Duke corrals more Power in the McCrory administration, plus more news, this week in CIB:

• Executive Watch: Duke Power; DENR Team
• Judicial Watch: When It Hits the Fan, Then Goes In the Water, It’s Water Pollution
• Climate Change Update: The Hottest Year
• Legislative Watch: New Committee Leaders Named
• Education & Resources: Federal Clean Energy Standard

Executive Watch: Duke Power; DENR Team

Duke Power: Never accuse Gov. Pat McCrory of being shy about acknowledging his principal base of support. Former Duke Energy employees are racking up influential posts in the administration of McCrory, himself a long-time Duke employee. The Duke Connections include Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker and State Personnel Office Director Neal Alexander. Given its rising prominence in ordering the affairs of the state,

Duke may wish to return to its old corporate name of Duke Power.

Elsewhere in the executive branch, we note that Gov. McCrory has appointed as his chief legislative liaison a former state chair of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council)–the right-leaning policy group responsible for developing many of the most extreme anti-environmental legislative initiatives of recent decades. (It’s Fred Steen, who in 2012 gave up his N.C. House seat to run unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for Congress in the 8th District.)

DENR Team: In the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), new Secretary John Skvarla has named his leadership team: former N.C. House Rep. Mitch Gillespie, a long-time critic of DENR, as Assistant Secretary for Environment; Brad Ives, vice president of a solar panel manufacturing company, as Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources; Winston-Salem lawyer Neal Robbins as director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs; and Raleigh lawyer Lacy Presnell as general counsel. We’re sorry to see the departure of former environmental advocate David Knight from his position as Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources.

Judicial Watch: When It Hits the Fan, Then Goes In the Water, It’s Water Pollution

This may sound obvious. However, it’s taking a court order to make the point to Rose Acre Farms in Hyde County. When your exhaust fans spray fecal matter and other pollutants from 4 million hens onto the ground and into the water, the Clean Water Act can be used to tell you to clean it up.

In ruling, the Superior Court judge noted that the record in the case showed that waters around the Rose Acre Farms facility showed significant increases in fecal coliform, ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphorous since it began operating; and that pollution levels in nearby Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge had increased as a result. The court returned the case to an administrative law judge for new findings. The administrative law judge had previously ruled for Rose Acre Farms.

The challenge to that decision was brought in court by citizen groups including the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation, Waterkeeper Alliance, and Friends of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. (Information taken from the Earthjustice Foundation.)

Climate Change Update: The Hottest Year

The numbers are in, and the results aren’t even close. 2012 was the hottest year in recorded U.S. history by a full degree over the previous record-holder, 1998. In a statistic on which rise by a tenth of a degree is significant, this record blowout for heat had scientific jaws dropping.

As climatologists always remind us, climate change doesn’t manifest in a simple linear progression. Having another such record set in 2013 would be equally startling. Yet, it’s now expected that when the global data for 2012 is all in, the 10 hottest years in recorded global history will have all taken place in the last 15. From a trend line perspective, that information is–excuse us–chilling.

For more details on this story, see here.

Legislative Watch: New Committee Leaders Named

The General Assembly came into session for one day last week to officially name its leadership (including committee posts) and start various machinery turning. It will return January 30.

Key roles in the House include the Environment Committee, the Transportation Committee, the Public Utilities Committee, the Regulatory Reform Committee, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources, and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.

• Environment: Chairs–Pat McElraft (R-Carteret), Roger West (R-Cherokee); Vice Chairs–Rick Catlin (R-New Hanover), Mike Hager (R-Rutherford), Chuck McGrady (R-Henderson), Ruth Samuelson (R-Mecklenburg).
• Public Utilities: Chair–Mike Hager (R-Rutherford); Vice Chairs–Susi Hamilton (D-New Hanover), Bryan Holloway (R-Stokes), Ruth Samuelson (R-Mecklenburg), Harry Warren (R-Rowan).
• Regulatory Reform: Chair–Tim Moffitt (R-Buncombe); Vice Chairs–Hugh Blackwell (R-Burke), Larry Hall (D-Durham), Jonathan Jordan (R-Ashe), Tom Murry (R-Wake), Mitchell Setzer (R-Catawba), Andy Wells (R-Catawba), Michael Wray (D-Northampton).
• Transportation: Chairs–William Brawley (R-Mecklenburg), Frank Iler (R-Brunswick); Vice Chairs–Dana Bumgardner (R-Gaston), Becky Carney (D-Mecklenburg), George Cleveland (R-Onslow), Carl Ford (R-Rowan), Phil Shepard (R-Onslow).
• Appropriations Subcommittee on NER: Chairs–Pat McElraft (R-Carteret), Roger West (R-Cherokee); Vice Chairs–Jimmy Dixon (R-Duplin), Garland Pierce (D-Scotland), Michele Presnell (R-Yancey).
• Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation: Chairs–Phil Shepard (R-Onslow), John Torbett (R-Gaston); Vice Chairs–Frank Iler (R-Brunswick), Charles Jeter (R-Mecklenburg).

In the Senate, key roles include the Agriculture / Environment / Natural Resources Committee, the Transportation Committee, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources, and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.

• Agriculture / Environment / Natural Resources: Chair–Andrew Brock (R-Davie); Vice Chairs–Brent Jackson (R-Sampson), Bill Cook (R-Beaufort).
• Transportation: Chairs–Warren Daniel (R-Burke), Kathy Harrington (R-Gaston); Vice Chair–Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick).
• Appropriations on Natural and Economic Resources: Chairs–Andrew Brock (R-Davie), Brent Jackson (R-Sampson).
• Appropriations on Transportation: Chairs–Kathy Harrington (R-Gaston), Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick); Vice Chair–Warren Daniel (R-Burke).

Full membership of each committee is available here.

Education & Resources: Federal Clean Energy Standard

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) will hold a webinar on what a federal clean energy standard for utilities would do, and how it could promote clean energy development in the Southeast. (Ironically, the prospect for a federal standard is being debated at the same time North Carolina’s existing standard is under attack in our state legislature.)

A clean energy standard in this context is a requirement for electric utilities to produce a certain percentage of their power from clean energy sources. These have proven to be important tools for accelerating the development of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

The webinar will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, January 15, at 10 a.m. For more information and to register, see here.

That’s our report for this week.