The Department of Administration  may, with the prior express approval of the Energy Policy Council and the Governor, require that all coal and petroleum suppliers in North Carolina supplying coal, motor gasoline, middle distillates, residual oils, and propane for resale within the State, file with the Department of Administration, on forms prepared by the Department, accurate reports as to the stocks of coal and petroleum products and storage capacities maintained by the supplier, including the supplier’s current inventory and stock of coal, motor gasoline, middle distillates, residual oils and propane, the expected time such supplies will last under ordinary distribution demand and the schedule for receiving additional or replacement stocks. The reports and the information contained therein shall be proprietary information available only to regular employees of the Department of Administration, except that aggregate tables or schedules consolidating information from the reports may be released if they do not reveal individual report data for any named supplier. It is further the intent of this section that no information shall be required from coal and petroleum suppliers, that is, at the time the reports are requested, already on file with any agency, commission, or department of State government.

It is the intent of this section that the reports be filed only at such times as the Energy Policy Council and the Governor determine that an energy crisis as defined in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 113B-20 exists or may be imminent.

If any petroleum or coal supplier fails to file the accurate reports as may be required by this section for more than 10 days after the date on which any such report is due, the Secretary of Administration is authorized and empowered to petition the district court, Division of the General Court of Justice, in the county in which the principal office or place of business of the supplier is located, for a mandatory injunction compelling the supplier to file the report. (2000-140, s. 76(i).)