North Carolina is among the fastest growing states in the United States, with our current population of nine million expected to exceed 12 million in 20 years and making us the seventh most populous state in the nation. This rapid growth presents great opportunities, but also significant challenges. To benefit from these opportunities and meet these challenges, it is important that our businesses and citizens have access to an abundant and affordable supply of energy resources.

Meeting future challenges in education, transportation, healthcare, and criminal justice requires sustained economic growth and jobs creation in North Carolina. For our state to remain competitive in this effort, we must carefully examine the business climate and set our sights on making improvements and removing barriers that negatively impact the state's competitiveness and businesses' ability to expand and succeed. Our failure to meet future energy needs would become a major barrier to business development, growth, and jobs creation.

Not only is an adequate and affordable supply of energy resources among the important pieces in the economic development puzzle, it is critical for maintaining the quality of life our citizens deserve and expect.

We must carefully consider every opportunity to stress and achieve energy conservation while, at the same time, aggressively examine every opportunity to expand our energy resources and production. Conservation is very important, but we cannot expect to meet our economic growth needs and maintain our quality of life in the coming years of rapid population growth without expanded energy production. We must have leadership in North Carolina that will work to develop a comprehensive energy strategy for the state that considers all appropriate options. We must:

• Clearly project and define our energy needs in coming decades considering our changing and expanding economic base and population. We then must set our energy goals based upon these determined needs.
  

• Establish an approach for expanding safe and cost effective energy production, enhancing our technology for clean burning fossil fuels and nuclear energy, while also considering alternative and innovative energy sources, and identifying regulatory and other barriers that must be addressed to achieve our energy goals. For example, there is great potential for innovation and development opportunities in biomass energy. North Carolina could become a leader in research and development of biomass energy, providing new business and job opportunities in research, production, and agriculture while creating new and affordable energy resources. To meet future energy needs, we must evaluate regulatory and other barriers, carefully considering safety and environmental concerns, but allowing appropriate flexibility for innovation and development of new energy production capabilities.
  

• Identify opportunities and incentives to conserve and better manage our existing energy resources. For example, we should expand incentives like Duke Energy's Save-A-Watt program to reduce energy consumption and create consumer savings. We should also consider new tax incentives to promote energy conservation and use of alternate energy resources.

In developing and implementing an energy strategy, we must take care to help ensure clean air and a safe environment for our families. Some of these issues may be accomplished at the state level, but much of the environmental issue expands beyond our state borders and our control. We must pursue and support an approach at the federal level that is fair, equitable, and balanced, providing necessary environmental protection while avoiding unnecessary costs to the consumer and promoting the appropriate development of new energy resources.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission has the responsibility of regulating the rates and services of all public utilities in the state. Appointments to this commission should be based upon more than just the right political connections. The governor should insist that membership on the commission be appropriately balanced by appointing individuals who possess skills, knowledge, and experience related to issues of business management as well as consumer protection, and clearly understand:

• The responsibilities they have to the citizens of North Carolina for ensuring and promoting the availability of affordable energy,

• The state's strategy for meeting current and future energy needs and the impact their actions have on the state's ability to meet those needs, and

• The importance of abundant and affordable energy to the state from both an economic development and quality of life standpoint.

The development of new energy resources and production is not something that happens overnight. Our next governor must take the issue of energy seriously and work to make certain North Carolina moves forward with developing and implementing a strategy that will ensure access to abundant and affordable energy resources.

Fred's statement above was published in the Charlotte Observer on April 23, 2008.