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In 2006, North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) formed an advisory group called the Climate Action Plan Advisory Group (CAPAG). This group's task was to develop recommendations for specific actions to help reduce or prevent climate change.

RALEIGH – A new John Locke Foundation report guides North Carolinians through “vague, overbroad” policies proposed to help the state address global warming. The report shows how the policy…

RALEIGH – North Carolina’s annexation laws should be “significantly reformed to protect the citizens of North Carolina,” according to a Statement of Principles adopted by more than a dozen North…

The Minneapolis I-35 bridge disaster and the poor condition of North Carolina’s bridges should be a wake-up call for policymakers to set sensible priorities for transportation policy. N.C. has 17,782 bridges, of which 5,082 (29 percent) are deemed deficient by the federal government. N.C. ranks 32nd in the nation in percentage of deficient bridges — 10th worst in total number of deficient bridges.

RALEIGH – This year’s high-profile Minneapolis bridge disaster exposes North Carolina’s need for new state transportation priorities. That’s the key finding in a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report.

The legislature passed a law, SB 3, which would require North Carolinians to pay for electricity used by out-of-state residents. SB 3, which is the new, hastily drafted energy bill, was touted as requiring utilities to provide at least 7.5% of their electricity from renewable resources. However, North Carolinians likely will not be the recipient of a significant amount of this electricity.

RALEIGH – North Carolina electricity customers could soon be forced to pay as much as $125 million a year for electricity they’ll never use. A new John Locke Foundation…

The Senate has passed a major electricity bill that includes something called a renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio standard (REPS). The REPS consists of two separate requirements: A renewable portfolio standard that requires utilities to provide customers 7.5 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, and energy efficiency measures that require a 5 percent reduction in energy use.

RALEIGH – New energy mandates could drive up North Carolina’s regionally high electricity rates, even though consumers have shown little interest in paying more for renewable energy sources. That’s the…

Municipalities legally can acquire unincorporated areas next to their borders without the consent of the residents living in those areas. This process, called forced annexation, was supposed to promote sound urban development in areas that need municipal services. Instead, it has created a system in which cities ignore the areas most in need of annexation. Even worse, forced annexation is undemocratic and has contributed to the exclusion of minorities from municipalities. Forced annexation needs to be eliminated immediately, and significant annexation reform needs to be adopted.