Governor Pat McCrory held a press conference Tuesday to lay out his administration’s priorities in his second year in office. He said he plans to increase teacher pay, though he didn’t say by how much. The governor also said his administration plans to submit recommendations for Medicaid reform to legislators in March. And McCrory emphasized in order to boost the state’s economy over the long term, he’d like to encourage more energy exploration.
“John Skvarla, my DENR Secretary, is going to be leading the effort with the legislature to begin and implement more energy legislation during the short session so we can begin finding out what’s out there through seismic testing off shore and also through testing of potential inland resources in North Carolina counties,” said McCrory.
Secretary Skvarla, who was at the news conference, said that the administration's goal was to have North Carolina ready to issue drilling permits for gas by 2015.