RALEIGH, N.C. — Private investigators hired by Republican lawmakers to look at how Gov. Roy Cooper's administration handled the Atlantic Coast Pipeline permitting found that the Democratic governor didn't personally benefit from actions he and his administration took.
But the investigators said in their 82-page report, which was released to a legislative oversight committee Wednesday, that "it would be reasonable to conclude" from the evidence they collected that Cooper "improperly used the authority and influence of his office" to obtain a $57.8 million fund from Duke Energy and other pipeline developers and concessions from Duke to benefit the state's burgeoning solar energy industry.
