Triad chapter of environmental group lobbies legislators on both sides of the aisle

More than three dozen volunteers from North Carolina will set off for Raleigh next week to meet with lawmakers from both parties and discuss ways to protect the environment.  

The Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is an international, grassroots nonprofit that is organized into more than 500 local chapters — with 12 in North Carolina. Its members travel to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress for climate-friendly legislation, write letters to the editor and talk to local leaders.

On Tuesday, a group will speak with state representatives, including Republican Sen. Norman Sanderson, Republican Rep. Larry Strickland and Democratic Rep. Pricey Harrison.

Their focus will be on increased protection of North Carolina’s wetlands which absorb and filter groundwater while providing crucial wildlife habitats and carbon trapping. CCL is also calling for expanding the electric grid to allow for more competition and lessened costs, and they’ll also be lobbying to raise the solar leasing cap.

Matt Mayers is Winston-Salem’s CCL co-leader. He says currently only 1% of all solar panels installed on rooftops throughout the state can be financed through leasing.

“It’s really about market access and market freedom, which is a pretty conservative value,” Mayers says. “Let’s say you want to put solar panels on your roof but you don’t have the cash to do it up front. There are certain arrangements, just like leasing a car, where you don’t need as much money to start, but you get the solar panels anyway. And you pay for them from the savings in the electricity that you’re not paying Duke Energy for.”

Mayers says that while the issue of climate change is perceived to be partisan on the national stage, politicians at the state and local levels are finding common ground. 

House Bill 535 which proposes to increase the leasing cap from 1% to 10% of total installed solar projects has passed in the House. That bill awaits a hearing in the Senate.