After plans for a fracked gas-burning plant on Duke University’s campus were twice delayed by campus and community voices, the university appears to be trying to sneak past concerned students, community members and alumni in order to allow Duke Energy to build the plant on campus – and force its other customers to pay for it.
An excellent letter by the Duke Climate Coalition and signed by NC WARN and two dozen nonprofits and key individuals calls out the deceptive, corporate approach Duke University is again taking toward the campus and its neighbors.
The letter is a strong call for a fair and transparent process.
Please urge the same by emailing Duke University President Vincent Price today:
president@duke.edu
BEHIND THE SCENES
Instead of keeping its clear promise to listen to and respect campus and community voices, it sounds like Price’s team plans to seek Trustees’ approval and make it look like they’d be helping hog farm neighbors by “solving” the hog waste-to-energy dilemma, then claim the campus plant will burn hog biogas later on.
But it appears that they plan to use those communities to further the Duke-Duke goals.
Duke-Duke would still face a stiff legal challenge from NC WARN and others at the NC Utilities Commission and in the courts. But we’d prefer to avoid years of controversy with an open, respectful process.
The university is apparently ignoring invaluable expertise regarding clean-energy approaches for the university’s needs, as offered by NC WARN’s engineer and by clean energy guru Amory Lovins. See more on all this.
Duke University needs a transparent process that’s respectful of both the various campus-related constituencies and the broader Durham and statewide communities.
Honest and well-informed decision-making is particularly important due to the urgency of the climate crisis, important local physical and economic impacts, and the university’s potentially pivotal role at a time when the global energy industry has begun a vitally important transition away from fossil fuels.
