Coast Watch: NC Could Lose Major Wind Projects
The state Senate’s anti-wind mania could immediately cost North Carolina two major wind projects. The losses would not only set back our state’s development of clean, renewable energy resources; they’d also cost two rural coastal counties needed jobs and tax base.
That’s the word last week from the companies who were poised to apply this year for state permits for projects that could have been generating clean electricity as early as 2019. One of the projects also could generate an estimated $800,000/year in property taxes for Chowan County, approximately an 8.5% increase in that county’s property tax revenues. The other project would have produced a major positive economic impact for small, rural Tyrell County.
These potential losses would be a consequence of the 18-month moratorium on new wind energy projects that was inserted into the final version of House Bill 589, a major compromise solar energy bill, at the insistence of Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown (R-Onslow). Brown has been the front man for the continuing obsession among some state anti-environmentalists with killing wind energy development.
HB 589 is now on the desk of Gov. Roy Cooper, who is considering whether to sign the bill or veto and send it back for more work. He has until July 30 to act.
Up next: a semi-good update on funding for one NC clean energy center >>
