RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican lawmakers and the Democratic governor worked together in 2021 to enact a rare energy law in the South that sought to sharply reduce power plant emissions by 2030 and ultimately reach carbon neutrality.
“Today, North Carolina moves strongly into a reliable and affordable clean energy future,” then-Gov. Roy Cooper said at the October 2021 bill signing ceremony. “This is a new beginning.”
But now, amid changing priorities at the federal level, the state’s Republican-controlled legislature is seeking to repeal the law’s requirement of taking “all reasonable steps to achieve” reducing carbon dioxide output 70% from 2005 levels by 2030. The legislation wouldn’t end meeting the carbon neutrality standard by 2050 as the 2021 law still requires.
Senate bill supporters contend getting rid of the 70% target deadline would help Duke Energy — the state’s dominant electric utility — assemble less expensive power sources now and moderate the electricity rate increases necessary to reach the 2050 standard. Besides, they say, state regulators already recently pushed back the interim deadline, as the law allows.
The effort comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed rolling back federal environmental and climate change policies, which critics say could boost pollution and threaten human health. Republicans in Washington, D.C., and Raleigh are touting them as ways to reduce the cost of living and boost the economy.