Katie Rose Levin: DENR wearing blinders

I was puzzled by DENR Secretary Donald van der Vaart’s puzzlement (“Cooper’s puzzling EPA stance,” Aug. 15 Point of View).

If North Carolina is on track to meet EPA’s requirements anyway, what’s the problem? And even stranger: Why is the secretary working to limit the state to just one of the many options available under the Clean Power Plan? Surely costs will be lower if we have the flexibility to choose. And if the regulations are upheld, we’ll have to play a lot of catch-up or be tied to a more expensive plan.

Van der Vaart and Gov. Pat McCrory have another option if they want to encourage the market to find low-cost solutions to global warming. They could push for a state or national fee on fossil fuels to compensate for how much those fuels are heating the planet. That would drive everyone to find the least expensive ways to reduce greenhouse gases.

Until DENR and McCrory start doing that, they should take advantage of the flexibility EPA has provided and not lock us into just one option.

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Katie Rose Levin: DENR wearing blinders."