It’s continuing re-organization time for key posts within the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources as well as the General Assembly. This week in CIB.

Administrative Watch: Dancing the DENR Shuffle

A revision of leadership in the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last week has key leadership posts falling like dominoes.

First, two assistant secretaries (Mitch Gillespie and Brad Ives) stepped down. Gillespie, who oversaw the environmental regulatory programs, is being replaced by Tom Reeder, the loyal head of the Division of Water Resources, who we have become accustomed to being a reliable spokesperson for the McCrory/Skvarla line. Ives, who oversaw the natural resources programs, is being temporarily replaced by Mary Joan Pugh, currently deputy director of the NC Zoo. Pugh actually held the assistant DENR secretary role nearly three decades ago (under then-Governor Jim Martin) before leaving that post for the less controversial confines of the state’s zoological park.

Meanwhile, over at the hot water seat of Water Resources, veteran state geologist Jay Zimmerman moves into the director’s spot on an acting basis. It’s unknown how long Zimmerman (who has most recently overseen the groundwater and animal operations regulatory programs) is expected to stay as Water Resources overall director, or whether he is a candidate for the permanent post. (We don’t know – that may be an honor he’d rather decline, given the political bull’s-eye uniform it carries with it.)

Whomever occupies these seats, CIB does not hesitate to predict that they are likely to continue to find themselves dealing with political hot potatoes boiling in the policy waters of the administration’s anti-regulatory philosophy. We shall see.

Legislative Watch: Who’s on Top?

The NC General Assembly returned to Raleigh last Wednesday for the formal start of the 2015 legislative long session. While daily sessions won’t begin for some time yet, the formal starting date served for swearing-in the members, electing (or announcing) the overall and party caucus leaders, and (on the Senate side) naming committee leaders and members. Committees are expected to begin meetings soon.

Here’s the lineup we have thus far for the various leadership posts. Look for your representatives, for later reference in knowing where to ask them to apply their influence. And by the way, if you don’t know who represents you, find that outhere.

NC House of Representatives leadership:

Speaker: Speaker Tim Moore (Cleveland-R)

Speaker Pro Tem: Rep. Paul Stam (Wake-R)

Majority Leader: Rep. Mike Hager (Burke-R)

Deputy Majority Leader: Rep. Marilyn Avila (Wake-R)

Majority Whip: Rep. John Bell (Craven-R)

Conference Chair: Rep. Charles Jeter (Mecklenburg-R)

Joint Caucus Leader: Rep. Pat Hurley (Randolph-R)

Majority Freshman Leader: Rep. John Fraley (Iredell-R)

Majority Freshman Whip: Rep. John Bradford (Mecklenburg-R)

Democratic Leader: Rep. Larry Hall (Durham-D)

Deputy Democratic Leader: Rep. Susan Fisher (Buncombe-D)

Secretary: Rep. Bobbie Richardson (Franklin-D)

Exec. Liaisons: Rep. Henry Michaux (Durham-D) and Rep. Michael Wray (Halifax-D)

Dem. Conf. Chairs: Rep. Grier Martin (Wake-D) and Rep. Garland Pierce (Hoke-D)

Freshman Caucus Co-Chairs: Rep. Graig Meyer (Durham-D) and Rep. Robert Reives (Chatham-D)

NC Senate leadership:

President: Lt. Governor Dan Forest

President Pro Tem: Sen. Phil Berger (Guilford-R)

Deputy President Pro Tem: Sen. Louis Pate (Lenoir-R)

Majority Leader: Sen. Harry Brown (Jones-R)

Majority Whip: Sen. Jerry Tillman (Moore-R)

Republican Caucus Secretary: Sen. Fletcher Hartsell (Cabarrus-R)

Democratic Leader: Sen. Dan Blue (Wake-D)

Democratic Whip: Sen. Terry Van Duyn (Buncombe-D)

Democratic Caucus Secretary: Sen. Ben Clark (Cumberland-D)

(CIB offers a hat tip to the NC Conservation Network’s Legislative Update for compiling the above leadership lists in handy reference form.)

On committee structure, the Senate has named its committees, while the House has yet to do so. On the Senate side, key committee leadership posts on environment-related issues include the following:

• Senate Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources: Co-Chairs, Andrew C. Brock (R-Davie), Bill Cook (R-Beaufort), and Trudy Wade (R-Guilford)
• Senate Transportation: Co-Chairs, Warren Daniel (R-Burke) and Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick); Vice Chair, Wesley Meredith (R-Cumberland)
• Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources: Co-Chairs Brock, Cook, and Wade.
• Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation: Co-Chairs, Meredith and Rabon; Vice Chair, Daniel.

Washington Watch: What’s In the SOTU?

It’s time for the annual Washington game of “What’s going to be in the president’s State of the Union address?” This annual address by the president to a joint session of Congress is ordained in the US Constitution and has become a ritual for projecting what the president will push that year, and how members of the opposition party in Congress will react.

This year the State of the Union address will be delivered Tuesday, January 20 at 9pm EST, followed by the opposition party response. The text of President Obama’s speech won’t be released by the White House until shortly before the live presentation is slated to begin.

However, there is broad speculation that his themes will include his announced determination to defend his administration’s policies and actions on addressing climate change and protecting clean air, water and land more generally. Among likely points of contrast are energy policy, in which his administration places far higher emphasis on renewable energy development; and clean air, in which he will point to the health and economic benefits of rules requiring the cleanup of coal-fired power plants and other sources of toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.

The announced selection of newly elected Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to deliver the Republican response drew a stinging analysis by the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV).

Education & Resources: Strong Winds

Another good report on the strong potential for renewable energy development in North Carolina has been released, this one by the international oceans advocacy group Oceana. The report details how many more jobs and benefits can be derived from offshore wind energy development than from environmentally disruptive offshore drilling for oil and gas. Coastal Review Online discusses the report’s key findings.

Conservationists: Roy Alexander

Dedicated long-time conservationist Roy Alexander passed away unexpectedly recently. Among his leadership roles, Alexander was Executive Director of the Davidson Lands Conservancy and a special leader of the land conservation movement in North Carolina. For more on his life and work, see this feature article from the Mecklenburg Times in summer 2014.

The people and green lands of our state appreciate his legacy.

That’s our report for this week.