NC Republicans shoot down governor's choice for environment secretary

Senate Republicans rejected Gov. Roy Cooper's pick to head the state Department of Environmental Quality Wednesday after publicly questioning her knowledge on natural gas.

Senate Democrats said they were blindsided by the move, the first time the GOP's legislative majority has voted against confirmation for one of Cooper's cabinet secretaries. They walked out of the committee hearing in protest after their Republican colleagues refused to have Acting Secretary Dionne Delli-Gatti, who was in the room, come forward and answer questions.

Republican leaders said she had two hours to do that at a previous hearing, held in late late April, and failed to demonstrate a deep enough understanding on the Cooper administration's natural gas strategy or the planned Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would bring natural gas into the state.

"Her failure on those two counts is disqualifying," Sen. Paul Newton, a key committee member, said Wednesday.

Democrats said Delli-Gatti, who was with the Environmental Defense Fund before Cooper tapped her to lead DEQ, is well qualified for the job. The Cooper administration decried the move against her and accused Republican majority leaders of hiding their real motivations.

"This has nothing to do with pipelines, and Republican excuses for voting her down are a red herring to prevent her from protecting clean air and water and holding utilities accountable while they negotiate a secret energy bill," Cooper spokesman Ford Porter said after the vote.

Newton and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, the top GOP leader in the Senate, denied that.

"The governor would know a red herring when he sees one, because that issue that he raises is one," Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a hastily arranged press conference following the committee vote.

There is a secret energy bill at the statehouse, though. Duke Energy and other stakeholders, including representatives from the solar industry, have been meeting for months with key members of the North Carolina House, developing a policy bill that has yet to emerge. The Cooper administration has said it wasn't invited to those talks, and Delli-Gatti said Wednesday that she was first asked about the bill a week ago.

Meanwhile, her confirmation was lingering.

"So the timing is a little curious that, about a week after people started asking for opinions, that a decision that has been lingering for five weeks becomes urgent," she said. "I hope it’s not that."

Duke Energy put out a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying the company fully supports Delli-Gatti's confirmation and has worked with her for many years.

"Secretary Delli-Gatti previously served on our North Carolina president’s advisory council, and we have appreciated her willingness to collaborate on key energy issues and the perspective she brings as the state works together to chart a path forward," the company said in a statement.

Republican senators were adamant: The decision was about their disappointment with Delli-Gatti's answers on natural gas issues. Berger and Newton, R-Cabarrus, said no energy companies reached out to them asking the Senate not to confirm her.

The decision isn't final, though the die seems cast. The full Senate is likely to vote on the chamber floor Thursday, Berger, said. After that Cooper will have to name a new acting secretary and the confirmation process starts again.

Delli-Gatti was hopeful Wednesday the decision wasn't fully made, and during a wider-ranging press conference Wednesday afternoon, the governor asked Senate leadership to delay.

"This doesn't have anything to do with her knowledge or qualifications," the governor said. "It has everything to do with whether we're going to have a clean energy future."

The governor also said he had a message for "anyone who's listening" including "any lobbyist."

“Nothing’s going to stop this administration from working toward a clean energy future for North Carolina and protecting our air and water," he said.

Berger said he told the governor Tuesday that Delli-Gatti didn't have the votes to make it through the Senate and asked him to withdraw the nomination. But Delli-Gatti has been on the job since February as acting secretary, and she answered Senate questions at a confirmation hearing April 27.

About a week later, a cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline caused a gasoline shortage. A week after that the Senate held a hearing on pipeline infrastructure in the state, much of which focused on the state's reliance on the state's sole current pipeline for natural gas: the Transco pipeline.

Delli-Gatti was not invited to speak at that hearing.

"North Carolina's future, not to mention lights, heat and air conditioning in millions of homes, is at risk because of the state's full reliance on a single natural gas pipeline," Sen. Norm Sanderson, an energy committee co-chair, said in a statement issued after Wednesday's vote.

DEQ doesn't make final permitting decisions on natural gas pipelines, that's the federal government. But the state does approve pipeline stream crossings, and under Delli-Gatti's predecessor DEQ denied such a certification for the Mountain Valley line. The department essentially re-upped that decision in late April, shortly after the Senate energy committee held Delli-Gatti's initial confirmation hearing.

"Ms. Delli-Gatti could not articulate the Cooper administration's natural gas strategy, which she would presumably lead or at least be heavily involved in, nor was she informed about a major pipeline that her own agency rejected 48 hours later," Sanderson added. "Given the importance of this issue, that's disqualifying."

Senate Republicans have sparred with the Cooper administration on a number of pipeline issues, and particularly the now-canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Duke Energy is the state's largest power provider by far, and it's future energy plan relies heavily on natural gas, which it will use to replace coal-burning electricity plants around the state.

Dominion, Duke Energy's partner in that Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, also put out a statement Wednesday backing Delli-Gatti's confirmation.

"We have developed a constructive working relationship with DEQ Secretary Delli-Gatti," the company said. "We appreciate her decades of experience and fully support her confirmation to lead the agency."

As for Senate Democrats, they were incensed by the rejection. Sen. Michael Garrett, D-Guilford, was red-faced in committee.

"She's immensely qualified. Nobody has disputed that," Garrett said. "And I'm offended, for the Secretary, for the citizens of this state, that we don't even want to have the conversation. You're all sitting there like you're okay with it. I know you as individuals are not okay with this. The people of North Carolina deserve better."

Republicans said her failure to answer questions on natural gas in April were too much to ignore.

‘I don’t think you get mulligans in terms of hearings of this sort," Berger said.