Governor-elect Cooper has yet to outline his energy policy, but his campaign website and past statements offer clues as to what it might look like.

“I am glad North Carolina has become a leader in renewable energy technology and that energy companies are shifting toward more sustainable power supplies than coal,” Cooper’s website reads. It also cites his support of the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard and the Clean Smokestacks Act.

A letter Cooper sent to the state’s General Assembly in Aug. 2015 also offers clues. Sent prior to announcing his bid for governor, and while the state was deciding whether to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its Clean Energy Plan, Cooper wrote, “I encourage you to avoid the path of litigation and instead work on a cooperative effort we can all be proud of. Piecemeal litigation like this can significantly harm our effort to implement our own clean power plan, along with risking a federal takeover of North Carolina energy policy that we could otherwise avoid.”

In the letter, Cooper also wrote, “North Carolina’s Clean Smokestacks Act, our renewable energy standard and other forward-thinking efforts were forged by collaboration among interested parties such as utilities, environmentalists, businesses and consumer advocates.”

The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard became law in 2007, a first for a southeastern state. Under that law, investor-owned utilities are required to meet 12.5 percent of their energy production needs, and cooperatives 10 percent, via renewable energy.

Enacted in 2002, the Clean Smokestacks Act is credited with improving the state’s air quality. It was also heralded at a recent Duke University forum on health and the environment as a bipartisan success story that was “creative” and “innovative” according to former DEQ (then Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources) secretary William Ross.