A message from the Chair: 2015 - The year ahead

Steve Copulsky
Chair, NC Sierra Club

It’s just common sense.

When I think about the environmental goals that the North Carolina Sierra Club will be focusing on this year, it’s pretty clear to me that these are things that offer strong benefits to our citizens and shouldn’t be controversial. They just make common sense.

Let’s take a look at some of our priorities:

  • We're working on a Clean Power Plan for North Carolina. We want the state to implement policies that focus on reducing carbon while promoting clean energy and energy efficiency. We can have cleaner air, cleaner water, less wasteful energy practices and lower costs. However, The McCrory Administration challenges the legality of the first-ever EPA plan to address climate change. We’ll work to support the EPA plan.
  • Solar Energy has huge potential in North Carolina. So let’s make sure our policies will help make it happen. Solar tax credits, net metering, and third party sales and can help us expand rooftop solar across the state.
  • We’ll Oppose Offshore Drilling. Our offshore wind energy potential is the best on the east coast and a far better choice than possible offshore drilling. It’s time to move forward aggressively on wind power development.

But not everyone sees the logic of our message. And let’s face it, common sense is not something that we’re seeing on a regular basis in North Carolina politics.   

It’s no secret that we’ll be facing some very serious challenges this year in the General Assembly and from the McCrory administration. We will need your support to help us face these battles.