The News & Observer

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory endorsed solar energy – and the incentive policies that support solar and other renewables – in a public show of support for programs that some lawmakers in his own party have vowed to dismantle.

McCrory stood before a solar farm recently built in Wake County on Tuesday and said he was “speaking to the choir” about the importance of the solar industry to North Carolina’s economy and environment.

The governor, a former employee of Duke Energy, then declared June to be Solar Energy Month, and he noted that North Carolina is ranked as the fifth-largest solar developer in the country. McCrory spoke to representatives of environmentalist organizations and the solar industry who in recent months have been scrambling to salvage state environmental policies that have been targeted for rollback by conservative critics in the legislature.