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Granger for the ones who get it done. It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM. WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good Monday morning to you. Obviously, there's been a lot of international news over the last month or so as it relates to the war in Iran.
We've got some new polling this morning from a college here in North Carolina as it relates to North Carolinians and their thoughts, their opinions on the ongoing conflict. We'll get into those details here in just a second. But the war continues to rage as is expected to be a busy 48 hours across the globe as President Donald Trump is said to hold a news conference at the Oval Office at 1 o'clock today, talking about what he describes as a heroic mission. To save an F-15 crew member who was shot down behind enemy lines in Iran on Friday, two U.S. service members decided to eject themselves from their F-15 after their plane was shot at by a surface-to-air missile late last week.
One of the individuals immediately recovered. The other recovered late Saturday night, early Sunday morning here on the East Coast. That has caused the president to hold that press conference with a stark warning to the Iranian individuals, telling them to open the strait and noting that if a deal is not made by Tuesday, the president will be destroying the vast majority of power plants and infrastructure, bridges, oil infrastructure, a lot of other major and critical infrastructure across Iran.
So that brings us to our story over at CarolinaJournal.com this morning as a majority of North Carolina voters oppose deploying ground troops. Troops to Iran, and a plurality say, in fact, that the United States was wrong to launch military action there in the first place. This is according to brand new data from a Catawba College YouGov survey that was released late last week, just before the Easter holiday. One-third of North Carolinians agree that the United States was right to attack Iran, while 44% disagree with the move. On the question of ground troops, 58% oppose sending land forces into the conflict, with only 18% supporting that action.
The poll, no surprise as many that we cover here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour, did find some partisan divides on the Iranian war. Seven in ten Republicans back the decision to attack Iran, while it is a 50-50 split for independent voters, and nearly seven in 10 Democrats disagree. On ground troops, two-thirds of independents and nearly three-quarters of Democrats are opposed, with roughly just one-third of Republicans supporting the move.
So across the board, regardless of political ideology or political party, there is some very strong opinions on sending U.S. service members and more U.S. service members on the ground in Iran. Dr. Michael Blitzer, who is the director of the Center for North Carolina Politics and Public Service at Catawba College, said in a release with the poll, with the role of North Carolina's military personnel and operations in the month-long U.S.-Israel.
Iran war, only one-third of North Carolinians agree that the U.S. was right to militarily intervene in Iran. And with troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg already deployed, 58% of North Carolinians are against land forces on the ground, with only 18% supporting such a move. 36% of voters believe that President Donald Trump has a clear plan for the conflict, with North Carolinians nearly evenly split on whether the Iran strikes align with the president's American first message and doctrine. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans say they do, while six in 10 Democrats and a plurality of Independents say they do not.
So we've got some details on that from the Catawba College poll, which also asked a litany of other questions as well, including a discussion about a major United States Senate race coming to the state of North Carolina later this year. That, of course, is the race between former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and former head of the RNC and North Carolina Republican Party Michael Watley. The poll asked what North Carolina's voters thought about that United States Senate seat, which is open after the announcement from Tom Tillis last year that he would be retiring and not running for re-election as he would in the six years. year term that he is serving. In that matchup, former Governor Cooper leads a Michael Watley 48 to 34 among likely voters, including those who lean towards a candidate but initially said that they were undecided.
14% in that race do claim and do tell Catawba College and YouGov, who conducted this poll, that they are undecided, with those identified as leaners for Cooper's advantage holding at 47 to 31. Blitzer said Cooper's double-digit lead, even as both parties' primaries have had relatively weak standing, suggests that voters are potentially responding more to a candidate's familiarity and profile than to party labels alone. Cooper draws support from nearly half of independent likely voters, with Watley winning three-quarters of Republican identifiers, but just 27% of those that self-identify as independent or unaffiliated. 44% of North Carolinians say that they are simply unfamiliar with the former state GOP chairman, including significant shares of his own party and independents. With Professor Blitzer saying, when it comes to Watley's standing, there is still a sizable portion of his own party and independents who are unfamiliar with him.
And yet he still garners strong support from Republican identifiers, which underscores the role of partisan loyalty in shaping early preferences. We have looked at this poll, or we have looked at data, I should say, as it relates to the race between Cooper and Watley. A Carolina Journal poll out just a couple of weeks ago went through all the details here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Showed the race a little bit closer with Cooper leading Watley by 8 percentage points. The Catawba College poll that we're talking about shows about a 14-point gap.
