blog
April 20, 2017
By NCSEA
Senators Brown, Sanderson, and Pate have renewed their attack on clean and renewable wind energy. This time it’s in the form of Senate Bill 331, the “Military Operations Protection Act of 2017.” The bill, if enacted would impose a three-year moratorium on the permitting of all onshore and offshore wind applications. The bill will be heard in the Commerce and Insurance Committee at 11 am today!
The bill:
- Tramples on the rights of landowners in North Carolina telling them they cannot make their own decision on how they want to use their land.
- Is an unwarranted imposition on free enterprise and the free market, preventing companies and landowners wanting and able to do business that benefits North Carolina from doing so. Apparently, legislators only trust the free market to work when it is in accord with their priorities. What’s next? A ban on natural gas exploration? A ban on the use of necessary crop protection measures?
- Would lead to the development of so-called “maps” under the guise of “business certainty” for energy companies, knowing that companies ARE OPPOSED TO AND ARE NOT ASKING FOR THOSE MAPS to be included in legislation.
- Goes AGAINST STATE LEVEL military interests who have expressed interest in evaluating wind energy projects on a case-by-case basis.
Please contact the Senators listed below NOW and ask them to vote NO on this anti-business legislation that violates private property rights. Explain that the long-term impact of this bill will be to reduce tax revenue in rural areas that are needed for public services, and unlikely to provide any new protections for the military that are not already in place.
| Name |
District – Counties Represented |
Phone |
Email |
| Sen. Rick Gunn |
24 – Alamance |
(919) 301-1446 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Dan Bishop |
39- Mecklenburg |
(919) 733-5655 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. John M. Alexander, Jr. |
15 – Wake |
(919) 733-5850 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Trudy Wade |
27- Guilford |
(919) 733-5856 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Wesley Meredith |
19 – Cumberland |
(919) 733-5776 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Ben Clark |
21 -Cumberland, Hoke |
(919) 733-9349 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Chuck Edwards |
48- Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania |
(919) 733-5745 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Joel D. M. Ford |
38 Mecklenburg |
(919) 733-5955 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Ralph Hise |
47 – Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Yancey |
(919) 733-3460 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Tom McInnis |
25 – Anson, Richmond, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly |
(919) 733-5953 |
[email protected] |
| Sen. Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. |
20- Durham, Granville |
(919) 733-4599 |
[email protected] |
