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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with S. Davis (Dave) Phillips, January 27, 1999. Interview I-0084. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Influence of environmental concerns on luring businesses

In this brief excerpt, Phillips describes his efforts at the Commerce Department to square the state's business needs with the demands placed on businesses by the Department of Health and Natural Resources. After a "healthy battle" over the environment, Phillips tried to find a middle ground between protecting the environment and bringing money into North Carolina.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with S. Davis (Dave) Phillips, January 27, 1999. Interview I-0084. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

JM: Did the legislature cooperative in crafting the sort of regulatory environment that you thought was appropriate. DP: They did. We had a healthy battle with the Department of Health and Natural Resources. We finally had to create a special task force to help us deal with each other because our job was to go after business. Yes. We've learned that certain businesses are not good for the environment. We didn't want to go after them. We turned them down. We were educated, meaning all of us that recruited businesses all along but there were some gray areas with proper modification or this or that. So what we're trying to say is tell us what you could live with and by golly we'll tell the companies. Don't slam the door in their face. They're trying to do the best they can. So we've made a lot of headway within the administration but also in the legislature.