Like Dick Cheney, if you're not a supporter, you're not invited:
Donald van der Vaart, the energy policy adviser for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said in a letter sent to environmental groups last week that the meeting was kept invitation-only due to concerns raised by federal officials.
"The inclusion of special interest groups and industry would allow for the potential of the appearance of influence on the permit application reviews currently underway by the Obama Administration," wrote van der Vaart, who previously worked for the oil company Shell and an electric utility that is now a subsidiary of Duke Energy. "Therefore the joint decision was made to limit the invitation list to federal and state agencies and elected officials to avoid any potential for real or perceived conflicts of interest."
Nice sound byte, too bad the whole spiel was an outright lie. Does van der Vaart think McCrory's idiotic bumper-sticker campaign against the N&O will provide him cover for such outrageous and easily-exposed prevarication? BOEM did *not* request/require the meeting be closed, and there were hordes of special interests not only in attendance, but given a podium to influence government officials:
http://ift.tt/1Rw0GIW
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