So, pretty sizable difference there between the two different polls. We'll keep an eye on the other polls across the state and bring you the details. And finally, a generic ballot and approval rating on the U.S. House generic ballot: Democrat candidates lead Republicans 43 to 38 statewide, as the state-level contests for the United States Supreme Court, state House, and North Carolina Senate all show that same margin. 43% of individuals saying that they would support the Democrat candidate.
That's why it's called a generic ballot, while 36% say that they would support Republicans. Trump's approval rating in the Catawba College poll has now hit 42%. That is the lowest mark in the poll series over the past year, with disapproval now sitting at 55%, the widest gap recorded. With Professor Bitzer saying, President Trump has registered the lowest approval in the Catawba College YouGov survey since last March at 42%, with his highest disapproval at 55%. Here's stateside.
Governor Josh Stein's approval rating stands at right at even. 50% approve, while 29% disapprove, including 38% of Republicans. U.S. Senator Tom Tillis, who is not seeking re-election, is slightly underwater as well. 39% of voters say that they disapprove of Tillis, while only 34 say that they are in approval of what he is doing.
The poll surveyed 1,000 North Carolina adults and was conducted March the 9th through the 8th. 18th by yougov on behalf of Catawba College. The margin of error is a plus or minus, a little over 3.5 percentage points in that poll.
So, any of the numbers that we talked about. Whether it was the 14-point advantage for Roy Cooper over Michael Watley, or the 44% disagreeing on the United States and the Trump administration going into conflict with Iran, any of those numbers could shift either way, either more or less, about 3.5 percentage points, according to the poll statistics. We've got a full rundown of all those details this morning. You can head on over to our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline: Poll, Partisan Divide Widens on Iran War.
And as I mentioned at the top, likely a busy day, likely learning a lot more information and details. As according to Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, the president will be hosting a press conference from the White House press briefing room at 1 o'clock later on this afternoon to likely discuss the Tuesday deadline that he has put in place for the Iranian regime, as well as commenting on. on what can only be described as a miracle recovery and rescue mission over the weekend, recovering two U.S. service members who had their F-15 fighter pilots shot down over Iranian airspace. We'll watch that throughout the day.
And if there is any relevant North Carolina information, we'll, of course, bring it to you over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com and right here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour. With Verbo's last-minute deals, you can save over $50 on your spring getaway.
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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. We are tracking an interesting hearing that took place in the North Carolina General Assembly last week, which invited individuals from Grow NC and Renew NC in front of the House Oversight Committee on Hurricane Relief and Recovery. Those two groups are responsible for spending money, the other in for building new homes for individuals or rehabilitating homes for individuals in western North Carolina that, of course, saw an incredible amount, an almost undescribable amount of damage and destruction in western North Carolina. Started in September of 2024 with Hurricane Helene, with North Carolina officials now saying that the storm caused an estimated $60 billion in damage. With that number, unfortunately, Unfortunately, far exceeding available federal, state, and private resources.
As a result, major portions of the state recovery efforts depend on delayed or uncertain federal aid. Matt Calabria, who is the director of the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, also known as GROW NC, presented to lawmakers late last week providing an update on federal funding and the governor's proposed recovery plan. Lawmakers heard that while more than $7 billion in federal funding has been awarded to various state and local agencies, much of that money remains tied up in lengthy approval processes or restricted by program requirements, which is slowing some of those recovery efforts. An example given during the hearing, more than $1.5 billion have been designated for public assistance reimbursements, but local governments often wait months for approval through FEMA's standard review process. Federal policy decisions have compounded these delays with the Department of Homeland Security slowed reviews of temporary projects as well as halting permanent recovery work during a recent federal government shutdown.
That shutdown delayed approvals for debris removal, infrastructure repairs, and rebuilding efforts. FEMA's layered approval requirements and thresholds have created further bottlenecks delaying not only reimbursements, but also other dependent recovery programs. Those bottlenecks are also affecting hazard mitigation efforts across western North Carolina. Although North Carolina secured its first FEMA approval for home buyouts earlier this year, most applications do remain open and pending and have not yet been approved after nearly a year of federal review. Despite delays in federal funding, state leaders say additional federal funds will be necessary to close the gap, with Governor Josh Stein requesting $13.5 billion in new federal funding and policy changes to speed up approvals and expand support for housing, infrastructure, and local governments.
