explains why people in Terra Ceia are raising concerns about the project. North Carolina lawmakers have been debating...
Gertrude Respess claims Wilkinson Solar, and its parent company Invenergy Solar Development, took advantage of her dying husband Rhonda to obtain farmland last year for a large solar installation in Beaufort County. Gertrude’s attorney Mario Perez also says a notarized statement filed with the Beaufort County Register of Deeds was not true, because the notary...
Rick Henderson, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, discusses a controversy in the Beaufort County, N.C.. community of Terra Ceia over a planned 600-acre solar facility. Henderson offered these comments during an interview with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.
