EDITOR’S NOTE: Bob Keefe is executive director of the national nonpartisan business group E2 and author of the forthcoming Clean Economy NOW. He grew up in Garner and is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill.

When I was growing up in Garner, the state was on the cusp of a banking and biotech boom.

Today, North Carolina is at the forefront of the next economic transition: The clean energy boom.

Since Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act last year, companies have announced 16 major new clean energy projects worth $19 billion in North Carolina, making it a leader in the clean economy transition.

These projects span the state – and the gamut of technologies. In Durham, electric vehicle charger company Kempower Inc is building a $41 million, 600-employee factory. In Chatham County, Wolfspeed Inc. is creating 1,800 jobs at a $5 billion plant making silicon carbide materials used in super-efficient semiconductors. Toyota and VinFast are creating thousands more jobs at electric vehicle plants.

Already, clean energy and clean vehicle-related companies employ more than 105,000 North Carolinians, according to analysis from my organization E2, and our partners at the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association. But even if you don’t work in clean energy, you might be benefitting from it. The influx of new factories and clean energy projects also has business booming at local restaurants, real estate firms and myriad other businesses.

Solar and energy efficiency are saving consumers money on every monthly power bill. Electric vehicle owners keep more money in their pockets every time they don’t have to fill-up at the gas station. As Gov. Roy Cooper has said, clean energy is about “putting more money in the pockets of our small businesses and families.”

However, to protect our environment and North Carolina, we must do more than just expand clean energy. We must also reduce pollution from dirty energy sources – namely power plants and cars.

That’s why it’s so important that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, led by North Carolina native Michael Regan, adopt strong standards to cut carbon pollution from power plants and vehicles. These standards, which are scheduled to be finalized early in 2024, will be the most significant federal rules ever to address the climate crisis, using straightforward and longstanding methods to address the biggest contributors to this problem.

Regrettably, incumbent industries are pushing EPA to dilute its power plant rules and refrain from pushing for real pollution reductions. Some utilities – Duke Energy included – have asked EPA to exempt most gas plants, which account for nearly half the entire sector’s carbon emissions, from having to reduce their pollution over the next 12 years.

This would be unacceptable.

North Carolinians know the risks of poorly regulated toxic pollution all too well, from the legacy of coal ash threatening our streams and rivers to the illegal dumping of PCBs along our roadsides when EPA Administrator Regan (and I) were growing up. Added on top of that are the enormous impact of climate change, which is intensifying hurricanes and battering our coastal communities.

The state’s existing clean energy policy and the EPA rules could work together to clean up power plant pollution – slashing carbon emissions 70% by the end of the decade at a fraction of the cost Duke Energy predicts. And they would virtually eliminate sulfur dioxide, which can penetrate deep into our lungs causing serious lung and heart illnesses.

The good news is we now can replace coal and reduce the state’s dependence on gas power with solar, wind, batteries, and other renewable resources. EPA standards will ensure that the pollution from the biggest existing gas plants is reduced, either capturing and sequestering the carbon going up the smokestack or by running those plants less often.

North Carolina – and the country – will see real and significant benefits from these EPA power plant standards. The standards will help ensure the clean energy boom delivers not just jobs, but better health and a safer climate as well.

It’s absolutely crucial that EPA and Administrator Regan hold firm and enact the strongest rules possible – for the good of our economy, our environment, and North Carolina.

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