Cooper taps attorney to lead North Carolina’s clean energy efforts

Gov. Roy Cooper has chosen a familiar figure in North Carolina energy circles to lead the administration’s clean energy efforts.

Cooper announced Wednesday that he has hired Peter Ledford as the state’s clean energy director. For the last eight years, Ledford has worked as an attorney for the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association.

Under Cooper, the clean energy director has played a key role in energy negotiations with the N.C. General Assembly while also implementing executive orders that are guiding how state government approaches the state’s transition.

“Peter Ledford has the years of experience, knowledge and dedication needed to help North Carolina as we move toward a clean energy economy,” Cooper said.

Dionne Delli-Gatti, who previously held the clean energy director job, left in May to return to the Environmental Defense Fund.

Cooper initially hired Delli-Gatti to serve as secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. He assigned her to the clean energy post when the N.C. Senate denied the confirmation.

As clean energy director, Delli-Gatti led negotiations for the administration on House Bill 951, which turned emissions reduction from power generation that had been targets for Cooper into state law. Delli-Gatti also helped develop Executive Order 246, which called for the state to develop a plan to slash emissions from the transportation sector and for cabinet agencies to more deliberately consider environmental justice in their decision-making.

“Dionne has been an extraordinary leader for our state, helping focus our efforts to transition to a clean energy economy and lay the groundwork for our continued efforts to combat climate change,” Cooper said.

Before working for the Sustainable Energy Association, Ledford was a legislative analyst and staff attorney at the N.C. General Assembly. He is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and the School of Law at Wake Forest University.

“I’m ready to put my experience working at the NC General Assembly and practicing before NC Utilities Commission, and my relationships with stakeholders and the clean energy industry to work, so we can make more progress on the important issues of clean energy, reducing carbon emissions, and the associated economic benefits for all North Carolinians,” Ledford said in a statement.

In his Sustainable Energy Association work, Ledford has become one of the state’s most outspoken advocates for renewable energy sources like solar and wind. His work can frequently be found in filings at the N.C. Utilities Commission, and he is often interviewed for news articles about the state’s energy transition.

Ledford has been critical of Duke Energy’s plans to reduce carbon to meet the goals in House Bill 951. Shortly after Duke filed its plan in May, Ledford criticized the fact that three of the four scenarios outlined by Duke would allow the utility to meet the bill’s 70% target after 2030 because of the construction of wind farms or small modular nuclear reactors.

“It’s like a college student asking for an extension on the final paper on the very first day of the semester,” Ledford told The News & Observer. “We’re barely out of the gate, and Duke is already saying that it can’t be done.”

This story was produced with financial support from 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.

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