The report, however, did outline successful ongoing recovery efforts across western North Carolina with hundreds of people. Hundreds of homes having been repaired or stabilized by volunteer groups and thousands of households receiving assistance for food, utilities, and other needs. Nearly all state-maintained roads have reopened, at least in some parts. There are, of course, still temporary traffic patterns and some slower speed limits and things of that nature, but many of those roadways, almost all, are reopened as debris removal and infrastructure repairs are ongoing. In addition to federal aid, the state has committed some $2.5 billion in appropriations and redirected another $1.9 billion in agency funds for Western North Carolina relief.
However, despite these investments, state officials say a large gap unfortunately remains between total damage and available funding. The report laid out Governor Josh Stein's proposed phase three of his recovery plan, which focused on additional State investments. The proposal includes more than $80 million to support economic recovery through small business loans, tourism promotions, and aid to local government. Out of that $80 million, $10 million is also set aside for housing assistance, including rental and utility support, as well as continued temporary relocation efforts. To better prepare the state for future storms, the plan calls for more than $230 million worth of infrastructure strengthening across the state and about $452 million to help the state meet matching requirements and fully leverage every available federal disaster fund dollar that the state can receive.
Officials warn that continued delays in federal reviews, bureaucratic obstacles, and uncertainty for funding will threaten to slow Western North Carolina recovery from Hurricane Helene.
However, not all of the pressure is necessarily being put on the federal government as it relates to that. And speaking of the federal front, we did learn over the weekend that the brand new head of the Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is under, Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen, will be visiting portions of western North Carolina on Tuesday, coming up just tomorrow. Tomorrow to update on FEMA's relief efforts as it relates to Hurricane Helene.
So we're, of course, hopeful that maybe for the Secretary being on the ground, seeing some of the devastation, seeing some of the destruction firsthand, that there will be a greater emphasis to get many more of these projects moving in a positive direction and get many of those funding models dealt with. But as I mentioned, There are still some issues within the stateside here at North Carolina as well as it relates to slow-moving projects and slow-moving bureaucracy. Senator Tim Moffitt said that unfortunately recovery and restoration crews from many national recovery firms are on the ground, but due to slow work out of Renew NC and a lack of approval of homes, well, unfortunately, many of those crews might be packing up sooner rather than later. Thank you. I think, Mr.
Chair, my concern is we have a lot of national contractors that have come to the mountains to help with this recovery process. And we are at risk of losing them simply because we're not Issuing enough notices to proceed in a timely fashion, they've scaled up and they've moved to the area. And they're continuing to pay salaries, but there's no work for them to do because this process is taking too long. That's Senator Tim Moffitt questioning Renew NC officials during the hearing that took place late last week. And Representative Carl Gillespie also calling out that same entity, Renew NC, for celebrating 28 completed homes despite more than 3,700 home projects continuing to pend across the program.
I think it I find it very interesting that In your presentation, it clearly states that there's 28. that's been completed. Um And and you dedicate a whole page on twenty eight completions. When there's 3,704 active applications still out there. That's an insult, in my opinion.
To those 3,704 people, because we choose to focus on the 28 that's completed, and I'm thankful for those 28. But we need to focus on the problem. Yeah, these pictures make us feel good. and sh and pat ourselves on the back. that we got 28 complete.
But we've got 3,704 active. Applications out there. We've got a lot of people scattered throughout the mountains that need help. And we need to be focusing on helping them. not on some small successes that we've had.
This obviously continues to build on a unfortunately a very poor track record here in North Carolina on hurricane relief and recovery. Eastern North Carolina dealing with Hurricane Matthew in Florence over the last decade. Many individuals still remaining without their original homes this morning. We will keep a close eye on these hearings, on the progress for a renew NC and Grow NC, plus that visit from a DHS secretary, Mark Wayne Mullen. to Western North Carolina tomorrow.
We'll bring you all the latest over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com and right here on the Carolina Journal NewsHour. It's 5:37. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good Monday morning to you.
