State Rep. Admits Pipeline Slush Fund a “Condition of Getting the Permit Granted” | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by Brian Balfour, was originally published in Civitas's online edition.

    Now Gov. Cooper confirms that his intention for the $58 million extortion "voluntary contribution" made in exchange for the approval of permits to allow the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to begin construction will be exclusively his slush fund.

• Legislators won't get to decide how to spend a nearly $58 million fund being set up to mitigate the environmental impacts of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a spokesman for Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday night.
• Cooper spokesman Ford Porter reached out to WRAL News Tuesday evening after a piece on @NCCapitol (available below) indicated otherwise. Porter took issue with the post's headline and said the governor is not open to legislative involvement in the fund. (emphasis added)

    Moreover, Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) allowed a truth to slip from her lips about the quid pro quo of this "contribution."

• "I wasn't involved in the negotiations, but I understand that that was part of the process," Harrison said. "It wasn't that they were paying $57 million or whatever it was to get the permit. It was just that that was a condition of getting the permit granted was the access to this fund that would try to undo some of the damage that was created by the pipeline..." (emphasis added)

    A condition of getting the permit granted?

    This deal reeks of pay to play corruption at the highest level of our state government.