We expected climate leadership from Governor Cooper and instead got climate hypocrisy. The so-called Clean Energy Plan that will be presented at this meeting of the NC Climate Change Interagency Council does nothing to address two major sources of climate catastrophe: major expansions of fracked gas infrastructure and the wood pellet industry.

For too long, Governor Cooper has been promising bold climate action while supporting new fossil fuel projects like the fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). If the ACP is built, it would cause methane emissions to skyrocket and devastate low income communities and communities of color throughout eastern NC. Real climate leadership requires standing up to Duke Energy, the largest investor owned utility in the country and owner of the ACP.

The Cooper Administration is also ignoring another driver of climate chaos: industrial logging. A new report finds that industrial logging is the state’s third most carbon intensive sector, just after electricity and transportation. Our forests should be protected as a critical climate solution; instead, they are being destroyed and degraded at an alarming rate by Enviva, the world’s largest wood pellet producer, making North Carolina the largest wood pellet exporter in the country.  

Governor Cooper recently made headlines and received high praise with the release of the state’s Clean Energy Plan. But until his administration stops approving new fossil fuel infrastructure and starts protecting our forests, we are calling him a climate hypocrite.  

Join us for this climate emergency intervention!  

Meet us outside of the Nature Research Center in the Daily Planet Plaza by the giant globe (corner of Salisbury and Jones Streets). There will be folks holding "People Power" cardboard hands.

9:30am--Gather in the Plaza

9:45am--Rally & Speak Out (will continue in the Plaza until 12:30)

10:30am--For those attending the Interagency Climate Council Meeting, go inside to find seats