RALEIGH According to a source on Gov. Roy Cooper’s transition team, Bill Ross is serving as interim Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. Ross previously led the department from 2001-2009 under Gov. Mike Easley. Ross will fill the post for mere days preceding Cooper’s official pick to lead the department, Michael Regan, takes over.During his time as secretary North Carolina enacted the Clean Smokestacks Act that mandated the reduction of harmful emissions from the state’s coal fired power plants by more than 70 percent.Formerly, Ross practiced environmental law with the Greensboro and Raleigh, N.C., law firm of Brooks Pierce. Currently, Ross is a visiting professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.A North Carolina native, Ross is a graduate of Davidson College and of the University of Virginia School of Law.
