A platoon of veterans warning that global climate change creates potential national security threats wrapped up their North Carolina bus tour in Charlotte this morning.

The Veterans for American Power Tour was scheduled to stop at the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial on East 3rd Street in Charlotte at 10 a.m. today, with Anthony Foxx, city councilman and Democratic candidate for mayor, speaking.

The tour was organized by Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security groups trying to raise awareness about the national security threats posed by climate change and the importance of an economy that's not tied to fossil fuels.

The group stopped in Raleigh, Fayetteville and Greensboro on Wednesday.

North Carolina businesses are defecting from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's opposition to clean energy legislation.

The list of companies that are criticizing the U.S. Chamber or have publicly broken with the organization over its head-in-the-sand stance is growing and now includes Apple, Pacific Gas and Electric, Microsoft, Nike, and GE, among others.

On Thursday, officials from three North Carolina companies will hold a news conference affirming their opposition to the chamber and their support of energy legislation.

The companies are Argand Energy Solutions of Charlotte, Burt's Bees of Durham and T.S. Designs of Burlington.

A week after major climate change legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate, conservation advocates from North Carolina visited Capitol Hill today to gauge the views of Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan.

Carrie Clark, executive director of the Conservation Council of North Carolina, said she found meetings in both offices "positive," and that both senators are interested in tackling the issue, Barb Barrett reports.

"From Senator Burr we were happy to hear that he sees climate change as a problem and is working hard, and he thinks we need immediate action to avert the impacts that North Carolina is likely to face," Clark said in an interview.

Clark met with staff members in the office of Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican. She was told Burr wants to make sure that legislation doesn’t bring too many negative impacts to residential and commercial energy consumers, and that he wants to see jobs coming into the state.

In another meeting, Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, told Clark she has concerns about the legislation’s costs, but that she’s interested in finding a solution on climate change.

"She totally gets it, and we worked with her when she was a state senator, too," Clark said.

The bill, introduced last week by Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California, would force the U.S. to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and by 80 percent by 2050.

The House narrowly passed its own climate change legislation this summer. While in Washington today, Clark said she also stopped by the office of U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, to thank him for his vote on the House bill.

Sen. Joe Lieberman appears to be adding money for coal and nuclear power in an effort to get conservative support for a climate change bill.

POLITICO reports that staffers for Sen. Richard Burr have been meeting with Lieberman's office about the bill. Lieberman, who often finds himself at arms lengths from Democrats, says he needs to add the coal and nuclear provisions to keep the bill alive. Those changes are likely to upset the bill's liberal supporters.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, was among key Republicans who criticized the climate bill that left the House earlier this year.

Lieberman believes that including greater funding for coal and nuclear energy could make the bill more attractive to Republicans and conservative Democrats. The Republicans in his group agree — but some say that increasing support for nuclear power is unlikely to be enough to win their votes.

 

"There are a lot of things that keep you from having a bipartisan bill," said Burr. "The bill is flawed, and the way, at least, it will be implemented picks winners and losers state to state."

 Hat tip: Leroy Towns

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management wants to know if you think the state should worry about rising sea levels.

The agency is conducting a survey to get a handle on people's perceptions of rising sea levels and the state's vulnerability to such change.

It is asking questions such as "Do you believe sea level rise is happening in North Carolina, and do you think your property or finances will be affected?" and "Do you think that the State should be taking steps now to plan and prepare for sea level rise?"

"We are seeking responses from a diverse audience," Tancred Miller, coastal policy analyst for the state agency and the primary author of the survey, said in a press release. "Whatever an individual’s knowledge or belief about sea level rise, everyone’s perceptions are of great interest to us."

The survey can be taken at the department's Web site. Responses will be accepted until Aug. 31.

The Club for Growth is targeting U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

The free-market group is spending $250,000 on radio and television spots against Dole and five other senators over a bill that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Congress is at it again. This time, they're pushing massive new taxes and regulations in the name of global warming," says the narrator of the ad over dramatic music.

The ad then cites a study commission by the National Association of Manufacturers which found that the state could lose 146,000 jobs per year and see a 135 percent increase in electricity prices

Dole, who is running for re-election this year, is a co-sponsor of the measure sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, and Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican.

"Call Sen. Elizabeth Dole today," the narrator says. "Tell her to vote no on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill. North Carolinians just can't afford another huge costly government program."

Update: Dole was one of the original co sponsors of the legislation that would rely on a "cap and trade" program to give American companies a financial incentive to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, Rob Christensen reports.

Dole has also been subject to an automated telephone calling campaign by a group financed by coal companies according to Elizabeth Ouzts of Environment North Carolina.

She said environmentalists thnink the Lieberman-Warner bill does not go far enough and provides too many financial incentives to companies.

A transcript after the jump.

   Comments (1)

Why did Beverly Perdue beat Richard Moore?

In a primary election as unusual as this one, it's dangerous to get too confident when drawing conclusions, but here are a few educated guesses about how Perdue won the primary today.

She was the frontrunner. As a two-term lieutenant governor and longtime legislator with a bevy of endorsements from big groups, Perdue was the favorite from the start and Moore never managed to knock her down.

She had good issues. Perdue had a good portfolio on both soft issues (health care, education) and hard issues (the military). Moore's issues were more national (climate change, Wall Street reform) and wonky (the line-item veto, transportation reform).

She benefited from high turnout. Perdue had strong support among women and black voters, two groups that were energized by the unusually competitive presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

She went positive. Perdue and Moore both ran nasty campaigns through the fall, but Perdue went positive just as most voters started paying attention. That endeared her to Obama's "change" voters, won points for gutsiness and made Moore's attacks look bad.

She had fewer enemies. Moore manages the state pension fund? State employees sue him. Moore crusades on Wall Street? Forbes magazine attacks his campaign funding. Moore makes his case on education? The N.C. Association of Educators attacks him.

Moore never succeeded in opening any daylight between his campaign and Perdue's. When he endorsed Obama, she endorsed Obama. When he called for raising the minimum wage, opposed coal plants at Cliffside, etc. etc., so did she.

With the wind at her back from turnout, endorsements and expectations, Perdue managed to stay in the lead throughout the primary despite early missteps.