Issue Position: Environment

Issue Position

Protecting the Environment

Wake County is a wonderful place to live for many reasons -- our strong economic base, good weather, cost of living, and cultural life, among others. People are moving here from all over to enjoy what we call home.

Our county is experiencing explosive growth as a result. Fifteen years ago, Wake had 460,000 people. Today, there are more than 800,000 residents. In just over 20 years, our population is expected to double again.

This growth is placing an intense stress on our institutions and infrastructure -- our schools, our roads, our water and sewer, our social services and open space. It also contributes to long-term environmental challenges, such as worse air and water quality and global warming.

As an aide in the United States Senate, I helped Senator Edwards secure funding to deal with the environmental and economic catastrophe resulting from Hurricane Floyd and to preserve land around Lake James.

As director of the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's office, where I oversee the Utilities Unit, I have been working on the climate crisis. We persuaded regulators to stop Duke Power from building another coal-burning unit at Cliffside. We believed that the utility did not demonstrate its necessity because it failed to give adequate attention to energy conservation initiatives first.

As your state Senator, I'll work to accomplish the following:

* Preserve Wake County's quality of life.
* Promote water conservation and protect our water quality, most critically in Falls and Jordan Lakes.
* Improve our air quality.
* Preserve our open space, such as the Dorothea Dix property.
* Do our part to address the climate crisis here in North Carolina by promoting energy conservation and public transportation, encouraging the development of renewable sources of energy, and reducing auto emissions.

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