Governor Roy Cooper (D-NC) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” said his state has a “front row seat” to climate change while discussing the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
Anchor Chuck Todd asked, “Let’s talk about rebuilding from his disasters. North Carolina has had to do it, Florida has had to do it quite a few times. Is it time to put more strings when it comes to rebuilding so that every dollar that’s spent is done for resiliency, so that it’s better for the next time and who should pay for that?”
Cooper said, “North Carolina has had a front-row seat when it comes to the effects of climate change. We are making sure that we become a clean energy safe haven and that we are paying attention to resiliency.”
He continued, “So what we’re doing is making sure that we are using strategies like elevation and even buyouts. We have gone into local communities that have been hit several times. It’s become better to make sure we create green space where the places homes and businesses used to be to soak up water that may come from a river flood than to relocate people. Those are tough decisions, but they’re going on right now.”
Cooper added, “We also need to make sure our electric grid is more resilient,” the governor added. “We’re going to be working on upgrading our grade and making sure we are more resilient in the future.”
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