North Carolina is a national leader in "energy infrastructure," but the state's not doing so well in energy generation or energy storage.

Those are some of the findings in a new profile of North Carolina's green economy by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.

The NGA prepared profiles on the green economy in all 50 states. It did not rank the states, instead opting to provide a report on each state.

The report on North Carolina describes the state as "a national leader in energy infrastructure, which includes consulting and management services and "cable and equipment." The report says 400 people in North Carolina are employed in energy infrastructure.

The report says that "recycling and waste," with 5,200 jobs, is the largest employment area in North Carolina's green economy.

But the report also shows that North Carolina lags far behind the national average in areas such as energy generation and energy storage.

Gov. Beverly Perdue is back in Washington.

Perdue will meet with President Barack Obama at the White House today as part of a group of governors talking about the economic stimulus package.

The governors are in town as part of the National Governors Association meeting.

Perdue's last visit to the greater D.C. area came at the beginning of the month, when she flew to Williamsburg, Va., to meet with other Democrats pushing for the stimulus.

She's back.

After a week of vacation, Gov. Beverly Perdue is back on the job. And she's willing to tell you what she'll be doing this week.

The governor's office has released Perdue's schedule for the week. It does not include the time and location for all of her meetings, but it does provide some details on who she's meeting with and what she's doing.

For example, Perdue is scheduled today to meet with representatives of the N.C. Association of Educators and the leaders of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.

On Wednesday, she has a senior staff meeting, budget meetings and plans to attend the N.C. State-UNC basketball game.

Later in the week, Perdue plans to speak to the AFL-CIO Legislative Conference in Raleigh, speak at the board meeting of the State Employees Association of N.C. and speak to a meeting of the N.C. Center for Nonprofits.

She's also scheduled for "ethics refresher training" on Friday, and to attend the National Governor's Association meeting in Washington this weekend.

During her campaign, Perdue pledged to bring more transparency to the operations of state government. Her predecessor, Mike Easley, rarely shared details of his schedule.

Gov. Beverly Perdue is being more open about her schedule.

She released a detailed schedule of her daylong trip to Washington today, noting the exact times she'll meet with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, the National Governors Association, the state's U.S. representatives, two senators and the Democratic Governors Association.

Perdue has also scheduled a 15-minute general media availability following her meeting with the Congressional delegation.

The trip is designed to highlight her request for an economic stimulus package to direct money to North Carolina and other states, so it is naturally high profile.

Still, her willingness to share the schedule with the media is a marked contrast to former Gov. Mike Easley, who only reluctantly conceded he was stopping in Washington only a few weeks ago and did not meet with members of the state press.

Easley's representatives cited "security reasons" for their refusal to discuss his travel plans.

Gov. Mike Easley made his case for foreclosure help in Philadelphia today.

During an economic summit with President-elect Barack Obama and other governors, Easley gave a short presentation on the state's foreclosure reduction program, which some would like to use as a model for federal legislation.

"It will help if we can get that program passed on the federal level because then we don't have 50 different rules that the banks have to figure out," he said in a statement to Dome. "If the federal government will pass what we have, then each governor could either opt in or opt out."

Easley said he discussed the issue with Obama during the summer. He said the National Governors Association will be promoting the legislation as well.

He also attended an informal governors get-together last night, eating across the table from Georgia's Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue is not using state money to meet with Barack Obama.

A spokesman for the governor-elect said she will be traveling to Philadelphia on a chartered plane paid for by her campaign account. 

Perdue will join a meeting of the nation's governors with the president-elect and vice president-elect Joe Biden to talk about the economic crisis. 

The 10 a.m. meeting tomorrow is sponsored by the National Governors Association. Perdue and other newly elected or incumbent governors will argue for a federal-state partnership to boost the economy.

North Carolina could face a state budget shortfall of as much as $3 billion next year, according to a Perdue press release.

House Speaker Joe Hackney joined a press conference co-sponsored by the National Governors Association on the same topic in Washington today. 

Joe Hackney says federal stimulus would boost the North Carolina economy.

The speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives argued at a press conference in Washington, D.C., this morning that billions in spending on infrastructure projects, social welfare programs and renewable energy projects would keep the economic situation from worsening.

"We are doing the best we can to cope with our fiscal situation," he said. "Now it's time for Congress and our next administration to support our state efforts."

As current president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Hackney was also scheduled to speak with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by phone this afternoon. He sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama last month requesting more funding for states.

The National Governors Association has identified $136 billion in specific transportation projects it says could be ready to begin if funding is approved by Congress.

Hackney would not identify specific projects in North Carolina, though he said that replacing the Yadkin River Bridge, extending urban highway loops and improving mass transit systems would likely be included.

"I think every state has a list of ready-to-go projects, but it serves no useful purpose to run that out today," he said.

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue plans to join a meeting of the nation's governors with President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who is chair of the National Governors Association, is playing host to the sitting and incoming governors who can attend the meeting, Mark Johnson reports.

The topic, not surprisingly, is the economic crisis, and Perdue mentioned the upcoming confab during her own economic roundtable in Charlotte yesterday.

Hat Tip: Mary Newsom

Gov. Mike Easley will not base his endorsement on the state vote.

At a meeting of the National Governors Association, Easley said he did not expect superdelegates to decide the Democratic nomination, according to Media General News Service.

But if they do, he said he will not base his vote at the Democratic national convention for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton on how North Carolina Democrats vote in the primary.

"I don't know how my state's going to vote, but listen, I had to run and get the votes of a majority of the voters out of a state of 9 million people to get my vote, so I'm going to vote like I want to," he told a reporter.

Easley also joked that he was ready to make an endorsement: He will not be voting for John McCain.

Gov. Mike Easley and U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, both Democrats, are planning a joint press conference Monday morning to talk about their concerns about the readiness of the military and the National Guard as a result of the war in Iraq.

Easley has taken the lead within the National Governors Association on National Guard issues, while Leahy is co-chairman of the National Guard Caucus.