These sorts of forms of energy have been interesting topics of discussions, not only here in North Carolina, but across the United States over the last couple of years, to walk us through a new letter sent from some members of the North Carolina General Assembly to the federal government this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, whether it's discussions within the North Carolina Utilities Commission, we've seen plans recently over the last few months from Duke Energy about how they're going to deal with some renewable energy sources. This is a pretty hot conversation in the political landscape. What are you tracking out of the legislature this morning?
Well, there's an interesting new letter that came out, Nick, from two senators in North Carolina, Tim Moffat and Buck Newton. Moffat is a Republican from Henderson County. Newton is a Republican from Wilson County, and they are the chair and vice chair of a joint legislative energy policy. Commission.
So they're very interested in energy policy. And as you might know, there is a law on the books that calls for North Carolina to try to reduce carbon emissions and has, as a mandate, try to be carbon neutral a couple of decades from now. And so one of the things that we have seen from Duke Energy, the major provider of electricity throughout North Carolina, is a move toward more solar projects. But there is some concern, or at least question, about whether the way these projects, these solar projects, are evaluated encompass all of the costs. Because there's the cost of actually building the facility, putting in the panels, doing all of that.
But the cost that is represented there doesn't necessarily incorporate everything else that comes along with doing a solar project, like having changes to the electrical grid. and having some changes that have to be made to the backup sources since solar power doesn't run all day. I mean, it doesn't provide anything when the sun's down or if it's cloudy.
So the more reliable sources that rely on coal or natural gas, you have to do other things to make sure that they can ramp up and shut down depending on when the solar is operating. This is something that we have seen in North Carolina's Utilities Commission, especially since Don Vandervaart became a member last summer. He has issued a series of dissents when the Utilities Commission has otherwise voted four to one to approve new solar energy policies or new energy projects, including one last December in Wayne County for 67 megawatts of new solar power. There was a dissent from Don Vandervaart, who said, Look, as I have said in previous dissents, I'm dissenting from this because. We haven't gotten a full picture of what the real costs are going to be from solar energy.
And without a picture of the real costs, we can't actually say that this is the least cost option for North Carolina to meet its energy needs. And state law says that we have to get the least cost, reliable energy source for any of our new energy. And this solar project doesn't meet that need.
So, interestingly enough, These are concerns that have been raised by Don Vandervaart on the Utilities Commission, and now. Tim Moffitt and Buck Newton sent a letter to the number two official in the U.S. Department of Energy, a fellow a deputy secretary to James Danley, saying, will you please provide us with some information About how we should look at these solar energy projects and their total costs. We know the cost of building the actual facility and the panels and that sort of thing. But how else should we factor in some of these other costs that are being passed along to some other parts of the sector, including the grid, including ramping up and shutting down these backup sources?
How should we go about incorporating that? And I think it'll be very interesting to see whether the Federal Energy Department does provide some guidance here that would help not only North Carolina, but really utilities commissions across the country decide how they should judge the overall costs of these solar energy projects. Yeah, I mean, Mitch, coming right to the top of my mind is things like Duke Energy or other providers having to build substations, potentially running hundreds, maybe thousands of miles worth of high-tension power lines when you talk about running three or four cables per pole that goes through. Those things I can't imagine are very cheap to operate, and I can't imagine that those are being included in some of these costs for building a brand new solar facility somewhere across North Carolina. The way that Vandervaart has described it in his dissents is that they're socializing the costs by saying that these are general system costs that you need to just make sure that things are current and to make sure that the grid is in the electric grid is in the best shape that it should be.
But the point that Don Vanderbaart, Utilities Commissioner, who is a former state environmental secretary, by the way, and was also the head of North Carolina's Office of Administrative Hearings, so he dealt with a number of legal issues in addition to energy and environmental issues. The point that he's making is that Duke Energy and the Utilities Commission are treating these as system-wide costs when they are really solar power costs. That if you by law, Have to only approve new power projects that are least cost and reliable. that part of the calculation about lease cost Is all of the costs that are due to the solar energy project, not just the costs that appear on the surface? And that's one of the reasons why I think that you have seen those dissents.
And now that you have seen this letter submitted to the feds saying that, wait a minute, we should have some guidance from you about. How many costs and what type of costs we should include when we're considering a new solar energy project? One of the things that the letter cites is that this is an issue that isn't just coming out of the blue. The U.S. Energy Secretary himself has been raising these same issues in talking about solar energy and its potential costs.
