By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
It was another outwardly quiet week at the N.C. General Assembly, although it’s reported that behind-the-scenes budget negotiations are ongoing and that the House may soon propose a state budget because agreement with the Senate cannot be reached. Normally, the chambers switch back and forth on which starts the budget process, and the Senate was supposed to take the lead year.
Neither chamber took action this week on environmental bills that we are following, such as the Farm Act or the anti-tree ordinance bill. That gives us some time to educate lawmakers about these harmful bills, so if you haven’t yet done so, please take action!
On the executive branch side, the N.C. Climate Change Interagency Council met on Wednesday. The Council heard updates on what agencies are doing to meet the goals set out in Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 80, “North Carolina’s Commitment to Address Climate Change and Transition to a Clean Energy Economy” (EO80).
The EO80 goals include reducing energy consumption in state buildings. A presenter to the Council noted that the state spends $35,000 an hour on energy use in state buildings! The UNC system is responsible for the greatest percentage of energy usage. Plans to reduce it include designating full-time energy managers, investing in utility data collection, and more efficient management of AC systems.
The Council also heard from agencies on their progress in meeting resiliency goals, another key part of EO80. The Department of Natural & Cultural Resources is focused on protecting state historical and natural resources from climate change impacts such as flooding and sea level rise. The Department of Health & Human Services is working to address impacts on the health and safety of our most vulnerable population from climate change-driven threats including bad air quality, extreme heat, and flooding. Overall, there’s lots of planning going on and clearly a whole lot more to do to make North Carolina resilient to climate change and to meet the goals set out in EO80.