McCrory sues legislators over coal ash commission

MICHAEL BIESECKER
Associated Press

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — Gov. Pat McCrory and two of his predecessors have sued Republican leaders at the North Carolina Legislature over the makeup of the state’s new Coal Ash Management Commission.

McCrory and former governors Jim Hunt and Jim Martin filed suit Thursday against Senate Leader Phil Berger Sr. and House Speaker Thom Tillis.

At issue is the new nine-member commission created by the legislature in response to the massive Feb. 2 spill at a Duke dump in Eden, which coated 70 miles of the Dan River in gray sludge. Under the law, legislative leaders appoint six members of the commission and the governor appoints three.

The governors contend that violates North Carolina’s constitutional separation of powers by granting the legislature control of an environmental enforcement activity that resides with the executive branch.

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