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Legislative Committee Investigating Cooper Over Atlantic Coast Pipeline And His Solar Connections

The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline run through eight counties in Eastern North Carolina.
Roy Luck
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Flickr/ Creative Commons

Gov. Roy Cooper’s handing of the permit process for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is under scrutiny.

New information from public records requests raises questions about the role he played in the dispute between Duke Energy and Strata Solar, a solar energy company that Cooper was once in business with and his brother continues to make money from. NC Insider Reporter Lauren Horsch combed through public records including Cooper’s schedule and e-mails and texts with his staff, which revealed a 2017 correspondence from the CEO of Strata Solar requesting that the governor make “a call to Duke leadership.”

There was also correspondence between Gov. Cooper’s staff and consultants for his re-election campaign regarding the pipeline.

Horsch shares her findings with Host Frank Stasio. The two are also joined by NC Insider Editor Colin Campbell who outlines additional questions raised by the new findings, such as whether or not Strata Solar received special treatment from Gov. Cooper and his staff, and why Cooper took an active hand in the permit process for the pipeline when those matters are normally handled by a regulatory agency. Republican lawmakers have hired private investigators who are currently looking into Cooper’s handling of the permit process.

 

Dana is an award-winning producer who began as a personality at Rock 92. Once she started creating content for morning shows, she developed a love for producing. Dana has written and produced for local and syndicated commercial radio for over a decade. WUNC is her debut into public radio and she’s excited to tell deeper, richer stories.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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