Still room to improve on regs
Published 7:34 p.m. today
When it comes to our business climate and economic prospects, North Carolinians are used to receiving accolades. Let’s add another to the list. The Cato Institute just released a study of regulatory barriers facing entrepreneurs. North Carolina fared well in the analysis, ranking 12th-best in the nation.
No, we weren’t in the top-10. More on that in a bit. But first I want to underline the ways in which North Carolina policymakers have made it easier to start and grow businesses in our state.
First and foremost, our lawmakers have not set a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. Few workers stay at minimum wage for long, of course, and most jobs have starting salaries well above it.
Learning from Donald Trump s return to North Carolina
Published 9:24 a.m. today
Donald Trump remains the most polarizing figure in politics. Even in defeat, Trump still sucks energy and oxygen from his detractors. Many still lose their minds. Trump remains beloved by many loyal supporters. A state Trump won twice, North Carolina, has been good to the former president. It’s a major reason he’s lending his brand to Republicans here by speaking at the state convention in Greenville on June 5. After all, Trump won 76 of the state’s 100 counties in 2016 and 2020. Despite being an unorthodox president and a one-termer; there are plenty of lessons conservatives must remember from Trump going forward.
When N.C. Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Robeson, Columbus, met with staff at the Division of Air Quality to try and resolve a permitting issue involving Active Energy, he quickly realized the project to manufacture wood pellets in Lumberton was in peril.
“You could tell the Department of Environmental Quality had no interest in this project and was trying to hold it up,” said Jones.
“It is clear the governor did not want the most impoverished county in the state to have these jobs,” he added. “Our so-called ‘jobs governor’ just proved he can create jobs for another state.”
Now, Active Energy has announced it will open a new plant in Ashland, Maine, intended to replace production from the stymied Lumberton plant. While Active Energy has tried to receive an Air Quality permit from the Cooper administration for more than 14 months, the company obtained needed permits in Maine in just five days.
When regulators from the N.C. Division of Air Quality shut down Active Energy Renewable Power in Lumberton, they did so because the company was installing two pieces of equipment that would further reduce air emissions, while the state says the additional equipment was not in the original design.
Supporters of the project in Lumberton tell
Carolina Journal they’re worried that despite the wood-pellet manufacturing facility being considered a clean energy project, opposition to it from left-leaning environmental groups may be slowing the permitting process to the point that the entire project, a vital investment in one of North Carolina’s poorest counties, may be at risk.