And I think that's one of the reasons why these senators and why the Utilities Commissioner Don Vandervaart have been raising these issues. They're saying, look, You have these surface level costs that you can see from solar power, but there are other costs that the utilities are only having to pay for solar. And if they're only having to pay these things because of solar, then you should include those costs in the cost of the solar project. And they're asking the federal government if that's the right way to look at it and for some guidance from the feds about how solar energy should have its costs calculated moving forward. And Mitch, it should be no surprise to our audience that lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly are interested in this.
We saw back during the legislative long session last year, there was the 2030 interim carbon plan goals that were set to go in effect here in just a couple of years in 2030. The Republican-led General Assembly decided to get rid of those midterm or interim goals, I should say, and go towards the full plan, which I believe is a 2050 date on that.
So we still have a couple of decades there. This is a keen issue for lawmakers. And for anybody that's spent time in any nextdoor.com or Facebook groups over the last couple of months, then people have been complaining consistently about their outrageous energy bills. I would imagine that this is something that a lot of residents across the state of North Carolina are pretty concerned with when they're getting a $500 or $600 power bill from Duke Energy. Yes, they certainly should be concerned about this.
And I'm glad you brought up the legislation that got rid of that interim goal, because this does play into this. Remember that one of the reasons For getting rid of that 2030 aspirational goal of reducing emissions by a certain percentage on the way to this 2050 goal of carbon neutrality. One of the reasons for getting rid of that goal was that legislators who were supporting the change said, Look, the energy providers, and mainly we're talking about Duke Energy, but to some extent you've also got Dominion and maybe some of the smaller electricities and the co-ops and that sort of thing. But it's mainly Duke that we're talking about. The Duke was looking at that 2030 goal and saying we have to have a whole lot more solar to meet that goal.
Now that goal is gone.
So they don't, the 2030 goal, so they don't have to have solar to meet that goal. But I think they're still looking at solar as a way to meet the twenty fifty goal. But what the letter that goes to the U. S. Energy Department's Deputy Secretary and the dissents that you've seen on the solar projects from Don Vanderbaut, what they're pointing out is that To meet the least cost reliable standard, You need to be focused on more than just what seems to be a surface level cost from this new solar power project.
You also need to factor in the costs that solar is placing on the entire system. And when you do that, Solar is much more costly than you would otherwise think it would be, and that should be factored in to the decisions that are being made now about future energy sources going out over the next couple of decades. And if you do factor in these extra costs, that it's going to be much more likely that solar is going to look like a less reliable and less viable option. And the ultimate impact for the taxpayers and ratepayers should be that Duke Energy won't be pursuing These types of projects that are going to ramp up costs so much, but they will look at more reliable options like the nuclear, like the natural gas, like extending coal, even though coal eventually is going to go away. You'd extend coal as long as it's feasible to do so until you can transition the coal to natural gas or have these other nuclear options online rather than the costly solar options.
Yeah, this is not just some theoretical discussion we're having today, Mitch. This has a real impact on everybody across North Carolina, literally every month, when they are getting a copy of their utility bill. We'll keep an eye on this letter, a response potentially from the federal government. We've got additional details over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the information this morning.
Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 5:56. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT, according to the legislative calendar here in the state.
Well, both the House and Senate are set to reconvene at 10 o'clock this morning. It is not immediately clear whether this is going to be a skeleton session or whether all lawmakers are going to be back in Raleigh. But one interesting thing to note, and we talked about this a lot through the legislative long session late last year, there are still six veto overrides, excuse me, seven veto overrides that remain on the House calendar. They are actually on the calendar for today. Reading directly from the General Assembly's website for the agenda on the House calendar for April the 6th, that 10 o'clock when the House gavels in, there are those seven veto overrides, a couple of those dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion in public education, higher education, and within local governments and state agencies.
Agencies. Senate Bill 50, that is a freedom to carry or a constitutional carry law that went through the North Carolina Senate, has remained stuck in the House, as well as the North Carolina Border Protection Act. Those are scheduled for the calendar this morning. In all likelihood, they will be pushed to a later date in April. The legislature does have until the end of this calendar year to pass these or to potentially vote on these veto overrides.
If not, they will be wiped out once the calendar flips over to 2027. We are expecting a busy, short session. We'll keep you up to date with all the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it for a Monday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning, BT.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. Yeah.
