The Journal has uncovered the smoking legislator behind the abysmal energy bill working its way through the legislature: Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Mecklenberg.

It was Clodfelter who guided the bill through the Senate with changes favoring power companies, according to the Journal. Little wonder:

Since 1998, when he was first elected, Clodfelter has received at least $41,000 in campaign contributions from Duke Energy and Progress Energy, campaign-finance documents show. No other state legislator has received more money from the power companies over the past four years, according to Democracy North Carolina, a watchdog group for campaign-finance issues.

Clodfelter and his wife also own more than $10,000 worth of stock in Duke Energy. Clodfelter’s law firm, Moore & Van Allen, often represents clients involved in the financing of energy projects. A controversial provision that was inserted into the bill and is supported by Clodfelter would ease the financing of new coal and nuclear power plants.

“It is clear to most observers, if not all people paying attention, that Clodfelter has been pushing this from the beginning and rushed it through the Senate,” said Jim Warren, the executive director of NC WARN, a nonprofit group that focuses on the hazards associated with nuclear power.

I guess the power companies felt like they had to go ahead and get something out of the deal, because who knows what the House, led by enviro-Rep. Pricey Harrison, will counter with. The bottom line is this is a bad bill, period, one that should send legislators running and screaming. Unfortunately the hysteria surrounding global warming is overwhelming and continues to cloud common-sense judgment among legislators, as if their common sense isn’t clouded enough.