“Net-zero” goals proliferate, but speed, integrity of commitments varies greatly. The country’s top emitting utilities are on decarbonization pathways that are too slow to meet the climate goals set forth by President-Elect Joseph Biden.
Too Much Sun Degrades Coatings That Keep Pipes From Corroding, Risking Leaks, Spills and Explosions — Inside Climate News
Pipeline installation delays leave pipes stored longer than recommended aboveground, where UV light can deteriorate the coatings that prevent corrosion.
We’ve fought the pandemic together. Let’s do the same with climate change. — News & Observer
Op-Ed by Drew Shindell and Jim Warren. Reducing methane emissions is crucial for limiting climate change in the near term. Doing so can provide vital benefits, including fewer people dying from air pollution and heat waves and harmed by powerful storms and wildfires. The climate crisis demands that we stop building fossil fuel infrastructure immediately.
Greensboro Issues Historic Apology for Police Complicity in 1979 KKK and Nazi Massacre — Beloved Community Center
The Greensboro City Council, in an unprecedented and historic move, voted on Tuesday evening, October 6, 2020, to make an official, substantive apology to the widows, survivors, and residents of Morningside Homes for the involvement of the City of Greensboro and the Greensboro Police Department in the 1979 Greensboro Massacre and its subsequent cover up. The widows and survivors of the Greensboro Massacre, with the active support of the Greensboro Pulpit Forum, a predominately African American ministerial association, have been demanding an apology from the City for many years.
Governor Roy Cooper Led North Carolina to Act on Climate Change. Will That Help Him Win a 2nd Term? — Inside Climate News
“The climate crisis demands that we stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure immediately,” Duke University climate scientist Drew Shindell, 40 former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials and leaders of the environmental group NC WARN wrote to Cooper and Duke Energy on Sept. 14.
Prominent Climate Scientist Leads Call for NC Governor, Duke Energy CEO to Halt Gas Expansion and Turn to Clean, Cheaper Options — News Release from NC WARN
A globally prominent expert on methane’s impacts on the climate is urging Governor Roy Cooper and Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good to lead a cooperative effort for North Carolina to help slow the global climate emergency. In a letter signed by 40 former EPA officials from this state, Dr. Drew Shindell said lessons from the ongoing pandemic and the cancelled Atlantic Coast fracked gas Pipeline (ACP) provide a critically important opportunity to spring forward to a more equitable and economically timely “new normal” while a return to business as usual could be disastrous.
See the Op-Ed Running in the N&O, Charlotte Observer, Durham Herald-Sun, NC Policy Watch, and the Fayetteville Observer
NC WARN’s Virtual Summer Youth Climate Activism Series
This summer, NC WARN hosted its inaugural Youth Summer Series—done virtually due to COVID-19—as an endeavor to bolster local climate youth activism engagement, both in NC WARN campaigns and for the students’ own skill-building and education of climate justice.
Duke Energy Asks Regulators To Let it Charge Customers For Coal Ash Costs — WFAE
Rita Leadem with the environmental group NC Warn said many of the grid upgrades are unnecessary and that Duke should invest more in solar energy. “The smarter investment at this time would really be in the clean energy resources, backed up with battery storage, that would provide the resiliency that we need and really pave the way forward,” she said.
Persistent Opposition to Duke Energy’s Rate Hikes as Hearings Approach — News Release from NC WARN
As a long-awaited hearing begins next Monday, attorneys for NC WARN and allies will firmly oppose Duke Energy’s request for yet another electricity rate hike even as the Utilities Commission’s Public Staff and other parties recently announced settlements with Duke on portions of the rate request.
See coverage by WFAE
Environmental groups ask NC regulators to rule Duke Energy coal-to-gas plant conversions are illegal — Charlotte Business Journal
A coalition of environmental groups have petitioned N.C. regulators to rule Duke Energy and other utilities must get regulatory approval before modifying coal plants to burn natural gas. Jim Warren, executive director of the Durham-based watchdog group NC WARN, which is one of the petitioners, says it appears Duke is “spending millions on Band-Aids for coal plants instead of retiring them.”