On March 13, 2020, seventy-two organizations made a climate emergency appeal to NC Governor Roy Cooper. The original letter is here:
https://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/ltr-3-13-20-Cooper-climate-emergency.pdf
and the up-to-date list of signers is here:
https://www.ncwarn.org/climate-emergency-endorsements/

Below is a slightly updated letter for 2021. We would love to have your organization join this call. Just fill out the form that appears below the letter to add your organization to the list. Thanks!
Questions? Email ncwarn@ncwarn.org.

Honorable Roy Cooper
Governor of North Carolina
116 West Jones Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603

Subject:  Declaring a statewide climate emergency to stop fossil fuel pipelines and new power plants  

Dear Governor Cooper,

The undersigned organizations respectfully call on you to formally declare a climate emergency for North Carolina.  As governor, you have broad authority under the N.C. Emergency Management Act, and we urge you to use it for proactive measures to protect state residents and our economy from the impacts of ongoing and accelerating climate disasters.

Some 2,030 local and national governments have declared climate emergencies.  You will be the first U.S. governor to do so, and your authority is broader than that of many of those who have already made declarations.  In particular, we call on you to halt Duke Energy’s massive expansion of “natural” gas via its plans to build as much as 9,600 megawatts of new gas-fired power generation -- over 50 fracked-gas burning units -- in the Carolinas. We also urge you to stop the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Such bold and unprecedented action is necessary because 1) North Carolina communities are already being devastated by serial climate disasters, 2) 11,000 of the world’s scientists have declared climate change to be a global emergency, warning of “untold suffering” if urgent action is not taken, 3) the federal government and many energy corporations are failing their duty to the public, 4) the science is clear that expanding the use of gas is making the crisis worse, and 5) expanding the use of gas is economically reckless and totally unnecessary.

Our state has experienced four major hurricanes and other extreme flooding events since 2016, and many communities are embroiled in a constant state of recovery and rebuilding.  Many of these disasters disproportionately impact communities of color or low-wealth populations who are least responsible for the emissions caused by high energy usage.  To amplify the injustice, many of these communities are also targeted by Duke Energy through its liquefied natural gas storage facility and new gas power plants – the very projects that would keep fueling the climate emergency.

Moreover, technology and economics are in favor of steadily phasing out coal- and gas-fired electricity, as shown in NC WARN’s Clean Path 2025 strategy and in Duke University climatologist Drew Shindell’s October 2019 and September 2020 letters calling on you to lead a national moratorium on new natural gas projects.  Dr. Shindell and other leading scientists insist that building fossil fuel power plants and pipelines sharply clashes with global agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.    

Renewable power paired with energy storage is now beating new gas-fired plants on economics and reliability, as explained in NC WARN’s letter to you on January 29, 2020.  This approach also creates far more jobs than new gas while avoiding the local health and safety impacts associated with natural gas.
   
We appreciate that you have set out to be a climate leader by pledging to uphold the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and by initiating Executive Order 80, which establishes goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning the state to a clean energy economy.  However, all those efforts, if implemented, would be outweighed by Duke Energy’s huge expansion of fracked gas.

You have the authority under the N.C. Emergency Management Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 166A-19 et seq., to declare a State of Emergency as a result of the ongoing global climate emergency.  Pursuant to your authority under the Act, including but not limited to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 166A-19.30(a)(1), among other legal authorities, a declaration of emergency would empower you to prohibit the further construction or expansion of natural gas-fired power generation facilities and pipelines.

According to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 166A-19.3(6), an emergency is “an occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, loss of life or property resulting from [among other things] any natural or man-made … weather-related … failure or accident.”  

Under the Act, your powers are broad.  Among other things, you would have authority “to utilize all available State resources as reasonably necessary to cope with an emergency, including the transfer and direction of personnel or functions of State agencies or units thereof for the purpose of performing or facilitating emergency services.”  [See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 166A-19.30(a)(1)].  

While the Act has traditionally been used to respond to disasters, it is not restricted to those occasions and, in fact, allows you to help prevent disasters – particularly when they have become essentially ongoing in nature.  With so many North Carolinians still recovering from multiple hurricanes and other flooding, with the strong likelihood of worse disasters ahead, and with the science linking such disasters to the use of fossil fuels, we contend that “coping” with this ongoing emergency includes the authority to help prevent it from growing worse indefinitely.  
 
While halting Duke Energy’s gas expansion is the largest single measure you can take, we urge you to consider additional steps, for example, implementing components of your Clean Energy Plan through executive authority or by gaining and expediting cooperation with the legislature.

Clearly, now is the time for your robust leadership.  Duke Energy leaders are trying to lock billions of gas infrastructure dollars into customers’ future bills before the inevitable shift to clean energy occurs.  As governor, you can stop this abuse of the public wellbeing.

The human toll is already severe and the climate emergency is growing worse.  We urge you to seize this opportunity to make real your efforts to have North Carolina do all possible to help avert this existential threat to humanity and wildlife.  Please let us know how to assist you.

Sincerely,
Jim Warren
Executive Director
NC WARN

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